<<Well I know this list consists of high caliber, articulate, well
traveled professionals, but I feel this very polite, open-minded,
forgiving reaction to a joke about one-legged blacks is as disturbing as
the original joke....It was and remains a racist joke about handicapped
people and should be realized and treated as one.>>


To stoop to the vernacular, "What a crock". It's about neither race nor
handicapped anyone. In fact, it isn't really "about" anything: it's the
old "unexpected sequence" gag.

<<From time to time we may inadvertently offend someone. It's inevitable
as we don't all share the same moral or social background. We are not all
alike, yet when we do offend, we usually follow-up with a swift and
sincere apology. That, in my book,  is considered good manners.>>


Absolutely. And the proper forum for feedback from the offended party is
private communication. If the originator considers the item offensive,
that individual will probably apologize. If, at the sole discretion of
the originator, the apology should be a public activity, s/he will make
it so. A public attack by the offended party, or, even worse, by someone
who isn't offended but decides to take the opportunity to broadcast the
"correctness" of his/her "politics" is most definitely *not* good
manners.

Steve