<DIV>I'm sorry if my tease, which was intended to be good-natured, caused you hurt, Woj. jks Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol@jhu.edu> wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">Nathan: >But has the world apologized to Woj for its oppression of him :) There is no reason to crack such jokes. I do not think that anoyne on this list, and perhaps an overwhelming majority of those who live in this country, can justifiably claim to be oppressed. A great number, if not the majority, of people in the world do not have their basic needs met - meaning food, clothing, shelter and personal safety. They the ones who are oppressed. For everyone else, the grievances are of an essentially aesthetic nature. People, including myself and anyone else on this list, who have their basic needs met, are increasingly concerned about quality of life issues, which is an aesthetic concern. When they do not get what they think would be a nice thing to have, they get upset about it. It does not mean that such grievances should be ignored, but they are not of the same standing as those of people whose homes are being bulldozed, limbs cut off, who are being shelled and bombed to fulfill someone's imperial ambitions, or those who die of malnutrition or disease. It moreover follows that any such an aesthetic grievances is as good and valid as any other aesthetic grievance. Therefore, my kvetching about flag waving, nationalism, people's opinions, suburban life style, lack of public transportation, or encroachments of personal space by noise and in-your-face behavior (which I belive are factors contributing to my depression) are as good or bad as anyone else's kvetching about capitalism, corporations, the Democrat Party, yuppies, or for that matter, people having or not having sex in this or another way, jobs they like, books and newspapers they find intersting, and television programs they enjoy. At least I am not attacking or insulting anyone personally, as some do. Wojtek __________________________ _________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><hr SIZE=1> Do you Yahoo!? Free <a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/tag/*http://calendar.yahoo.com">online calendar</a> with sync to Outlook(TM).