Posted by PeterH on November 03, 2006 at 17:12:30 from 86.130.124.0 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Missee Lee (AR Books in shops) posted by Andrew Craig-Bennett on November 03, 2006 at 15:42:26:
Whoa! I did not say that "Missee Lee" should be banned!
Nor did you, Andrew. Oh, how I sympathise!! It's the TarBoard syndrome again. Couldn't we all understand that it is possible, and indeed helpful, to point out counter-arguments without adopting those arguments 100% ourselves. Nothing is black and white (except the Amazons' flag). None of us wants to ban anything, but it is surely legitimate to point out passages which may, just may, offend. The Chinese reaction to the treatment of Chinese nationals in ML reminds me of the sensitivities over the 'N' word. I can see why a Chinese person might be upset over parts of ML, but at the same time I know that AR never intended any offence (his dispatches from China prove that). We live in an imperfect world, and we have to recognise and then live with and deal with these culture clashes.
My suggestion for the most irritating sentence on TarBoard:
'Next thing you'll be banning [so and so]!!'
No I damn well won't.