From: "Eugene Lazutkin" <eugene_lazutkin@hotmail.com>
"Dylan Trotter" <trotterdylan@yahoo.ca> wrote in message news:cjjtc1$243$1@sea.gmane.org...
I've never felt the urge to post the development mailing list despite being a long time reader, however this was enough to bring me out of anonymity. Chalk it up to my flammable sense of political incorrectness.
The example in question was funny. I think anybody offended by it most probably lacks sense of humor.
I've avoided adding to the discussion until now, but feel the need to add a little. I'm the one that raised the issue. Was I offended? No. I was bothered by the example, however. Why? Because it belittled an important political figure -- President Bush -- during an election year and smacked of being anti-Bush. (I'm not impuning that intent to Jonathon, just conveying my impression.)
Nevertheless let's keep it out of boost. Personally I prefer to keep out any unrelated subjects, even in examples. There are numerous forums for political jokes you can use if you want to share funny observations. I think that Boost is inappropriate forum for them: any kind of non-universal cultural references may present a problem for international audience; time plays tricks with "current" events. I fully support Jeff's decision.
An example that substitutes words can easily be made funny by not belittling a person and certainly not in a context that is politically charged. For example, using a well-known nursery rhyme or story -- assuming there are some that have near global standing -- gives plenty of opportunity to change words to create a humorous result. "Peter and the Wolf" comes to mind. Imagine Peter being afraid of and hunting a mouse or anteater! Jeff's decision fit with my own impression of the example, so I didn't think he was censoring Jonathon. Perhaps if I hated President Bush, I'd have been gleeful over the example and would have considered his actions censorship, but I don't think so. I thought the decision was well reasoned. I don't think personal attacks; political, sexual, racial, etc. humor; or scatological or other base humor should be part of Boost. If we need to document that as a policy, then so be it. -- Rob Stewart stewart@sig.com Software Engineer http://www.sig.com Susquehanna International Group, LLP using std::disclaimer;