Inspired by this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331690 Televangelist Pat Robertson has publicly called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez – a far, far less objectionable person than himself. What’s sauce for the goose . . .
But I am not (more’s the pity) starting this thread to call for Robertson’s murder. Nor do I want to start a debate on the wisdom/justice of killing him. Rather, I am starting this thread to Pit the Board rule against wishing death on named individuals. I say that should be fair game, under some circumstances, and this is very definitely one of them. I have a personal grudge here, of course. I got spanked by the Mods, not long ago, just for such a trivial offense as calling for W’s “resignation and suicide.” (See http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5742391&highlight=resignation#post5742391). That’s not fair. And I’m still holding a very bitter and very just grudge on behalf of Aldebaran, who got banned just for expressing (hypothetically, rhetorically) a wish to go to Iraq so he could fight and kill American GIs. (See http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5666439#post5666439.) That was not right. And the Board rule under which he was banned is not right either. I say we need much, much more liberal rules on this Board WRT wishing death on people.
That’s not in the interests of the Reader, and therefore not in the interests of anyone who wishes to continue to have the bestest message board on the internet around to post to.
I’m a pretty easy-going fella, but I’ll admit that there are a few shining examples of humanity with regard to whom I could easily imagine myself muttering “Somebody oughtta grease that waste of skin.”
If I said it here, though, there’s a greater-than-zero chance that somebody might read it and, in a fit of whimsy, grease the hypothetical waste of skin, and that the Reader or the SDMB admins might be held responsible to some degree.
Anything that might result in a 404 at boards.straightdope.com is something that I’d just as soon do without, even if it might give me some small satisfaction to say that Phineas P. Fuckwit’s demeanor could be vastly improved by jamming a corkscrew into his brain.
You do realise, don’t you , that death threats need to be reported to the proper authorites.
I used to work at AOL (yeah, yeah, many people hate AOL…get over it) and any time a death threat was reported I had to go bug the operations security people who then contacted the appropriate police agencies. Same with suicide threats, reports of rape/child molestation, child porn, etc.
It was a big ol’ pain in the ass*. I would assume (but do not know for a fact) that the Dope has to do something similar.
The reason AOL did this is that if someone made a death threat (and you would be suprised how many people sent threats through IMs or email) and it was reported to AOL and AOL did nothing then AOL could be held liable if something actually happened.
IANAL but one of AOLs lawyers did go over the policy with us, in detail, for hours, to make sure we knew what had to be reported.
So, even if a death threat is made in jest, it cannot be taken as a joke. There is too much at stake (someones life).
Slee
The death threats were a pain in the ass. The reports of rape/child molestation, and child porn were a pain in the ass and also sad. I personally ended up handling a case where a young girl(call her Jane) reported to her father that her IM buddy(call her Beth) said that her Daddy was doing bad things to her. The father called AOL and ended up talking to me. It turned out to be true. Janes friend Beth was being molested by her father. Beths Father(if you can call him that) ended up copping a plea and got like 18 years in jail. It was, by far, the hardest and most distrubing thing I ever had to handle at work.
Yeah, but how can you tell the difference on a message board between someone saying “I wish you were dead” just to vent bitterness and anger and someone saying “I wish you were dead” with an actual intent to go out and kill that person?
The person saying it could possibly not be–and probably isn’t, around here–serious about carrying out their expressed desire, but that’s the thing. You can never know for certain.
This reminds me of an episode of “Blackadder” (the fourth one, set during WWI). Capt. Blackadder is asked his opinion on how their general could improve troop morale, and says something like, “Well, I imagine his resignation and suicide would be tremendously helpful.”
As for Pat Robertson, I hope he and Jesus get together real soon.
Saying “Somebody oughta waste that motherfucker!” is not a death threat either, but I can appreciate Larry Mudd’s point. It might be taken as an act of “criminal solicitation”. (See the 1988 film The Accused, starring Jodie Foster, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094608/ – based loosely on a notorious gang-rape in a bar in New Bedford, MA. A woman is raped in a bar and her actual assailants get off light through plea-bargaining, but then the DA goes after the other men in the bar who cheered and shouted and urged on the rapists, and they are convicted of the crime of criminal solicitation.)
OTOH, saying, “I wish X were dead” would not rise to that level. And when Aldebaran said he was itching for the chance to fight American soldiers – that’s really in the nature of “political speech,” isn’t it?
I’m still not satisfied Aldebaran violated the terms of this. If the rules themselves aren’t changed, they could at any rate be applied more liberally.
If it’s fair game under “some” circumstances, then it needs to be fair game under ALL circumstances. Yes, everyone hates Pat Robertson. But will you have the same attitude when someone calls for the death of someone that you like or respect? If we’re going to be allowed to do this, it can’t just apply in “some circumstances.”
Because, you pathetic fools, you cannot kill that which is not alive, mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!! The Reverend has no heart, nor blood, nor does he breathe God’s air. His brains are made of congealed bile, his lungs traffic in flame and his veins are filled with black sand.
If ye would destroy him, take eight true men and women, each armed with a Bible and a stone dagger, and approach from the four points of the compass, and the four in between, striking all at once…
Or, just quit sending the bigoted moron money, for crying out loud.
Seriously, there is no percentage in wishing death on anyone, even presuming they deserve it. It’s either completely pointless or incitement to murder, and neither end of that stick is worth holding.
Boy I like the way you think. Perfect Ironic Justice.
I don’t wish any specific harm to Pat, but should harm ever find its way to him, I would not shed a tear and may even be so callous as to let out a little WooHoo!!!
