Where did I say that the word “gringo” cannot be offensive? I’ve said repeatedly that it can be offensive in certain contexts. If I were walking down the street in Tijuana, and some kids started pointing fingers at me and shouting “Gringo!” while lauging it would be offensive.
So your rule is that if anyone, anywhere, feels that a particular word is offensive, it should automatically be declared as “hate speech,” and prohibited from use on the board? That seems to be your position.
Is the phrase *fucking American hypocrisy * offensive? If so, wouldn’t you agree that the word “American” is offensive?
Do I take this to mean that there is no possibility ever that any word or phrase used to insult white people specifically because they are white will ever be termed hate speech on the forums here?
Are you really saying that if the target of the speech is white people, purely because they are white, that you will not deem an epithet to be hate speech?
No, neither of those statements are correct. Hate speech mostly depends on the context and the intent. It is possible for someone to be warned for hate speech against white people. However, while there are a handful of words that we have a hard time imagining being used as epithets in non-hate speech context, gringo and white trash are not examples of such words.
I don’t think so. If I hadn’t avoided saying what we don’t do, I couldn’t have given examples of what is not forbidden but only of what is not allowed.
To sum up: When anyone else uses xenophobic or racist insults, it’s wrong. When CBEscapee does–particularly those directed at those north of Mexico–it’s not a problem whatsoever. Coupled with that, when that same poster deigns to fabricate a story on what he “really meant” and/or “really said”–although it’s right there in the postings–it’s also not a problem.
When another poster called the French “fucking stupid fuck French” no one around here seemed to mind. There wouldn’t be any hypocrites around these parts would there monty?
Let’s see, are you posting on an American or a French message board? Are people more likely to devote their emotional energy to slanders directed at themselves, or at others?
Further, you’re displaying a marked ignorance of a word us hypocritical racist gringos like to call “context.” In one, the actions of the French government/society were being Pitted for not stopping the riots. You’re also ignoring the fact that it was pointed out very quickly that it was an issue of the French governmental response primarily. The claim was being made that the french response was stupid.
You’ll also notice that in that thread nobody went out of their way to goad and bait their opponents with deliberately offensive terms designed to slander the character of almost everybody responding.
In your abortion of a thread, a bigot (you) was claiming that hypocrisy was a quality inherent in Americans and doing so in order to piss people off.
Moreoever, you’re showing your characteristic dishonesty.
It seems to me if that if a thing cannot be a particular thing “at all,” then it cannot be that thing. Yes?
Absolutely not. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I simply want goose sauce as well as gander sauce.
Truthfully, I am not sure that I would. However, in the context of this thread, the point is moot, and I will concede it to you. I am questioning why a moderating decision was made to close the referenced thread simply because people were offended, when the threshold is much higher in other, similar cases.
I want to know why in some cases simply registering offense is sufficient to close a thread, why the behavior in that thread bordered on “warning” status, when in other, similar threads every thing is hunky dunky. (Obscure movie reference)
Nope. What I really want is to do away with the hate speech rule altogether, and invoke the “jerk” rule whenever it is necessary to curtail speech.
The thread wasn’t closed because people were offended, the thread was closed because the question of whether CB’s actions in that thread constituted hate speech was raised and we didn’t want the thread to continue until we had reached some sort of decision on that issue. By the time we did, it didn’t seem worthwhile to reopen the thread, full of accusations of hate speech and general dickishness. You’re welcome to start a new thread to discuss the issue if you want.
Actually, according to fluiddruid, it was not reopened because it had generated multiple warnings. Oddly enough, they seem to have been disappeared, as I cannot find any there now.
In fact, her only appearance in that thread was to close it. No other moderaters showed up at all. Ya’ll need to get your stories straight.
Wow. I’ve always found you to be fair, even-minded, and often quite witty. This, however, smacks a bit of jack-booting. Not gonna happen? Glad to know our input is important.
Do we need to program this into an automated feature? This way, you can look at a thread…and see whether it says “Jerk On” or …
This suggestion is respectfully submitted in keeping with the general demeanor of this particular debate**
I’m only nice to lull you guys into complacency, giving me the element of surprise when I inevitably break out the jackboots.
I’ve read everything you’ve written, but you’ve yet to provide a compelling reason why the hate speech rule as currently applied is in any way inhibiting your ability to post freely and needs to be abolished. Until someone comes up with a compelling reason to change the rules based on non-theoretical concerns, things will likely stay as they are.
Either place is probably OK. Since epithets of any kind are only allowed in the Pit, it’s really a Pit-specific question, but Pit-specific questions have been discussed in ATMB before. We’re not likely to go through a list of examples and rule on whether or not they’re hate speech, though, so we can argue about which racial groups are protected the most/least by the rule and how unfair that is. Context and intent matter, so each ruling is dependent on both the situation and the perceived motivation of the poster, something not well-described by theoretical examples.
Of course, if you’re asking because you honestly want to post something you’re concerned will be hate speech, the best thing to do is probably email a mod.
