# did mac\_bolan00 get banned for being an anti-semite? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 8, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449 "2011-12-08T01:59:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/21 "2011-12-08T03:47:25Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > From [etymoline.com](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=antisemite&searchmode=none): > To be honest, I’m appalled you don’t understand this. It’s not obscure or strictly in-group language. How could we have gotten to the point where anybody could mistake the meaning of that slur? I know we’ve gone round and round about other words and whether they’re really slurs or not, and maybe it’s just my age showing. Maybe it’s a good thing that people can be honestly ignorant of this. But, wow. Don’t be appalled. It’s a waste of energy. I honestly didn’t know. There is a difference between ignorant (in my case) or someone being deliberately provocative and using the word to get a rise out of someone and then claiming ignorance. I guess you’ll have to take my word for it, which is of course entirely up to you. But I did not get a list of terms jewish people find offensive. Being ignorant of someone’s religion or culture and asking genuine questions does not make me anti anything. It makes me void of knowledge in that area. I find jewish culture interesting on a number of levels, and finding out what upsets one may or may not upset another. eta: Maybe I misread your post. I do understand the term anti-semite. I did not understand how the word semite would be considered harmful. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/22 "2011-12-08T03:49:38Z")
For starters, “Christian” is a religious connotation, while “Jew” is an ethnic one. So if you call someone a whiny ass Christian, you are insulting their religion (or how they practice it). ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/23 "2011-12-08T03:58:54Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > For starters, “Christian” is a religious connotation, while “Jew” is an ethnic one. So if you call someone a whiny ass Christian, you are insulting their religion (or how they practice it). This is a debatable answer. I’ve seen jews fall back on “it’s an ethnicity or culture, not a religion.” But other jews tell me that that is bullshit and that being jewish is a religious affiliation. And yet another perspective is that it’s both. Jews don’t even agree on this answer, so when you do, let me know. I’ll be happy to embrace either answer as the correct one. ETA sorry, I don’t know if you are jewish, so if you don’t know when jewish folks agree on that topic, don’t worry about getting back to me. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/24 "2011-12-08T04:09:46Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > He wasn’t banned for any single post, but I’d have been happy to ban him for the Zyklon-B thing alone and I think that would’ve been entirely defensible. I’d back you on that one. There is no innocent explanation for the way he tossed that turd in the punch bowl. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/25 "2011-12-08T04:14:20Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Suicide by mod. And I strongly suspect he may have decided it was time for a change in footwear. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > “Change in footwear”? I don’t get the reference. > [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Putting on a new sock, is my guess. Sock puppetry. The locked ban announcement thread mentions evidence he was already ready with a sock puppet account. > [@Dissonance](#): > > Of course you can, and the word has historically not meant Jew, though Jews are Semites. If you search on [Semite](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=semite&searchmode=none) instead on Anti-Semitism from your cite, you’ll get this:As a language group, Hebrew is smaller members of it, [The Semitic languages](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic_languages) In at least American usage, anti-Semitism has the specific meaning of ethnic prejudice against Jews, or against the anti-Semite’s misperception of Jews. Judaism as a religion is a very minor part if at all relevant to it. Like homophobia, it has a specific meaning not obvious from its apparent derivation. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/26 "2011-12-08T04:15:34Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > eta: Maybe I misread your post. I do understand the term anti-semite. I did not understand how the word semite would be considered harmful. Yes, that’s what I meant and why I said that your confusion sounded honestly unaware. Just my two cents, but hate speech flows one way: from the rulers downward. In the modern sense, and in modern American society, the rulers are white, male, straight, and/or Christian and they invented all the speech we now consider hateful. Although the groups they have historically shown hatred toward have their own terms of, let’s say dis-opprobrium, they are not equal in power or effect. The people on the top of the social ladder aren’t allowed to call anything directed toward them as hate speech. If they don’t like it, tough. They started it and they earned it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/27 "2011-12-08T05:03:57Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I can buy that. Again, I know nothing about his posting history, but I find it hard to believe that he hadn’t shown this side of himself before now. 1700 posts is a decent effort for 8 months on the boards. If he truly is a bigot, I have to believe there are other posts out there that support this. Here’s his [signature,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) which could almost be considered trolling by itself: > [@](#): > > Slightly racist. Just don’t ask me about it. He received a [moderator note](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14451146&postcount=11)in GQ here for anti-semitic trollery. He was Pitted for racist comments [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630670) > [@](#): > > Really? Although I agree that it is an ignorant statement, I wouldn’t think it would generate an insta-ban. Usually people like him hang themselves if you give them enough rope. I don’t think one comment should get \*\*anyone \*\*banned, regardless of their beliefs. Now if that was warning number 10? Different story (and no, I don’t have a magic number). Ignorant? Are you aware of what he was referring to? Zyklon B was used to gas Jews in the death camps during the Holocaust. Since he presumed some of the other people in the thread were Jewish, he was back-handedly wishing death on them (or maybe everybody else in the thread). And there were at least a half dozen other trolling posts in the same thread. This guy was on our radar for awhile. He just outed himself thoroughly in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/28 "2011-12-08T05:23:04Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Here’s his [signature,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) which could almost be considered trolling by itself: > > He received a [moderator note](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14451146&postcount=11)in GQ here for anti-semitic trollery. > > He was Pitted for racist comments [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630670) > > Ignorant? Are you aware of what he was referring to? Zyklon B was used to gas Jews in the death camps during the Holocaust. Since he presumed some of the other people in the thread were Jewish, he was back-handedly wishing death on them (or maybe everybody else in the thread). And there were at least a half dozen other trolling posts in the same thread. > > This guy was on our radar for awhile. He just outed himself thoroughly in that thread. Thanks for the follow up, Colibri. It wasn’t necessary for you to do that, but thanks. His history certainly showed a pattern based on your research. And yes, I know what Zyklon B was. The post was bizarre, for sure. In fact, I wondered how that one got by everyone, but the semite comment didn’t, but since no one remarked about the Zyklon B comment and it didn’t raise any eyebrows, I wasn’t sure why. Again, thanks for the research. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/29 "2011-12-08T05:46:51Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > In fact, I wondered how that one got by everyone, but the semite comment didn’t, but since no one remarked about the Zyklon B comment and it didn’t raise any eyebrows, I wasn’t sure why. At least three people remarked on the zyklon B comment as being particularly offensive, and he received a moderator note from Gfactor for it. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/30 "2011-12-08T06:04:53Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > At least three people remarked on the zyklon B comment as being particularly offensive, and he received a moderator note from Gfactor for it. I guess that’s why you are a moderator and I’m not. I read the thread once and didn’t remember Gfactor’s note. My apologies. One thing I’d like to make clear. To me, zyklon-B isn’t the issue here. Jews aren’t the issue. Yes, jews were killed by the germans with zyklon-B, but so were Poles, Russians, and anyone else the Germans deemed undesirable. They were also killed by methods other than with zyklon-B in mass numbers. Bullets were a favorite, along with starvation, working someone to death or any of a number of different ways. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/31 "2011-12-08T06:09:56Z")
Have we really arrived at a moment in history when we need to debate why “stupid semite” in conjunction with “happy zyklon-b” isn’t the same thing as “whiny ass Christian” in a “war on Christmas” thread started by the author of the former? Okey dokey, call me when it’s over. I’ll be over here crying in my vodka. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/32 "2011-12-08T06:15:35Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Have we really arrived at a moment in history when we need to debate why “stupid semite” in conjunction with “happy zyklon-b” isn’t the same thing as “whiny ass Christian” in a “war on Christmas” thread started by the author of the former? Okey dokey, call me when it’s over. I’ll be over here crying in my vodka. Don’t salt the vodka with your tears. “We” don’t need to debate this. **Stink Fish Pot** needs to debate this, for reasons known only to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/33 "2011-12-08T06:31:32Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Have we really arrived at a moment in history when we need to debate why “stupid semite” in conjunction with “happy zyklon-b” isn’t the same thing as “whiny ass Christian” in a “war on Christmas” thread started by the author of the former? Okey dokey, call me when it’s over. I’ll be over here crying in my vodka. Welcome to the Dope. Bar’s to the left. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/34 "2011-12-08T07:10:44Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Don’t salt the vodka with your tears. “We” don’t need to debate this. **Stink Fish Pot** needs to debate this, for reasons known only to himself. There is no debate here. I don’t defend what \*\*mac\_bolan00 \*\*did. I just wanted to understand the issue at hand. It’s been explained to me, so I’m satisfied. Stop looking for something that isn’t there, you whiney-assed whatever you are. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![mister\_nyx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@mister\_nyx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mister_nyx)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/35 "2011-12-08T07:14:47Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Have we really arrived at a moment in history when we need to debate why “stupid semite” in conjunction with “happy zyklon-b” isn’t the same thing as “whiny ass Christian” in a “war on Christmas” thread started by the author of the former? Okey dokey, call me when it’s over. I’ll be over here crying in my vodka. As a society, no, I don’t think we have. I think there are very few places where it would be considered acceptable to draw that comparison. Or try to invent reasons to excuse that “Zyklon-B” comment at all. Thankfully. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/36 "2011-12-08T07:40:45Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > Usually people like him hang themselves if you give them enough rope. If the Zyklon-B comment _isn’t_ “hanging himself,” _what is_? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/37 "2011-12-08T08:08:19Z")
Anyone else get a bizarre, rambling PM from him talking about how he WAS a member of Stormfront, but he didn’t know what the “White Pride” thing was all about? Or something like that? It probably made less sense than most of his usual stuff. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/38 "2011-12-08T08:13:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Anyone else get a bizarre, rambling PM from him talking about how he WAS a member of Stormfront, but he didn’t know what the “White Pride” thing was all about? Or something like that? > > It probably made less sense than most of his usual stuff. I didn’t, but I am very curious as to what he said in that (mainly because I think it’ll make me laugh) Can you post that PM here? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/39 "2011-12-08T08:31:26Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Here’s his [signature,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) which could almost be considered trolling by itself: > > He received a [moderator note](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14451146&postcount=11)in GQ here for anti-semitic trollery. > > He was Pitted for racist comments [here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630670) > > Ignorant? Are you aware of what he was referring to? Zyklon B was used to gas Jews in the death camps during the Holocaust. Since he presumed some of the other people in the thread were Jewish, he was back-handedly wishing death on them (or maybe everybody else in the thread). And there were at least a half dozen other trolling posts in the same thread. > > This guy was on our radar for awhile. He just outed himself thoroughly in that thread. Not just presumed Jewish. I had discussed my perspective as Jewish. He knew what he was doing. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449/40 "2011-12-08T13:07:48Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > One thing I’d like to make clear. To me, zyklon-B isn’t the issue here. Jews aren’t the issue. Yes, jews were killed by the germans with zyklon-B, but so were Poles, Russians, and anyone else the Germans deemed undesirable. They were also killed by methods other than with zyklon-B in mass numbers. Bullets were a favorite, along with starvation, working someone to death or any of a number of different ways. It isn’t clear to me at all what you’re trying to say here. The term “zyklon B” and other references to aspects of the Holocaust resonate in a very specific way in connection with anti-Semitism. They don’t resonate in quite the same way with bigotry against other groups who were also victims of the Nazis. That’s simply a fact of our history, culture, and society. And what point are you making with the thing about bullets? In this context there’s something distinctive and symbolic and iconic about gas chambers that’s not the case with bullets. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-mac_bolan00-get-banned-for-being-an-anti-semite/605449.md?page=3)