An invitation to haters: Bill O'Reilly brought a representative from freerepublic.com on to his show the other night to chastise him for not being sufficiently vigilant in banning haters from the website. This was obviously a response to liberals accusing O'Reilly of only pointing out hate sites on the Left, and an attempt to show others that he is not a hater from the Right because he identifies and condemns the real conservative haters.
I have been banned for comments at several websites: liberal and white nationalist websites, and freerepublic.com itself for committing the crime of citing statistics. (I cited UCR data showing that social class does not explain the link between race and street crime. I didn't even say a word about why that would be). Don't worry, Bill, if what you want is to shut down speech you don't agree with (data, in my case)--Free Republic is doing a hell of a job.
So, since I believe in the First Amendment and know what it is like to be treated like an animal--muzzles are for dogs--I offer this invitation to all the so-called haters out there: please come and express yourself at this little blog. I make a solemn vow that, as long as you do not make a call for violence, I will never censor you.
Come all you racists, you homophobes, you Communists. Come all you atheists, you bigots, you anti-Christs. Come all you misogynists, you Bush-haters, you anarchists. Come all you cop-haters, you white-haters, you Bolsheviks.
Come and get that craziness off your chest, and what may sound like hate to some will sound like poetry to me because it's free. And who knows--some of that craziness may actually turn out to be true.
Are gun owners mentally ill?
Some anti-gun people think owning a gun is a sign of some kind of mental abnormality. According to General Social Survey data, gun owners ...
chirp...chirp...chirp
ReplyDeletegettingitoffmychest: Do you feel better now?
ReplyDeleteActually, yes. Yes, I do.
ReplyDeleteGIOMC: Good, my work here is done.
ReplyDeleteGIOMC,
ReplyDeleteYou sound like a very ugly human being.
But your comment is useful because it perfectly demonstrates the confusion between (1) willing to engage unpleasant facts and (2) actual, pointless, stupid racial malice. This confusion usually infects both those who condemn "racism" (as the word is popularly understood) and those who happily practice the real thing.
It's clear to me that, for instance, blacks on average have a significantly lower IQ than whites, and whites have a lower IQ on average than most groups of east asians. Blacks also, partly because of the IQ difference but also because of other inherent and cultural factors (the two of which are inextricably linked) tend possess poorer judgment and impulse control than other groups, leading to higher rates of crime and lower rates of social organization.
By the popular meaning of "racist," these statements would easily qualify. But they're entirely empirical, so they're either true or not true. And if they happen to be true, it simply doesn't make sense to condemn something true as somehow immoral to point out, particularly when it has such great ability to make sense of current social conditions. In short, the popular definition of "racist" doesn't make sense.
But people like you, GIOMC, are no better, because your brand of frothing, silly, pointless, emotional animus is truly immoral, by any reasonable standard of that word.
MH: I'll raise my mug to that...except for the part about those damn Canadians.
ReplyDeleteMuswell,
ReplyDeleteThe whole point of Rob's post was to invite people to express their stupid racist/sexist/homophobic malice. What did you expect to find in the comments boxes--reasonable discourse?
Uh, just a guess, but perhaps GIOMC's comments were intended as parody?
ReplyDeleteGIOMC: Muswell offered a reasoned response; you offered bad parody. Here's a hint if you want to do that sort of thing: tip off the reader through statements that are beyond what someone would credibly say. The thought occurred to me when I first read your BS "liberal troll" but I don't like to take a suspicious stance. You helped confirm my suspicions about your type.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of BS comment is used by people to argue that real racists don't exist; that people like you are just ginning up an imaginary problem.
I said I wouldn't censor speech, but I will censor dishonest mischief makers like you. Bore someone else with your fake speech.
How 'bout us general misanthropes? Are we welcome, too? ;-)
ReplyDeleteThis wrongheaded post overlooks that there are very real externalities to no comment moderation.
ReplyDeleteIf the purpose of open comments is to promote useful dialog and insight, inviting in comment noise could easily drive away those with worthwhile opinions and destroy the forum. People with marginal viewpoints or antisocial dispositions will often congregate in the few higher visibility, more mainstream forums that tolerate them - and then consume and destroy the local culture through persistence, rudeness and numbers (those who worry about immigration should understand how this would apply on the micro scale)
Neither the host or other commentators will have the time or inclination to sift through 500 inbred comments of "NIGGERZ R CHIMPS!!1!' to find the possible worthwhile comments, and worthwhile people won't comment because they know they won't be seen. Also they won't want their names associated with the forum and that terrible company. Who wants to associate (or give the obvious appearance of association) with that?
- Reader
Anon: Your comments are appreciated. Of course an unmoderated forum is not cost-free, but it's worth it in my estimation. All the words you used--"useful dialogue","rudeness","antisocial","culture","association", etc.--are the same words that some people would use to justify banning me. Free speech isn't pretty, orderly, or cultured, because not all people are these things. Lies are usually pretty, and the truth is often ugly. Other blogs might prioritize the values you list--I don't, not here anyway. If this were a business or I were a politician, I would probably need another apporach. But I have a unique opportunity here to enable something that I consider to be very important.
ReplyDeleteAnd honestly, I doubt I'll get many takers: idiots don't like statistics.
Ron,
ReplyDeleteWell, if my post was parody, it was self-parody. I posted the most outrageous, exaggerated version of things that, I am ashamed to say, I have thought in my uglier moments. I kind of thought that's what we were being invited to post. Anyway, I'm not proud of my prejudicial tendencies, and they certainly aren't as severe as my post would make it seem (not by a looooong margin). But nor was I trying to be a "liberal troll."
As for "tipping off the reader through statements that are beyond what someone would credibly say," I thought that's what I was doing when I was equating sleeping with a black person with sleeping with an ape. I'm sorry, but I don't know *anyone* who thinks people actually say shit like that and mean it. But maybe the internet takes all kinds.
This whole exercise has left me feeling ill. If no one minds - and I'm sure no one does - I'm going to apologize to anyone I have offended, reiterate that I was only making fun of myself, and slink back into the sewer with my tail between my legs.
1. Take the last letter of the last word of the name of school where you currently teach.
ReplyDelete2. Take the last letter of the first word of the name of the school where you got your postgraduate degree.
3. Replace the letters with numbers as follows: A=1; B=2; C=3; etc.
4. Multiply the 2 numbers.
5. Add up the digits from the result of step 4.
The result is the same as the number of letters in your real last name.
That should prove to you that it's possible to find you. I oughtta "out" you for being such a racist fuck, but hey - Rushton won't be around forever and we need a few people to publicly point out that the emporer is naked. Even though everyone already knows it.
jun: Who's Miss Ann Thrope, and why is she controversial?
ReplyDeleteAnon: So I guess the whole free speech post didn't do anything for ya?
ReplyDeletehictso: In the words (and voice) of Groucho Marx, "Do you suppose I could buy back my introduction to you?"
ReplyDelete"Anon: So I guess the whole free speech post didn't do anything for ya? "
ReplyDeleteNon sequitur.
ron -- "In two words: im possible."
ReplyDeleteJewish individuals may support it and some may even be sincere, but on average Jews are v. bad for free speech too. It's a white male north-western European thing and as the power of WMNWEs declines, so does free speech.
From the liberal side, we could start in on the Scotch-Irish. Responsible for the Southern US AND Northern Ireland!
ReplyDelete