France Info radio reported today (1999-10-06) that an investigation into
police racism has been started in a small French town after a citizen,
visiting the police station, observed a slogan with racist overtones
scrolling across the screen of a PC on a desk in the reception area.
The officer responsible for the PC claimed that the reference to "melons" (a
French racist term of abuse, but also a legitimate word for the round fruit
which has the same name in English) referred to his daughter's passion for
harvesting said fruit.
Regardless of the plausibility or otherwise of that statement, the RISK is
clear: your screen saver message, scrolling away in bright mauve 24 point
type, and quite possibly the only thing moving to catch people's attention,
might say more about you than, say, a poster inside your locker ever could...
Nick Brown, Strasbourg, France.
email address updates : @coe.int replaces @coe.fr
for more information, http://dct.coe.int/info/emfci001.htm [BROWN Nick ]
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