I’m not sure that it is anymore now that he’s actually been banned.
Without jeopardizing the awesome double standard I enjoy in my occassional use of the n-word on these boards, I have to say that – in an of itself – I’d hate to see the day come where using the n-word be cause for an automatic banning on the SDMB, especially in a first offense, and especially in a phrase like “society’s nigger” – where it’s used more for shock value in a kind of glib manner than anything especially hateful. But you can kind of see where the dude was headed in his other posts, and it’s not exactly the wrong call, just somewhat, IMO, premature. I prefer to give people enough rope to where they hang themselves and make their transgressions flagrant.
I wasn’t uncomfortable with the term. I can see where I could do it myself.
Askia, I could explain why Graham should be banned for using that word, but first I want you to go out and rent “Big Trouble In Little China”, and pay particular attention to what Egg Chen says in the third act. Then reread “Moby Dick”. Get it now? Trust me on this.
I’m not mocking Graham. It’s just that I think “Big Trouble in Little China” is a vastly underappreciated minor masterpiece of a movie and that Askia should see it. Man, I love that movie. “What’s that, magic potion? Good, thought so. What do we do, drink it? Good, thought so.”
I’ve always admired your good nature. You don’t realize it, but you’ve been instrumental in helping me to get over a lot of my own sensitivity towards prejudices against Christians and Indians. I’m learning that the less it bothers me the less it bothers me. Besides, when I examine myself, I find bigotry of my own — not towards race, but towards people with attributes like stupidity or worldviews like socialism. Just wanted to let you know that you’ve made a difference in one person’s life by your example.
Meanwhile, it doesn’t seem like Graham said anything more offensive than Mullinator did in this post: “She seemed as likely to succeed at this as a black chick on The Bachelor.” And I’m pretty sure Mully isn’t a racist. Besides, even if Graham is, so what? Stuffing one’s ears with one’s fingers does not extinguish those ideas. Let them express their opinions in the light of day, where we can argue against them. I agree with Sobran, who said, “The attempt to silence a man is the greatest honour you can bestow on him. It means that you recognize his superiority to yourself.”
Kind of a pity: I always saw him as a harmless loon rather than genuinely offensive, but I do think that the Straight Dope wasn’t really the place for him. That said, it does seem like a pre-emptive banning, though, since people have done a lot worse and been warned a lot more often before being banned, and I’m rather uncomfortable with the idea of banning people because they don’t fit in. Any chance he can get his money back?
I figure he was toast after the Castenada thread and the mods were waiting for him to rack up enough of the inevitable technical infractions to ban him as soon as possible. I don’t blame them for that exactly, since I think that’s probably what I’d have done myself. I still think a refund might be nice.
Liberal, you see the banning as an attempt to silence someone.
I see it as the actions of a thoughtful host. One of the partygoers continues to engage in inappropriate behavior after being advised to cut it out. The thoughtful host then shows said partygoer the door, and firmly directs him out.
Agreed. I’m not entirely sure it was fair, but I do think he really needed to leave. As Miller said in the pit thread:
I don’t like the thought of how Graham might have reacted to people’s treatment of him here. Having to tiptoe around someone because they’re crazy also tends to disrupt the boards.
Your analogy falls down by virtue of the fact that he has paid to attend this party, and doesn’t get his 15 bucks back at the door. I confess to being a little irked at the disingenous nature of the reasons given in the OP for his banning, when it certainly seems as if he was quietly disappeared for being a loon who irritated some people - who, incidentally, were never forced to read or reply to any of his posts. Such behaviour from a poster may be, well, irritating, but doesn’t seem to contravene any board rules I’ve ever read.
I really must disagree with you here. Graham was all kinds of nutty and had all kinds of shots from the mods in the Carlos Castaneda thread. Seemed like a mod had to step in on every page. As for arguing against his ideas, he was the one with his fingers in his ears when it came to that. You had to follow a step by step programs to even get him to respond to you.
This was less “silencing a man” and more telling a rowdy drunk “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here.”
