JasonF

You seem to be laboring under the misapprehension that "racist" is an ad homeneim attack, equivalent to "asshole" or "motherfucker." It's not.

If you're advocating (for example) to prioritize your ability to watch a sporting event on TV over athletes' ability to voice concerns that people in their community are getting killed, you might well be called a racist. I'm sorry if that hurts your tender feelings. Act like an adult and justify your position, explain why it's not founded on white supremacy but on some other principle.

DVD Polizei

See, the bold part here makes no logical sense. It only makes sense in your world. Which is the problem. It's great for you...but you are apathetic to other people and their beliefs and interpretations. And you simply don't care.

Basically, you're telling people if they don't see what you're seeing...they can just shove it.

But that's not proper behavior for a politics forum. Not proper in real life actually, but we'll keep it more focused on the issue here on DVD Talk.

And that's no excuse overall, and doesn't fall under IB's rules. What you think is "ok" is certainly not ok with IB's policies, and you're being rude and insulting to the poster you accuse of being racist. That is the reality. And if people cannot see that distinction, then maybe they can be suspended for a time to realize it.

JasonF

I'll tell you what -- the next time you post something that I think is racist, if I bother to call you out on it, feel free to report my post to the moderators.

Otherwise, unless and until the mods/admins tell me I can't call a racist a racist, I will continue to point out the racism I see from certain posters. Sorry if that embarrasses you.

I'm kidding -- I'm not at all sorry.

DVD Polizei

I don't need to report you or anyone else (I think I've reported one person in my entire membership history over the last 15 years).

I don't need to give mods more shitwork to do than they already do. It's up to you to act mature and be responsible for your own content--to possibly think seriously about that content. Nobody else needs to do it for you.

However, your tone and a few others demonstrate how the Politics forum really is. It's a bunch of immature kids who bully anyone who disagrees with them and their one-sided views, and if they can't get their way, they just tell you to fuck off. It seems to me those people are the ones who practice what they accuse others of being.

What a great place to "discuss" current issues.

story

No, keep it. It isn't perfect, never will be. And if we try to work together, it can work.

JasonF

Just to be clear DVD Polezei, is it your position that nobody has posted anything racist in the Politics forum? Or just that those posters shouldn’t be called out for their racism?

Trevor

There are fine people on both sides.

But yeah, there isn’t much to discuss when people post racist views, except for calling them out on it.

DVD Polizei

You're weaving between a few poles with that statement. Probably not intentional, but I'm talking about those who are accusing others, regardless if the person is racist or not because like I said...none of us knows each other well enough to say a person is in fact racist. And I would imagine some people have posted things which could be considered racist from both political sides.

It is not the job of participants in the Politics forum to assess a person from their own political prejudices, and then formulate a concept that their opposing political participant, is in fact racist.

I could call anyone a racist, anyone, based on limited comments I read. Because I don't need facts. All I need is to feel like it's racist to me, and therefore, it is, and therefore, I have the justification in my mind to call you or anyone racist.

But that means nothing, even on the chance I'm correct (we'll never know anyway because I'll never meet the person in real life or spend enough time with them--which is my exact point).

The problem is the wild and extreme accusations of each other, that go nowhere in a political discussion. They add nothing to the discussion. They just inflame the thread to where the mods and admins need to intervene.

If you guys want to use "racism" as a formal facepalm to discussion...the forum really should be shut down because you're then a malicious group of people who are preventing a discussion on purpose, and acting in a defamatory manner on top of it, which does violate TOS according to IB.

The amount of resistance just in this thread, is very telling of a group of people who do not want an honest discussion, bi-directional, on political issues.

Calling somebody "out on it", doesn't solve the discussion, and doesn't solve anything, except to set the person up for an eventual suspension or ban, am I right? To irritate the person being accused and hoping they retort somehow and then you click on that favorite button which sends the signal to the mods. Because that is the intention. The accusation is the means, and end goal is the banning of that person who's views you do not respect.

How can a forum continue and claim to be accepting, diverse, and able to carry on a discussion, when there's a majority of people who have the same one-sided views and repeat the same comments, almost word-for-word?

Draven

How complicated do you expect conversations about Donald Trump to be? He's the face of politics right now.

If Harvey Weinstein was still making every movie out there, I think the Movie Forum would feel a bit different. Because how could anyone be on Weinstein's side? What sort of nuanced discussion do you want about Donald "Grab Her By The Pussy" Trump?

d2cheer

Yet people applaud others who have done similar deeds. Like Roman Polanski, I don't give a shit how long ago it was. There is no justification for what he did but his movies are celebrated. Not defending Harvey using an example.

I was in favor of and benefited from the recent tax break...then what am I? The current administration caused me to benefit. And I am OK with that. But some will probably tell me why that is a bad thing. So there is no logical discussion that can be had with that (for example)?

Draven

I've never been a Polanski fan but I get it. I'm just saying that Trump influences EVERY aspect of politics these days. He's the head of the executive branch, Congress is his bitch and he's on his way to controlling the Supreme Court.

And when someone like Trump is the face of every political issue, then how can a nuanced discussion take place? Trump is the very opposite of nuance. He's someone who just kicks in the door of any situation and screams "I'M IN CHARGE." Not really much to debate about that.

I am a straight white male with a good job - I benefit from a LOT of things in society. But I also realize that things that benefit me may hurt others. So I'm willing to fight for those people even if I make less money or whatever.

It's the "me me me!" stuff that got us Trump. Trump is ALL about himself and nearly everything that's happened is a result of that mindset.

Supermallet

I’m the one who wrote the white supremacist post. I named specific people because of their repeated posts over many years. I also tried to make the post as nuanced and gray as possible and very specifically went out of my way to say that I don’t think anyone I named is a card carrying member of the KKK or a neo-Nazi. I definitely did not make any generalizations about all DVD Talk members. I’ve certainly made comments that all white peoples benefit from white privileged, which is not a generalization or even an insult. I understand why mspmms and others would be upset that I pointed out their position of privilege in society, but I felt I was within the appropriate bounds of discussion to post as I did. If the mods want to take that post down, or reprimand/punish me for it, even after all this time, I would bear them no ill will.

If however pointing out my post (and completely distorting what I actually wrote) was an attempt at tit for tat or a way to score imaginary points, I would suggest the mods discuss that with the person making the complaint.

IBJoel

This thread has essentially become another politics string. Closing now.