My dad is a folksinger, so I've been around folk music and folk music people all of my life.

I grew up listening to my dad's songs and those of Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs and other family friends and I lived most of my life under the illusion that folk music people leaned left, believed in peace and brotherhood, and would never hurt or insult anyone based on such things as race, religion or ethnicity.

That's why I'm often taken aback when I visit the Mudcat Cafe. Here I see advocates of militarism and capital punishment, proponents of multinational big business, ethnic-based nationalism, etc. Obviously, there are a lot of different values at play in this forum.

But reading through the joke threads, I was utterly shocked, both at many of the jokes, and at the underlying racism and anti-Semitism that is at the heart of them. As an example, I cannot fathom how the teller of the toilet paper joke would not see how hurtful is.

I agree that these threads are shameful. They are most unbecoming of a forum that describes itself as "a magazine dedicated to blues and folk music."

Katy P.