I highly doubt Airman would have used the slur had he not been arguing against ccw’s stereotype of warmongering Jews. Unless “no hate speech or racial slurs” has gone zero tolerance, why come down on him? And if it has gone zero tolerance, that’s not good. Such policies have a nasty tendency of removing common sense from the equation. I thought the administration of the SDMB was better than that.
I was thinking the same thing: I read his comment to be sarcastic, as in, “Oh, gee, this is what Jews think, huh?” It was rather vicious sarcasm, but it was in no way advocating racial stereotypes. According to my reading, anyway.
Daniel
Uh, if Airman isn’t banned, then it’s not “zero-tolerance”, is it?
I’m confused–Airman use of “raghead” in a sarcastic manner is far from the first time that that epithet was used in that way. Ditto for “nigger,” “kike,” “fag,” and “wetback.” It’s a tactic that I depsise because it is putting words in someone else’s mouth, but even the most casual reader should be able to discern that Airman was being facetious.
It is possible for something to be zero-tolerance without the worst possible penalty involved.
Which is why this thread is here. 
Seemed to me that The Illustrious Lynn was perfectly aware of the sarcastic tone of Airman’s use of the term “raghead.” She rarely misses a nuance. The “hate speech” remark, and subsequent threadsnipping was directed toward ccw’s running headlong toward the flaming abyss with a can of gasoline. You got two kids* bickering, it doesn’t matter who did what–you gotta shut 'em both down. You know who’s at fault, you officially warn them…you see the other party going along with it, you gently remind them what behaviour is inappropriate, even if it’s been overlooked at another time (as gobear and Lefty have pointed out). That’s what I saw happening.
*[sub]That’s not to call Airman a kid or malign his maturity level in any way.[/sub]
Holy shit on a stick, I go away for twenty minutes and comeback and a longtime poster like AD got punished? Can someone please tell me the thread involved? I promise I will only read, I will not post a single word. Please?
Airman should have composed his post a little better. A reasonable person could read his post as hateful, and cooling down for five minutes would have been a good idea. I don’t seen Lynn’s mild admonishment as zero tolerance.
I don’t think ccwaterback’s last post is even slightly ambiguous.
The Airman shouldn’t have used that term. He lost his temper a little and I can hardly blame him. A mild warning was reasonable.
ccwaterback on the other had posted some of the vilest stuff that I’ve seen on these boards, not in the OP but later as the thread moved on. Maybe he lost his temper too. We had SF guys who were banned left and right for saying things not nearly as bad. ccwaterback owes us an apology.
Haj
And why I’m supporting you. My comments were addressed to Lynn.
Look at the very first word of the very first post in this thread.
Haj
It wouldn’t have seemed so mild if it had been by itself. My main problem is with the “Don’t do it again.” Lynn is threatening to ban him if he does?
I really don’t see how a reasonable person could’ve considered Airman’s post to be hateful or racist, considering the blindlingly obvious sarcasm.
I do see how someone who thrives on being offended would see his post as hateful, but that to me seems more like a problem with the reader than the poster.
Thanks Haj, I missed the link the first time I read it.
Haveing read it I am amazed that AD’s comment could have been worthy of a warning, I do not often agree with AD but LB’s warning seemed premature. But it is her call, which is one of the reasons I am trying so hard to tone down my posts.
Both posters have emailed apologies to me, which I have copied into the Warnings thread in Moderation.
And even in jest, we don’t allow slurs like raghead, nigger, or slope.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
AD sarcastically uses an epithet
CCWaterback stops just short of wishing for a new Holocaust.
They both get equal warnings.
Yeah, that makes sense. :rolleyes:
Note that she didn’t use the word “banned” in her reprimand to Airman, but did in her reprimand to ccwaterback. That seems significant, for some reason.
Nope, ccwaterback got a MUCH stronger warning. Read it again.
Lynn
For the Straight Dope
The Warnings thread? Cool – I didn’t even realize there WAS such a thing. It must be like twenty bajillion pages long by now.
Fair enough re: no slurs even in jest. I apologize if I seem nitpicky on this, but I’m assuming such words can still be used in discussion of the words themselves, right? We may still discuss the fact that “niggardly” isn’t derived from “nigger,” right? It’s just that we can’t use the word to make an anti-racist sarcastic point?
I had no idea the rule existed, but I don’t have any particular problem with it.
Daniel