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it was good to hear from a trustee of the AMA, explaining the thought processes at that level. thanks, dr thomas. as i understand his note, content (which is irrelevant to folks like me who revere freedom of expression [in words, music, art, peotry] far more important than the discomfort of those who are offended by it), viewed from the point-of-view of the censor, is key. that fundamental disagreement is why i can never agree with dr. thomas about the appropriateness of his behaviour this case, and why so many of the respondents to the BMJ website see no humanly important difference between his act and those of censors in left- or right-wing dictatorships (who have grown wise to the fact that you don't need to kill a guy to shut him up). dr. thomas, folks like you scare the hell out of me! can i close with a question for dr thomas and others who justify his actions in this way? what if the survey documented that the overwhelming majority of students regarded fellatio as not only sexual intercourse, but as degrading to women. would you still have fired george lundberg before the article appeared and without discussing your decision with JAMA's editorial board? cheers dls ............................................................................ Prof David L. Sackett Director, NHS R&D Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine Consultant in Medicine Editor, Evidence-Based Medicine Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford Level 5, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU, England Phone: +44-(0)1865-221320 Fax: +44-(0)1865 222901 Email: [log in to unmask] WWW: http://cebm.jr2.ox.ac.uk ............................................................................ %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%