# If someone wants to commit suicide by mod, you should let them **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 25, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072 "2018-11-25T20:54:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/81 "2018-11-26T15:36:31Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I don’t understand this. Are you saying that because for most of American history, it was considered normal and accepted to make white supremacist assertions, that white supremacist assertions (say, “black people are inferior”) weren’t hate speech until such assertions were no longer widely acceptable? People should be able to express their thoughts. Period. If someone is of the mind that “black people are inferior”, let them let everyone know the racist mind, judge them accordingly, respond if they see fit or just put them on Ignore. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/82 "2018-11-26T15:36:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I think any direct requests and/or dares to ban should be granted immediately. “No backsies!” ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/83 "2018-11-26T15:38:26Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > People should be able to express their thoughts. Period. If someone is of the mind that “black people are inferior”, let them let everyone know the racist mind, judge them accordingly, respond if they see fit or just put them on Ignore. So others should also be free to call them racists in as strongly-worded terms as they like, I presume? ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/84 "2018-11-26T15:39:33Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > People should be able to express their thoughts. Period. Fortunately, people are able to express their thoughts, period. You’re apparently wanting to add in some nuances and riders and qualifiers, something like, “People should be able to express their thoughts ON THIS MESSAGEBOARD WITHOUT SANCTION.” And I disagree with those riders. If all you want is for people to be able to express their thoughts, you’re in luck! Folks who are alive, not gagged with an old gym sock, and not suffering from nonverbal autism or a similar condition already have the capability you want them to have. If you want riders instead of period, you’ll have to defend those. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/85 "2018-11-26T15:41:03Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I thought the ruling was that the “joke” was made solely to get a rise out of people, not to get a laugh: it was trolling. How about if half the people laugh? 25%? 10%? 1%? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/86 "2018-11-26T15:41:18Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > People should be able to express their thoughts. Period. If someone is of the mind that “black people are inferior”, let them let everyone know the racist mind, judge them accordingly, respond if they see fit or just put them on Ignore. One big totally unrestricted BBQ Pit? No, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/87 "2018-11-26T15:48:29Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Enjoy your echo chamber, guys. Look on the positive side–you will have more time to try to help sex offenders get away with it. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/88 "2018-11-26T15:48:43Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > Since when is insulting a non-poster (Michelle Obama) against the rules?!? … I’d like to try to explain the difference. When you use the suggestion that someone is transgender AS AN INSULT you are implicitly insulting all transgender people. Not just Michelle Obama. And that’s why it isn’t allowed. To give a very minor example – on another board I frequent, a poster used to insult people by calling them “mouth breathers”. I actually DO often breath through my mouth, much more than most adults. That insult always bothered me a little. But “mouth breather” is not really a group that faces any significant discrimination, so I decided I could put up with it and never complained. Trans people face discrimination all the time, and being assaulted at random by that sort of insult adds to already considerable stress. > [@TroutMan](#): > > Nazi and Cheeto are insults to a person. Transphobic “jokes” are an insult to an entire group of people (including posters here). If you can’t understand the difference, I can’t help you. Well, insulting someone by calling him a Nazi is also insulting to actual Nazis, but I hope the conservatives here think that’s okay. > [@UltraVires](#): > > A joke about Michelle Obama having a penis (again, if that is what it actually was) is horrific, but a serious comment that Trump is having sex with his own daughter is perfectly fine? Which would you prefer to be said about you?.. Again, I think we can agree that it’s okay to insult people for incest. It’s the innocent bystanders, not the politician, who are being protected by this moderation. > [@UltraVires](#): > > This serious and thought provoking discourse you want on the board allows a thread about whether people should forgive Trump supporters in the future like we forgave the individual Nazis? > > There are countless posts about how Trump supporters are complete dipshits despite the fact that posters on this board have voted for him. How are those not personal insults? Which is why these are much stronger examples. Because yes, those are insulting to members of this board. I’ll let the actual mods unpack that. > [@UltraVires](#): > > This “joke” was one against a single person, Michelle Obama, who does not claim to be transgender. It was a comment on her “manly” appearance, but like how Chimp for G.W.B. and Cheeto for Trump are comments on appearances. > > And, again, if the rules are now construed that insults against groups of people, because members of that group are posters here, are now against the rules, then we need to take a delete key to most of Great Debates and Elections because they are mostly insults against Trump supporters and conservatives. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/89 "2018-11-26T15:54:33Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > But “mouth breather” is not really a group that faces any significant discrimination, so I decided I could put up with it and never complained. “Mouth breather” is just a roundabout way of calling someone mentally handicapped, because it’s quite strongly associated with Downs and cerebral palsy. So not \*that \*different, actually. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/90 "2018-11-26T15:55:36Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > An insult towards Trump as having an incestuous relationship with his daughter is an insult to Trump himself. It’s origin is derived from his comments about the attractiveness of his daughter. It’s specific to him. This type of criticism hasn’t been leveled at anyone else because they haven’t made the same type of comments toward members of their own family. > > Comments about M. Obama having a penis is based on her being black and tall, and possibly because she is fit. I interpret it as a similar type insult as other race based insult - disparaging towards a race of people. This is nuts. The fact is that some women appear to be more masculine than others, regardless of race or color. If someone says—either seriously or jokingly—that Michele Obama looks like she may be a man, how do you know that race plays any role in that at all? Especially since it makes much more sense to assume that her tallness and musculature (male-associated traits) is what led to the comment and not color or race, which are not male-associated traits. If I say that I think Leslie Jones might be a man, is that race-based? Hate based? Hate based toward a group? How about I say that I think the odds are MUCH greater than Leslie Jones is a man than, say, Kerry Washington? How about if I say that I think the odds that Michelle Obama has a penis is much greater than the odds that Kerry Washington has one? How does that fit into your calculus? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/91 "2018-11-26T16:04:02Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So others should also be free to call them racists in as strongly-worded terms as they like, I presume? I wasn’t talking about name-calling. But as the example I gave would almost be the definition of “racist” I think it would be correct. That’s easy. The problem arises when people try to use it as a cudgel in discussion that are accurately and more appropriately defined as being “racial”. It doesn’t mean that someone cannot one of the mind that a poster or an even is racist, it acknowledges a grey area. Much like with the accusation of lying, and referring to a poster as a liar. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/92 "2018-11-26T16:05:30Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > This is nuts. The fact is that some women appear to be more masculine than others, regardless of race or color. If someone says—either seriously or jokingly—that Michele Obama looks like she may be a man, how do you know that race plays any role in that at all? Especially since it makes much more sense to assume that her tallness and musculature (male-associated traits) is what led to the comment and not color or race, which are not male-associated traits. > > If I say that I think Leslie Jones might be a man, is that race-based? Hate based? Hate based toward a group? How about I say that I think the odds are MUCH greater than Leslie Jones is a man than, say, Kerry Washington? How about if I say that I think the odds that Michelle Obama has a penis is much greater than the odds that Kerry Washington has one? How does that fit into your calculus? Good rule of thumb: Write the post, read the post aloud, then decide whether or not it is a good idea to post it. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/93 "2018-11-26T16:11:52Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So you’re in denial that hate speech exists? Hateful speech exists. “Hate Speech” as a category is a contrivance to restrict speech that some on the left find offensive and don’t think should enter anyone’s ears. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/94 "2018-11-26T16:12:08Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I wasn’t talking about name-calling. > [@magellan01](#): > > People should be able to express […] “black people are inferior” “you’re inferior” isn’t namecalling to you? Not touching the “racial isn’t racist” stupidity in this thread, it’s been thoroughly addressed before. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/95 "2018-11-26T16:13:42Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > “you’re inferior” isn’t namecalling to you? No, it’s a position. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/96 "2018-11-26T16:14:51Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > “Hate Speech” as a category is a contrivance to restrict speech that some on the left find offensive and don’t think should enter anyone’s ears. Yep, the mods on this board are so famously leftist… ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/97 "2018-11-26T16:16:01Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Good rule of thumb: Write the post, read the post aloud, then decide whether or not it is a good idea to post it. I take it that you object to something I wrote. Why don’t you point to those parts and explain yourself. Granted it would be more work for you, but if you’re trying to communicate something, it is more helpful. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/98 "2018-11-26T16:16:03Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > I wasn’t talking about name-calling. But as the example I gave would almost be the definition of “racist” I think it would be correct. That’s easy. The problem arises when people try to use it as a cudgel in discussion that are accurately and more appropriately defined as being “racial”. It doesn’t mean that someone cannot one of the mind that a poster or an even is racist, it acknowledges a grey area. Much like with the accusation of lying, and referring to a poster as a liar. This “racial” thing again? You’ve complained about it for years but never adequately explained it. I still don’t know what the hell it means. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/99 "2018-11-26T16:17:07Z")
> [@magellan01](#): > > No, it’s a position. No, “missionary” is a position. “You’re inferior” isn’t \*just \*namecalling, it’s the very fucking Platonic ideal of namecalling, the dark thought buried at the heart of nearly every other pejorative out there. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072/100 "2018-11-26T16:17:35Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > This “racial” thing again? You’ve complained about it for years but never adequately explained it. I still don’t know what the hell it means. Racish? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-someone-wants-to-commit-suicide-by-mod-you-should-let-them/825072.md?page=6)