On Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:54:02 -0700, Bob Fry
wrote in
::


Jay, what you don't understand is that you are the fat slob in the
floral shirt making an ass of himself and his countrymen by insulting
entire countries in a public place. The rest of us are the 300 other
Americans who don't want to be grouped with you.

Unlike the airport, here in Usenet some of us are criticizing your
statements loudly. But this isn't for your benefit. No, the protests
are for the non-US pilots and aviation aficionados reading this group.
We, the 300 bystanders, are trying to let them know that you are a
minority; that many, even most, Americans are not shallow bigots.




"In my opinion, it is a very helpful (and in some instances quite
necessary) virtue to be able to take criticism even if it is offensive
or insulting. In fact, even the most offensive criticism might (and
hopefully does!) contain insights that are valuable, and by
disregarding the entire criticism, you are throwing away that
insight. You may not like it, but it sometimes does pay to listen to
a person that is not as friendly as you'd like her to be."
-- Tobias Dussa