Quote:
Originally Posted by Loke
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I don't understand people who still think that censoring the internet is even remotely feasible in 2016. Don't like something someone said? Reply to them or ignore it, but don't expect the internet to be some sort of safe space where you never have to confront the reality that some people hold some fucked up opinions. Free and open discourse, even when it includes some insensitive ideas, is more important than your feels.
There is an ignore function the the forums, please feel free to use it for any posters who offend you. Fuck off with trying to censor shit for everyone though.
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It's not so much a matter of "censoring the internet" as it is not providing a literal forum for racism. For example, in America, we've already agreed, as a society, that censorship of speech is a bad thing. And yet, you're not free to walk into a private establishment and deliver a racist rant without being removed. Freedom of speech means you don't go to jail for advocating ideas, even if they're bad ones. It doesn't mean you get invited to every dinner party to espouse your views.
This is a private forum. Its owners exercise nearly complete control over what is and isn't allowed to be published on it. Posts including staff criticism or real life attacks, for instance, are frequently removed and often result in loss of forum access for the poster. So it's disingenuous to act like speech on this forum isn't already being censored. It is selective censorship, and it's fair game to ask why certain forms of speech (i.e. overt anti-semitism) are not banned--or those bans are not vigorously enforced--while others are.
There is obviously no rule forbidding this forum from promoting or turning a blind eye to racist or anti-semitic speech. If the forum runners approve of it, that's within their rights. The OP justifiably asks whether they do--whether their silence on the issue is intentional or whether they were unaware of the post in question. Presumably it matters to him and will impact his continued patronage of the project.
I appreciate the anti-censorship angle, but it just doesn't apply here. This is a private elf club and if its members and/or owners agree that racism isn't invited to elf club, then hey: it isn't. The interests of open discourse aren't really served by an elf simulator forum at all, so let's not kid ourselves, but to the extent that they are, allowing internet people to post offensively bigoted content with impunity isn't serving them. It's far more likely to chill open discourse.
07-22-2016, 11:34 PM
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