🚀 go-pugleaf

Jim, Victor, Joel,

FORTY EIGHT HOURS did a story last night that seems relevant to this
discussion.  A Korean woman who owned a liquor store in Los Angeles
shot a young Black woman whom she suspected of shop-lifting.  The whole
thing was caught by a security video camera.  First, the customer was
probably not stealing, and she was provoked by the owner's accusation.
Next, she provoked the owner by hitting her.  Finally, the shaken,
frightened Korean lady picked up a handgun which was within easy reach
and pointed it at the younger woman.  Whether it was due to fear or
nerves, she pulled the trigger, and the rest is sad history.

There clearly would not have been a killing if there'd been no gun or if
the gun had been out of easy reach.  People with guns kill with guns.

Of course, computers are not guns, so I'm still not sure of the connection
here.  I don't believe that writers commit more errors when writing with
a computer.  I don't, and neither do my students.  On the other hand, in
the realm of E-mail, I think good writers do make more mistakes.  I see
this in the postings of some of my favorite academic writers.  Their
professional writing is impeccable, but the nature of E-mail discourse
tends to be so much freer that close editing is neither necessary nor
desireable.  It is the forum not the tool that affects accuracy.


ralph wahlstrom                  rwahlstr@hp.uwsuper.edu