# Spectre of Pithecanthropus' mod note in Pyongyang Metro thread \[Edited Title\] **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 3, 2011, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270 "2011-01-03T22:00:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/21 "2011-01-05T02:27:10Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > To pursue this a little further, I certainly can’t recall anyone being banned for defending the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian populace of Japan in WWII, nor should I expect it. Are the mods saying that a ban might be in order were a poster to support a similar strategy in the event of a war with North Korea or China? The post was not a defense of the use of nuclear weapons during a war, it was a suggestion that an entire people be eliminated (genocide) with nuclear weapons happening to be the method of carrying out that action. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2011, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/22 "2011-01-05T05:05:41Z")
There was some other guy banned when he advocated wiping out all Palestinians, even the children because “nits make lice.” (That was especially creepy) ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/23 "2011-01-05T14:24:19Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > There was some other guy banned when he advocated wiping out all Palestinians, even the children because “nits make lice.” (That was especially creepy) As far as I can tell, that’s not quite correct. My Googling shows that was **Clint in Wichita** and that he was never banned, but was [warned](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2703489&postcount=55). ---
**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:** [January 5, 2011, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/24 "2011-01-05T17:08:28Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > If pedantry is your game, we wouldn’t be nuking them without provocation, so yes, Virginia, whatever circumstances in which the North Koreans found themselves radioactive would most likely be a retaliation to a heinous act of war perpetrated by them, calling for an overwhelming application of high-yield nuclear explosives. Of course, none of this was said or even implied in the post in question; this is your extrapolation. And even if North Korea did commit an attack, genocide against the civilian population would not be justified. The post was not talking about a few strategic nuclear strikes against military targets or even cities, but complete extermination. > [@](#): > > Genocide and war are not mutually exclusive. Among civilized nations, they are supposed to be. > [@aldiboronti](#): > > To pursue this a little further, I certainly can’t recall anyone being banned for defending the use of nuclear weapons against the civilian populace of Japan in WWII, nor should I expect it. Are the mods saying that a ban might be in order were a poster to support a similar strategy in the event of a war with North Korea or China? Again, this is a misrepresentation of the post in question, which was not proposing limited strategic bombing. If someone had said that all Japanese should have been exterminated after WWII, yes, that would probably merit a mod note. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/25 "2011-01-06T00:49:48Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > As a last-resort measure, it _will_ accomplish the job that needs to be done. Sometimes, you’ve got to break a few eggs. Guest note This is extremely inappropriate. Do not compare a country’s population with the eggs in your fridge in this forum again. No warning issued. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/26 "2011-01-06T00:53:19Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Guest note > > This is extremely inappropriate. Do not compare a country’s population with the eggs in your fridge in this forum again. > > No warning issued. I didn’t want to hijack this thread so I’ve [created a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=2) about this Guest Note that was, in my view, unfounded. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/27 "2011-01-06T04:15:09Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > I didn’t want to hijack this thread so I’ve [created a thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?f=2) about this Guest Note that was, in my view, unfounded. The link doesn’t lead to a thread. It just leads to the ATMB forum. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/28 "2011-01-06T05:21:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The link doesn’t lead to a thread. It just leads to the ATMB forum. Welcome to whoosh-ville, good sir. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/29 "2011-01-07T01:47:23Z")
D’oh! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Wombats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Wombats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Wombats)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/30 "2011-01-07T20:20:01Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Among civilized nations, they are supposed to be. But doesn’t genocide require war? Correct me if I’m wrong, but one of the names given to the international laws / covenants banning genocide are the “laws of war”. Because civilized nations have ostensibly outlawed and banned genocide does not, to me, divorce genocide from war. It’s a tactic we no longer engage in, yes, but that doesn’t seem sufficient to me to claim the two ideas are mutually exclusive. I think we have clear evidence around the world that genocide is still a problem today. Or is war now defined only as those methods of exercising physical force as permitted by international law? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/31 "2011-01-07T21:11:57Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > It’s cool, no warning was issued so it’s all cool. “No warning was issued so it’s all cool.” This poster obviously hasn’t spent a lot of time in ATMB. I based my call on the suggestion of wiping an entire country and all its people off the map. If the subject Germany during WWII I would have objected similarly to the idea of using the country as nuclear target practice; but if someone had directed the same sentiment specifically towards the leaders I would have been fine with that. Most of the people in NK are themselves victims. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/32 "2011-01-07T21:13:39Z")
And I’m changing the thread title to better state the content. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/33 "2011-01-07T21:18:52Z")
And yet we had a guy here not so long ago that started a thread wanting either all religious people, all Christians, or maybe all conservatives killed, and I had to raise seven kinds of hell to get it moved to the Pit. Don’t think the OP even drew a mod note–though the poster that started the thread may have eventually been banned or otherwise moderated. How was that relatively OK, and the incident in question here not OK? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/34 "2011-01-07T21:35:38Z")
[This](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566782) is thread I am referencing above. And [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566788) is the ATMB thread about it. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/35 "2011-01-07T21:44:49Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Wombats](#): > > But doesn’t genocide require war? Germany didn’t have to go to war with the Jews to start the Holocaust. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/36 "2011-01-07T21:45:43Z")
And on further review, “seven kinds of hell” meant starting an ATMB thread slightly before **Marley** moved the thread to the Pit. Still, the Pit thread went some 10 pages, and seems as genocidal as anything about nuking all North Koreans–but no such “don’t do this again” smackdown was issued. ---
**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:** [January 8, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/37 "2011-01-08T00:26:24Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Wombats](#): > > But doesn’t genocide require war? Of course not, unless you declare the act of killing defenseless people to be warfare. Genocide has often been committed against a defenseless population, e.g. Rwanda. And although the Holocaust was committed during a war, it was not itself warfare. > [@](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but one of the names given to the international laws / covenants banning genocide are the “laws of war”. And they forbid genocide. > [@](#): > > Because civilized nations have ostensibly outlawed and banned genocide does not, to me, divorce genocide from war. It’s a tactic we no longer engage in, yes, but that doesn’t seem sufficient to me to claim the two ideas are mutually exclusive. I think we have clear evidence around the world that genocide is still a problem today. > > Or is war now defined only as those methods of exercising physical force as permitted by international law? In any case, this is entirely irrelevant to the main issue, which is that _advocating_ genocide is a jerkish thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/38 "2011-01-08T00:54:42Z")
And don’t forget Cambodia. The couple million people were rounded up and killed _after_ the Khmer Rouge won the war and sealed off the country. ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/39 "2011-01-08T03:39:56Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > “No warning was issued so it’s all cool.” > > This poster obviously hasn’t spent a lot of time in ATMB. Point of order, Mr. **Ghost of Java Man.** I am not the one complaining about your actions. **Ogre** was the one who started this thread, and others have voiced their criticism for either side (mostly mine, if my mathematics is correct.) I myself have no opinion to express, because it’s not a problem for me – there are more pressing matters that demand my attention at this point in time. > [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Most of the people in NK are themselves victims. The same applies to the Germans & Japanese during WWII, but nobody today complains about the conventional bombings of Dresden & Tokyo, which massacred over 250,000 people combined. Sure, nuclear weapons have a strong stigma attached to them, but why should that make any difference? As for “genocide” (sheesh) it’s almost always performed by a nation against it’s _own_ citizens (Sudan, Iraq, Turkey, etc.) or against a very weak nation who lives on real estate they wish to possess for themselves (USA vs. the Native Americans, Ancient Israel vs. the Amalekites, etc.) Beyond that, all is fair in love and war. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2011, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270/40 "2011-01-08T06:38:35Z")
> [@fuzzypickles](#): > > Point of order, Mr. **Ghost of Java Man.** I am not the one complaining about your actions. I know you aren’t one of the ones complaining, and I wasn’t implying that you are. All I was pointing out was that the notation “no warning issued” usually doesn’t get us off the hook if someone doesn’t like the call. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spectre-of-pithecanthropus-mod-note-in-pyongyang-metro-thread-edited-title/566270.md?page=3)