I will have nothing more to do withthis threadand I think I shall not say anything more about the Africa, but I do not see where this moderation comes from, except it is apparently a great offense to acknowledge the stereotypes about Africa:
This is the thread of the conversation:
The emphasis added.
Why ‘black tribal’ (which is not even accurate, and has not relevance, not even to distinquish from the ‘white’ Berber.
So I observe:
to this RNATB says
As if this is a contrast to the non-black people of the same region?
I make the factual reply that the white berber peoples are also tribal and that it is black people of africa who are consistently labeled as tribal, when ethnic group is really meant.
This is factual.
I only make the comment it is tiresome.
To this Colibri says “Ramira, if you want to make allegations like this”…
What allegation is made? That the Americans have tribal stereotypes about the Africans? Is this not grotesquely on display in an objective way in every thread about Africa? Look only at the Ebola threads.
I am guessing that I am being accused of calling someone racist (which is not done and was not thought), which is of course a grave crime at the SDMB, to even imply by two ricochets it would seem, but it is fine to make statements in the GQ about Africa that are false.
I see no reason to further participate in anything about Africa it is not tolerable.
“This grows extremely tiresome”… while that may be a factual statement about the way you feel, your personal feelings about the poster’s posting style don’t belong in GQ. Keep it up and you may be voted off the island at the next Tribal Council!
Okay but I did not think of this as any comment on the Poster in fact, although I can now see it. I only meant that the tendency that always something “black” African is called tribal, and here in an instance where there are the “white” Africans in the same cultural framework is tiresome. i did not mean to refer to the Poster or even specifically to that post, but explain the observation as I responded to a person following up, not to the poster.
But I look again to “allegation” as I made no “allegation”
Your statement that it is only black groups that are ever referred to as being “tribal” on this board is an allegation. If you want to argue that, the best place would be in Great Debates.
Your statements in that thread (and I may note, several other recent threads) as well as in the OP here indicate a pattern on your part of taking excessive offense at the comments of other posters. If you can’t participate in the discussion in a more dispassionate fashion, it would be better that you stay out of it (as you say you are going to). You are welcome to pursue the discussion in a more, let us say, vehement manner in Great Debates or preferably the Pit.
Please, tell me where I say “only black groups are ever referred to as being ‘tribal’” and then please also tell me where in my quoted words in this thread even where I say this is and that this is specific to this Board. I want to know what words I actually say that have conveyed this. (I add the emphasis). I do not think what I wrote say anthing like this. I also want to understand what the word allegation means for this.
Please tell me what are these points of “excessive offense” as I do not undertand this well. What standard is of excessive offense, on a board that has had the pedophiles posting over many times dispassionately of their passions? Please it is not clear to me, as it is not clear to me how what I wrote makes an “allegation” which I understand in the ordinary Engish is an an accusation, and of what? I also want to know.
Ramira, I don’t think there is any point arguing with you about this. Just dial it back in General Questions, and don’t get so worked up over perceived offenses.
That’s a shame, you were contributing a lot of good information.
This is a bit confusing. I think “nomadic” might have been a better descriptor in that thread since that is behavior that was being presented as relevant.
I think the problem with that thread and your comment is that it was hijacking the topic of discussion from being about ethnic and racial histories of northern Africa to comment upon a perceived sense of prejudice against Black Africans. GQ is very sensitive to political and contentious debate hijacks, which is why Colibri interjected his moderator comment.
Your abandoning that thread over a moderator comment to stay on topic is an example of excessive offense. Let it go, move on, and continue to offer the insightful information you were providing about the history of the region and its ethnic makeup.
I support what Ramira is saying about the stereotypical use of tribal, which is widelyacknowledged as problematic. He may have said it in a way that wasn’t GQ, and the mod note was warranted, but it’s a valid point that shouldn’t need to be sidelined to a separate discussion just for being pointed out. Especially in a thread about ethnicities, pointing out that debaters are using loaded words to describe different groups isn’t a hijack, it’s privilege checking.
“Tribal is a loaded term” is an opinion, not a fact. Facts are for GQ; opinions are for GD. Opinions about race are for the Pit, no matter what they are.
My note was especially directed to the accusatory tone of Ramira’s posts. However, I disagree that the discussion of the use of “tribal” was appropriate to the thread, especially with Ramira’s implication that it was racist. While it might have been appropriate to point it the controversy surrounding the term, this issue is sufficiently contentious that it would be better addressed in GD; or, given the degree to which Ramira took offense, the Pit. My intention was not to prohibit this discussion, but just to direct it to a more appropriate forum.
sniff of Eurocentric indignationMY people didn’t belong to tribes. They belonged to clans. There’s a difference, of some sort, somewhere, I think. And only if it can be used to make me feel superior.
Correct. We of course allow some expression of opinions. It only becomes a problem when the stated opinions are ones that will likely foster a debate or a major hijack of the existing thread. And of course, we’re not saying that these opinions can’t be expressed, just that it would be better to discuss them in another forum or thread.
Fine–then “tribal is a term often used imprecisely and inconsistently in a manner that leads to confusion” is a fact, not an opinion, at least by the standards found in GQ. But let’s not call it loaded.
Unless it is clearly being used that way in that thread, then it’s a hijack. Correct the use, don’t hijack the thread into a discussion about the use of the term elsewhere.
