I wanted to put a shot in here, hopefully to prevent things from getting
out of hand.
 
Rachel Zuckerman wrote (May 28-29):
>the things said concerning this had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH
>XENOPHOBIA... and... I'm sorry, but from what I've seen people on this
>list aren't as concerned with differences between people as you seem to
>think they are.
 
This is the case -- and then again, it may not be.  All the posts which I
read on this public list were very courteous and, indeed, I did not catch
any xenophobic flavor, personally... fact is, however, that not everybody
posts their responses to this list.  Sometimes the posts are sent privately
to the individual (as it seems was likely the case here) and may contain
remarks which would not make this list...
 
Tim Fowler's post from May 27-28:
>Obviously some of you took the oportunity to react as expected of you
>towards an 'outsider', and i feel that this sort of zenophobia should be
>stamped out from a list like this, one which should embrace ferret keepers
>from all over the world.
 
I'm guessing that, from this line, Tim received many private e-mails
regarding this topic and that not all of them were as positive as the ones
which were posted publicly.  'Outsider' in quotations suggests that he
lifted this wording from one of these less-than-pleasant e-mails.  Perhaps
this could have been made clearer, but just the same, very valid statement,
Tim, and I agree with you whole-heartedly.
 
Now can we get back to the ferrets?
 
-- Andy
Cody, Oscar, Witzy, & Tripod Bob
with Fossa, Socrates and Lily waiting at the Bridge. . .
[Posted in FML issue 3433]