Re: Ebonics

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At 08:01 PM 12/20/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:

>Yeah, Matt, in a free society I wouldn't have to "speak Ebonics."
>

Are you talking about the School Board requirements?  Are you still in High
School, Tim? ;-)  I have never heard you speak of children, so you might
have a valid complaint if you have them in public schools (although home
schooling is still an option).

[Tim's Critique of currently failing attempts at social justice elided]

I realize you dont agree with the tactics of some black leaders in this
country, but I dont understand why you have this need to cloak your
arguments in such antagonizing language.  You, of course, are free to do
so, I just find it counter-productive albeit sometimes humourous.

Matt


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At 5:49 PM -0600 12/21/96, Matthew J. Miszewski wrote:

>Are you talking about the School Board requirements?  Are you still in High
>School, Tim? ;-)  I have never heard you speak of children, so you might
>have a valid complaint if you have them in public schools (although home
>schooling is still an option).

The principle is of interest to even those without schoolaged children!
Neither having schoolaged children nor living in the Oakland Public School
System district is a necessary condition for commenting on the foolishness
of "Ebonics" and other such scams. Only the most naive of commentators says
things like "If your children were not cannibalized by Jeffrey Dahmer, why
do you feel the need to comment on Dahmer?"

(Sorry, Matthew, but I'm losing any remaining respect for your rhetorical
skills. I used to think we just disagreed politically, now I see more is
involved.)

>I realize you dont agree with the tactics of some black leaders in this
>country, but I dont understand why you have this need to cloak your
>arguments in such antagonizing language.  You, of course, are free to do
>so, I just find it counter-productive albeit sometimes humourous.

I was speaking of "Ebonics." That many "black leaders" support so
transparent a scam and backward step is a separate issue, though, I
confess, not an unexpected one.

--Tim May

Just say "No" to "Big Brother Inside"
We got computers, we're tapping phone lines, I know that that ain't allowed.
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
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Timothy C. May wrote:
> 
> At 5:49 PM -0600 12/21/96, Matthew J. Miszewski wrote:
> 
> >I realize you dont agree with the tactics of some black leaders in 
> >this country, but I dont understand why you have this need to cloak 
> >your arguments in such antagonizing language.  You, of course, are 
> >free to do so, I just find it counter-productive albeit sometimes
> >humourous.
> 
> I was speaking of "Ebonics." That many "black leaders" support so
> transparent a scam and backward step is a separate issue, though, I
> confess, not an unexpected one.

No, folks, Tim doesn't generalize.

Name one "black leader" who has endorsed anything like the straw man 
you're talking about. What we have here are a couple of kooks in charge 
of a politicized school board in Oakland. The word "ebonics" appears 
exactly zero times in Stanford's library catalog and exactly zero times 
in the indices of peer-reviewed academic journals to which I have 
access, including some very "PC" ones. DejaNews had exactly one instance 
of the word "ebonics" before this September, when someone in Oakland 
started making a fuss. The recommendations of the Oakland school board, 
which bear no resemblance to the nonsense spouted here, are no more 
representative of even the most politicized elements of black studies 
departments than certain Bible Belt public schools are of "white 
leaders."

-rich