[Callers] here it is - sorry

[Ron Blechner via Callers]

Hi Michael,

The article made these points, not me. I didn't actually introduce any
ideas that weren't in the article. My post said I found 3 points
"interesting", and listed the three points. I didn't even link the article
on Shared Weight in the first place.

Ever hear the phrase, "don't shoot the messenger "?

Should Amy be chastised for linking that article here?

Of all people, are you the one in a position to chastise about bad behavior
on this list?

As an aside, I worked in my previous career on a year-long project with the
US Holocaust Memorial Museum. My former partner was a child of a Jew who
suffered in the Holocaust. I am quite extensively versed in the subject.
When I read an article written by a Roma, who is a Roma scholar, and a
dancer, and on Voice of Roma, I was interested in what she had to say about
the use of the term "gypsy" in dance. So was Amy who posted the link, so
were others.

I don't think that censorship of examining this kind of evaluation of dance
and dance terms ought to be on our agenda.

Ron
On Apr 4, 2016 11:03 AM, "Michael Fuerst via Callers" <
callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:

> Hello Ron:
>
> Your statement  "we're comparing our having fun traveling to various
> dances to the widespread persecution of an ethnicity (the worst being the
> Holocaust)."
> was an intentional, malicious, misguided   personal attack on every
> contradancer who speaks the words "dance gypsy," who uses the word "gypsy"
> when teaching a dance, who has a T-shirt or bumper sticker with those
> innocuous words,  or who converses about "gypsy" figure--no matter how much
> socially consciousness that dancer may be in thought and in deed.
>
> You probably should not participate in any public forum about even a
> mildly controversial topic, if you take personal affront at someone who,
> with an accompanying explanation, refers to an idea you  expressed as
> absurd.
>
> Maybe you need a more specific example.   In the past 6 months I attended
> two dance  weekends which featured a particular well known caller.    The
> first weekend this caller used a surrogate for "gypsy."   The next weekend,
> several months later,  this caller used the term "gypsy."   Any suggestion
> that this caller was now "having fun" with "the persecution of an ethnicity
> (the worst being the Holocaust)"  will strike most people as
> absurd--whether you think so or not.
>
> And your associating with  the Holocaust any aspect of contra dancing
> seems six million times more tasteless and inappropriate than someone
>  referring, with explanation, to an idea of yours as absurd.  You owe
> everyone on this list an apology
>
> Michael Fuerst      802 N Broadway      Urbana IL 61801      217 239 5844
>
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>
>
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