Date:  Mon, 27 Oct 1997 17:00:57 -0500
From:  Gregory {Greg} Downing <downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU>
Subject: Re: PC Dictionaries?

At 04:52 PM 10/27/97 -0500, you wrote:
>We haven't
>gotten any additional mail or calls about the issue. Not
>that I encourage the NAACP's reaction, but why is Merriam
>getting singled out?
>
>Jesse Sheidlower
>Random House Reference
><jester[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]panix.com>
>

That's a political-activism question, not a lexicographic one. If you wanted
to boycott something, and be practical and effective about it, would you say
you were going to boycott every single dictionary at once? Who has that much
energy and people-hours (all the letter-writing, calling, picketing, etc.)?
And, what would schools and libraries and individuals buy if everything was
boycotted? So what you do is you single out one organization very publicly,
and by being relentless get it to admit by its actions that you the
boycotter are in the right. That precedent will then be quite likely to be
followed, without huge public pressure, by other organizations. If M-W says
OK to the boycotters, then any organization that refuses will be, a
fortiori, even more reprehensible than M-W.

I.e., do not ask for whom the bell tolls, etc. etc....

Gregory {Greg} Downing, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or downingg[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu