Some early morning thoughts:

It occurs to me that avoidance of racist or probable racist/ confrontative situations [or threads,in the context of Internet discussion forums] is not the same thing as ignoring the occurance of racism when you are confronted with it.

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If Mudcat members or guests read racist or otherwise offensive posts, they could post a brief message that indicates their abhorrence for the post and then immediately go to the Help feature to inform Joe Offer. It doesn't have to be one or the other.

If people see that post and wait for others to comment and to contact Joe Offer or a Joe Clone, then isn't it like a person who sees fire shooting out of a building and assumes someone else is going to call the fire department?

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Someone asked me upthread [or elsewhere in this forum] if I thought Black people were racist. For the record, Yes. I know that there are African Americans, and other Black people, and other people of color who are racist.

If the racist "joke" that appeared in the beginning of the now deleted Hurricane Names thread was written or had been shared by a Black person, I still would be highly offended.

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Thanks again for your comments. IMO, the quality of this thread's discussion speaks well of Mudcat.

Azizi