Towards a new RI

[jakell]

BPH...That was too chopped up** for me considering how even the initial subject was basically nit picking.

Skimmed it and typed this out, sorry if you took a lot of trouble but I can't be bothered.


**ETA: on a second viewing it's not quite so bad, but it still seems like too much ado about nothing.

[brainpanhandler]

BPH...That was too chopped up for me considering how even the initial subject was basically nit picking.

Skimmed it and typed this out, sorry if you took a lot of trouble but I can't be bothered

I was quite clear. Took only a few moments. No skin off my nose. Carry on.

[brainpanhandler]

But even given AD's missteps, basically all he has to do is show up with an uncommented article (often interesting in itself, sometimes OT on a thread) to get a LOT of instant howling going. elihu's rant on the besieged white race above is a classic example

I know right? Can you believe he wasted his 777th post for that? Actually I would respect the hell out of the opinion that racism flows many and all ways, as long as it was coming from a non-caucasian. Somehow I imagine Elihu is not a non-caucasian.

and reminds me of how he flooded the Graeber thread for many pages with altogether off-topic sponsored right-wing disinfo about Social Security as a "debt" problem. Why doesn't that prompt the same outrage?

That's a good question. For one thing it's well within the bounds of acceptable discourse and should be, off-topicality aside. Meh. How fun would it be if O'reilly or Hannity or Limbaugh or more highbrow, Charles Murray, joined here? I'd welcome that.

[Col. Quisp]

I will waste my 1000th post by yawning. Yawn!

[BrandonD]

I can't help thinking, it is so stereotypically American that we seem so eager to ban anyone on the forum who even slightly irritates our sensibilities.

Perhaps this place isn't as dreadfully important as some of us imagine it to be, perhaps it is not the last remaining bastion of truth in the world and it is not crawling with double agents and Hasbara operatives and KKK moles waiting for the signal from their superiors to reveal their true subversive intentions. Perhaps it is just a forum of ordinary fallible human beings, trying to discern what's going on, but with a slightly overblown opinion of themselves.

In that case, this would mean that this forum itself is actually a microcosm experiment in how people of varied beliefs CAN ACTUALLY GET ALONG.

On the other hand, we could always draw up a chart depicting every member of this forum on a good and evil spectrum. We could see who our enemies are and who we should ingratiate ourselves with. I for one would love to know if I'm a hero or a villain in this oh-so-important galactic battle.

More than likely, just a court jester throwing pebbles at the royalty as they walk by.

[seemslikeadream]

all I know is that I am the delusional drama queen and I get to wear the crown

[BrandonD]

[smiths]

how about this idea

a single subforum for meta-discussion about the forum itself - thoughts and ruminations of a more meandering and subjective type, like music i'm listening to, is the Board rubbish, etc etc

and then keep all the discussions about the who and why of the forum itself out of the targetted discussion on specific topics, issues or events

if a person is disruptive consistently to the vibe of the forum or to the generally respectful and collegial community, they get reported and reviewed, if they are a genuine disruptor or hater of any type they are banned


this thought led me to a couple of questions I hadnt really considered before about the structure of the forum and its implications for the 'state' of the forum

i almost feel embarressed to ask but, who does pay for domain and the hosting of the forum?
who controls the number of mods and what they can and cant do? who can remove the mods?
who looks at membership applications and monitors them or analyses them in any way?

perhaps if people want a better forum and quality of discussion (as i do) they have to be more active in maintaining the forum

[Elvis]

I'm really five pages back, just jumping in to reply to BPH...

I give you points for maintaining your optimism, but I have to deduct way more points for your lack of realism. Good luck with your quest to change the world one person at a time, inch by inch.

That said, I think we must keep in mind an important truth declared by the revolutionary anthropologist Ruth Benedict, in her 1934 classic, Patterns of Culture:

no civilization has in it any element which in the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual.

I wanted to shout this out on the city bus when I read it. Ruth Benedict kicks ass and Patterns of Culture is delightful to read and her descriptions of the sample cultures frankly astonished me. You couldn't make this stuff up. Anyway, the above quote is from the last chapter, a very quick search found the first half (and the full quote) here: http://books.google.com/books?id=-5kEBB ... al&f=false


...now to catch up on this 'lively' thread....

[norton ash]

Well... I just had a lovely long weekend in the woods. Listening to 'Nixon by Nixon' on HBO right now. Holey moley, I just don't know WHO I can trust anymore. I think I'm getting cynical!

I'd appeal to common sense before ban-hammers or new mods. Christ... do we-- of all people-- not know what's suspicious bullshit yet? Is fascism a hot virus? Is it not sufficient to say 'Nice link, idiot, have you read the whole menu?' and let the peers decide before we call in the law?

What we talk about is way too serious to be taken so seriously. Or personally. You can't touch me or hurt me unless I let you, and I need no protection while I sit at a keyboard, ffs. Namaste, motherfuckers.

[JackRiddler]

who even slightly irritates our sensibilities.

"The Jew screams in pain as he strikes you."

Just an irritation to my sensibilities. Obviously not to yours.

[Elihu]

. elihu's rant on the besieged white race above is a classic example

I know right? Can you believe he wasted his 777th post for that? Actually I would respect the hell out of the opinion that racism flows many and all ways, as long as it was coming from a non-caucasian. Somehow I imagine Elihu is not a non-caucasian.

so remind me again who is viewing the world through race spectacles? if i understand you correctly whitey is disqualified? so then, left leanings notwithstanding, should the two of you happen to be white, by your own standards you would have to stfu? i'm kidding. standards mean something different your worlds.

wrt to the race issue, it may be a motivation behind systemic oppression but it is not the MO. the MO can be figured out. racism can't. except (and i will lump you in with the lizard) in your denunciation campaigns. different brand of justice i know, and you're all dreaming of the day...

[Elvis]

Jakell is a more slippery advocate of fascist/racist type ideas- and probably too arrogant about his crypto/third positionist trickery...

If he's that he's toothless. Leave it alone. Report posts you object to to the mods. I would definitely not ban Jakell. If the board cannot withstand what you think you see then we deserve to be overrun. You are being and have been a bit witchhunty AD. Though I will always hold that your intentions are good and you are an ally and not a foe. That much should be plain.

Good points, BPH.

AD, I think Jakell has been funnin' you, to provoke the witchhunty reactions, it's a game. I can't keep track of all the Right Nationalist Movements, Fronts, Blocs, Parties (Bloc Party!) etc., but I Jakell doesn't seem to sympathize with them, and he keeps saying he doesn't sympathize with them. And as far as these things go, I think Jakell's contributed some pertinent information. Hell, he might even have a physics degree. One thing seems clear, he likes to push your buttons.

[American Dream]

AD, I think Jakell has been funnin' you, to provoke the witchhunty reactions, it's a game. I can't keep track of all the Right Nationalist Movements, Fronts, Blocs, Parties (Bloc Party!) etc., but I Jakell doesn't seem to sympathize with them, and he keeps saying he doesn't sympathize with them. And as far as these things go, I think Jakell's contributed some pertinent information. Hell, he might even have a physics degree. One thing seems clear, he likes to push your buttons.

Jakell's urging of readers to go visit white nationalist sites really had nothing to do with me at first. It was me noticing what he was doing- and then noticing that he was doing it again, that led to our ongoing clashes. It certainly is true that he's been evasive about this and likes to play games, provoke etc.

Regarding certain comments urging that we focus on tolerance of and coexistence with those promoting hateful ideas, I'll hazard a guess that the vast majority of those advancing this position are white men from the cultural majority, straight, cis-gendered, native-born? Or at least most of the above? If so- and with all due respect- I've got to wonder how this might influence your perspective regarding the inclusion of neo-Nazis, and other such racist/fascist sympathizers.

What do you think these sorts of individuals might do to this board with regards to marginalized and oppressed people?

[psynapz]

Jakell's urging of readers to go visit white nationalist sites

Stop being such a queen. I've gone to bat for you before like bph is here, valiant white knight that he is, but I'm all out of fucks to give about fairness to you. You're singlehandedly destroying this place, AD.

If you're not a textbook, intentional, progress-disrupting online persona managed by some group tasked with delicately preventing the RI community from achieving consensus and time-efficiently synthesizing OSINT data into evidence of crimes of state, then I'm sad for the members of your IRL sphere of influence that they have to accomplish their self-organizing for the greater good in clear spite of your fascistic-autistic divisiveness, interrogations, polarizations, and all the shit-stirring, finger-pointing bullshit. It's for sure giving this board the cancer, and I can't imagine how often you must get accused down at the community center of being another Brandon Darby.

If you ARE for real, then I hope you eventually realize what a controlling asshole you've always been, underneath all the patronizing italics.

I'll never forget the way you treated Rachel Begley, and I wish that behavioral pattern were more an aberration for you than a dot on the scatter-plot of your "contributions" here.