You've overreacted and taken the "One zone to rule.." far to seriously.

Honestly, as the author of the offending remark I'm having a hard time
getting worked up over the fact that some people here found it cringey or
that it apparently touched off a firestorm of private angry emails.

I get that there's a history in FidoNet. I understand that Fidonet is
paralyzed by politics. I get that there are old-guard folks here who either cannot or will not move past sometimes decades-old grievances. What I don't understand is why those of us who do not share those experiences and that history are apparently expected to always be tiptoeing around the
sensitivities of those who do. I respect those experiences, but I do not
share them, nor do I feel an obligation to always be choosing my words as if
I did.

As long as Fidonet remains open to new members, it has to be allowed that newbies are going to have their own Fidonet experiences quite apart, and very different, from the segment of the FN community which has been around longer. If the community cannot accept that, then maybe Fidonet should stop accepting new members. Make it private, by invitation-only. But to allow people to join and then jump their case when they fail to show adequate sensitivity to an ancient history that is no part of their experience is unreasonable.

My remark was intended as humor and was clearly marked as such. If not
everyone found it humorous, so be it. But those of us who did not live
through the political wars of the past are not inclined to view every comment through that political lens, nor should we be expected to. Sometimes, to paraphrase Freud, a joke is just a joke.

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*HúUúMúOúNúGúOúUúS* BúBúS nathanael : jenandcal.familyds.org:2323
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