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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 26, 2022

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This seems like a troll to me. But if it's not a troll, then it's you wishing death on your outgroup without really engaging the argument in a plausibly serious way--for which you have already been banned once.

This is a discussion forum. If you aren't interested in engaging seriously and charitably with the thoughts of people whose views you abhor, then maybe this is not the place for you.

Banned for three days.

Banning comments like this is bad considering how rare they are. If they were more common I'd agree with a ban, but there is a genuine discourse to be had when people have put their obvious intent of destroying the outgroup into the open. Preventing people from engaging with it by banning the person who opened up leaves this space poorer for it.

If banning comments like this keeps them rare, then I'm happy with that. While the original is a troll, I don't think that there are very many genuine posters on here who do have an "obvious intent of destroying the outgroup" and if there are any, then I prefer that they realise this is not a space where "let's kill everyone we don't like and everyone we disagree with" is welcomed (it may be debated, but not that it is "welcome fellow traveller, yes indeed let us wade in blood up to the ankle!"), and if they see bans and think "Aw man, I thought these guys were dependably [whatever colour of being '-pilled' we're up to now, between redpilled, blackpilled and the rest of it] but they've just succumbed to the Woke Menace" and betake themselves elsewhere, then good.

A few comments like this that get ignored (if obvious trolls) or debated (if they seem sincere) is tolerable. A flood of them is not.

Any discourse that happens ends up happening downthread, not with the actual user. And that discourse between actual contributors ends up being about how evil outgroup is for their "obvious intent of destroying the outgroup." No one would deny people like the troll exist--imagine a viewpoint, and there's always someone, somewhere out there who believes it--but it's just burning down a strawman of those views. It generates a significantly worse ratio of heat to light.

We've got a fairly good thread going here. Do you think your assessment of the likely outcome stands?

It's better than I'd have expected. On the other hand, the original poster has in fact been banned; if he weren't, he'd be in the thread throwing shit everywhere.

A fair point.

Leaving the banned OP’s manifestopost visible and allowing us to “poke the corpse with a stick” is certainly entertaining and enlightening, on the other hand.

I think it's kind of pathetic to not let the guy have a chance to respond. Just looks like effeminate bullying.

Just looks like effeminate bullying.

And what is wrong with effeminacy, you big burly butch man, you? 😘

The bullying part.

There are community standards and legal reasons which both need to be upheld.

This comment is irrelevant to what I wrote. I'm not unaware that there are rules and preferred etiquette here. The point being made was that due to the rarity and novelty of the post you can let it slide.

On the other hand, no, there are not legal reasons at play here. The post did not break laws, which is why it was not removed and the user only got a 3 day ban. You can, in fact, make very provocative statements about what you think should have happened or what you think will happen or should happen in some undetermined legal manner in the future to some group.

To clarify, I meant that the post itself did not break laws, but allowing the user to generate and gather followers here through potential responses would put the site in jeopardy.

'Gather followers'? This is silly. Akin to calling someone responding to your comments 'harassment'.

More comments

Verbal jousting is surely more entertaining but given the guy basically said that all his enemies should be silenced and killed, I think the irony is fitting.