I don’t see how that’s logically defensible. I mean, if you’re defining “being racist” as “consciously endorsing belief in the innately inferior status of the marginalized group”, then sure, probably very few people on a board like this would qualify. (Although probably more than I think, or would like to think.)
But “being racist” can also mean “being unconsciously influenced by systemic racism to normalize racist tendencies and attitudes”, and I think your hypothetical community falls squarely into such a category.
If we compare it with other bigotry such as sexism or homophobia, we can ask ourselves how we’d feel about a community that officially treated assertions about the inferiority of women or gay people as neutral speech not deserving of any formal condemnation or rejection. I think it would be fairly uncontroversial to describe such a community as influenced by systemic sexism and/or homophobia.
I agree completely. I mean, I wouldn’t advocate that racists be deprived of citizenship, for instance, when I talk about “exile” I mean strictly from this message board.
You’re glossing over the fact that the United States government engages in a lot of official condemnation of antisemitism, including Congressional task forces for combating antisemitism, official condemnations of antisemitic attacks by leaders speaking on behalf of the government, and so forth.
The US government, despite the inevitable presence and influence of systemic societal antisemitism, is doing a hell of a lot more to suppress antisemitism than merely sitting on its ass and hoping some of its citizens will step up in their capacity as private individuals to “heckle” the offenders.
The mods here also condemn racism, and probably Pit racists. They’ve also held discussions on how to combat misogyny. Wouldn’t that complete the analogy?
No, not unless they’re taking official action on behalf of the SDMB to denounce and deplatform the things they’re personally condemning.
The US government doesn’t let people use its employee listservs and so forth to disseminate antisemitic propaganda, for example. They don’t merely say “well we personally don’t like it but we won’t interfere with your freedom of expression to regulate your use of our official communication channels”.
A convenient way to normalize and “invisibilize” the existence and influence of persistent systemic racism that many people would rather not acknowledge directly, ISTM.
A PM campaign is not the only way—in fact, not anywhere near the primary way—that participants in the SDMB use the SDMB’s official communication channels. Those channels include, and are overwhelmingly dominated by, the board forums themselves.
In other words, you’re telling me if I don’t like it I should leave these message boards and go look for some other ones?
They’re actually kind of thin on the ground; at least, ones that I think are any good. I’d rather make these boards the table at which racism would be modded as being a jerk.
And I see no reason whatsoever to limit that to the Café. I don’t spend a lot of time there anyway. [ETA: but whether I personally spend time in an area has nothing to do with the issue.]
If she’s talking about U.S. govt employees using a government server, that doesn’t fit because the analogy would be a rule against mods making racist posts on the board.
It’s an analogy.