Any thread that deals with Israel needs to be watched closely. RI is no different in some respects from other venues for the discussion of conspiracy tropes: the hatred can bubble right under the surface here. It's unfortunate, but a reality, that huge swaths of this landscape echo versions of older, dangerous material so many iterations removed from the source as to be protected by the layers of intervening associations. There have been far too many episodes of real hate speech here to think that somehow, majickally, that mindset has disappeared for good. It never does. Cinderella's carriage is a fucking pumpkin, and she's not supposed to forget that while the music plays so sweetly at the ball. But she always does.
I hate to think how many Israel/zionist threads we're going to have on the front page as the tempo continues to build towards an Iranian war. The eight we had at one point last night was really getting me down. I recall a moment during the aftermath of the flotilla incident when we had seventeen on the front page. So I don't kid myself that there's not a pretty intense focus on the subject around here, or that the codespeak and probable spates of personal messaging isn't a part of it. It is. Personally, I'm at the point at which I simply sit back reading trying to categorize the repetitious tropes as to which are just mindless regurgitation, vehement hatred, deliberate baiting, dog whistling, careful pushing of the lines of appropriateness, and legitimate analysis. One thing you rarely hear are suggestions for solutions. Well, Alice had one the other day - the end of Israel. As smart as she is, I wondered if she considered just what events might compel such a diaspora, or just how inevitable that outcome probably is.
Of course, what can be done about it? Maybe a subforum for Israel? Creating a subforum can rather neatly suck the interest out of almost any class of subject matter. It's really not even a pet topic for me - I'm here for the weird. But it takes over and things get ugly.
Wombaticus Rex wrote:One concrete thought I've had is that I'm going to refrain from comment or involvement with anything another moderator is already dealing with. No matter what the reality is, I think there's often a perception of "ganging up" that tweaks some of our more fragile souls and fringe specimens.
I agree that this is a good tactic. If a mod needs some assistance in a thread, put up an alert flag at the appropriate juncture. Or start a thread down here asap.
It's sad, but I find I'm not entering conversations as much as I used to. It's the nature of the thing itself, as far as I can tell. I've told many of my favorite stories already, and truth be told I get no satisfaction out of helping to consolidate the communal sense of outrage at every rip and slander visited upon me and the world by each successive news cycle, or by once again thrashing through similar arguments. What I really need is a quality UFO hoax right about now. Or banning eyeno. That would probably perk me up.