Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00134)

Hi Alexis --

Earlier today, Alexis wrote to Keith Price in response to Keith's posting on
another subject.  He added,
(snip)

>If you're going to sign your messages with "Namaste"
>you'd best mean it for everybody...(snip) ...and I take very strong
exception to words like "fag" and "fruitcake"! I
>think you'd best apologize if it was a thoughtless misstatement. But if it
>wasn't and you ARE a homophobe then forget about being a Buddhist because
>being an anything phobe is hardly what Buddha taught!
>
>alexis d.

wow --
I think Keith just inadvertently found one of Alexis' "buttons."  Re-read
Keith's post; it doesn't contain the word "fag", and "fruitcake" doesn't
mean the same thing -- at least, it doesn't in Texas.  I wouldn't presume to
speak for things in California, but I have been privileged to live in
various parts of Texas for 40 years (including Houston, Keith's home) and I
can't remember ever hearing anyone use "fruitcake" in the sense that Alexis
thought Keith was.

There are several words that seem to mean different things to different
people in Theosophy (Brotherhood, psychism, and so on) and and using them
can cause occasional flare ups and arguments, but I don't think this should
be one of them.

I'm pretty sure Keith used the word the same way I would: a fruitcake is
something full of nuts... and little colored, unidentifiable things... that
comes around every so often, un-asked for, and no one is really sure what to
do with it when it arrives...

:)
Jim