A Misunderstanding

[jay_merrill]

In another thread this morning, I misread a post by Wizeone and mistakenly took a comment that he made as a racial slur. Both on the basis of general principals, and the fact that I am a white man who is raising an adopted black child, whom I love dearly, I tend to get a little sensitive about this issue. When I saw what I thought I saw (I misread the word "county" as "country" and the difference gave a completely different connotation to the words) I asked the mods to close the thread.

I would like to publicly apologize to Wizeone for not reading more carefully and I thank him for taking the time to PM me with a clarification. This issue remains a difficult one, even though we have made tremendous progess over the last forty years. I like to speak about it openly, with the hope that doing so will create less fear and, in turn, more comfort in discussion on the matter. I like to think that when we talk to one another, we progress and benefit society as a whole.

Thanks again to Wizeone for initiating such discussion via his PM to me.

 

[SgtMaj]

Re: A Misunderstanding

It takes a big man to apologize.

Although I'm not wise-one, I can certainly understand where you are coming from though.

 

[Mike Robinson]

Re: A Misunderstanding

Ah the joys of trying to communicate through a medium where one cannot see anothers facial expressions or hear changes in their voice.

Kudos to you Jay for apologizing!

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: A Misunderstanding

Thank you for speaking up and doing the right thing!

Just a comment about iboats..... I am one of the older member's here and there are a bunch of us here from 2001 and earlier. During that entire time I have seen many changes. The forum was re-designed multiple times but, I have NEVER seen (read) a racist or ethnic comment. The biggist insults I have seen on iboats have been motivated by politics where one person has accused another of belonging to the wrong party. NEVER a religious slur regardless of who or what .... good boating weather is always prayed for. For a group this large and as diverse I think we are doing great.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: A Misunderstanding

Bob, I think you are right. I am a semi-professional photographer and belong to a number of forums in that world. Frankly, most of them are so bad in terms of insults and just plain mean spirited behavior, that the sites themselves are largely useless. I think there is a very good group of folks here and the mods do a great job of balancing the need to not become overbearing, while cutting potential problems off at the pass.

 

[fishmen111]

Re: A Misunderstanding

Great job Jay...on all fronts. I am relatively new to this forum and am very impressed with the quality of it's members.

 

[Benny1963]

Re: A Misunderstanding

i to have play around on other sites .
the things that go on on some of these other sites is crazy
this site has always been clean and family friendly .
.i enjoy it much ,
jay it takes a man to publicly apologize to someone for a mistake made
shows charater.good job jay .from afellow louisiana dweller .
Bennyb