Position on Racist Comments

I have been through this before, but some of the reactionary Bigfooter nuts are trying to use this to smear me as “racist.”

There is no prohibition against racist commenting on this site, nor on sexist, homophobic, nationalist or whatever commenting. You can say anything you want here as this is a free speech zone. And specifically, racist comments are not a reason for banning or even deleting comments.

However! There is a certain amount of moderation on the site. That is, the commenters themselves moderate the site. Some commenters who go over the board with racist comments, in particular using racist slurs and insults like “nigger,” etc. may run afoul of their fellow commenters.

When I notice that a commenter has gone over the top with racist comments, especially slurs, I ask Alpha if she wants them banned. She gives me an opinion of whether or not they have violated the rules and even if they did not violate the rules, whether they should be banned anyway just for being obnoxious. I also might ask a few other commenters I am very close to whether they want the person banned.

Then I wait until other commenters start calling out for the commenter to be banned. Once a certain number of commenters call for the person to be banned (there is a formula but I will not tell you what it is for fear of abuse), the person is gone. The banned can petition the ban of course, but the type of folks who use racial slurs a lot are chaotic and emotional people who simply cannot seem to control themselves! So once they are reinstated, they tend to get banned again soon after due to lack of self-control which is apparently characteristic of most hardcore racist types.

So in other words, of course I do not like racial slurs. Racist comments that are not slurs are interesting, and while I am not wild about them, they are instructive in that they show us how a very large number of people continue to think in racist ways in our society.

I do not think that those who oppose racism should shy away, run away from or ban racist comments on sight. If you want to fight racism, leave it the nasty stuff up there and go take it on!

These comments are also helpful to remind people, especially Blacks, that we are hardly living in a post-racial era and that there is still quite a bit of anti-Black racism around. Not that Blacks need to wallow in that, but I think it is important for Blacks to realize that and not be in the dark about such things.

For the racist comments that do not use slurs, I often let the people who are offended take them on. The strongly anti-Black commenters are usually taken on by Alpha, Tulio, Jason or maybe some of the others at some point. This seems to shame a lot of them, and they often knock it off.

This site is intended to represent the world as it actually is. Sadly, there are still virulent anti-Black racists out there, and we need to see them for what they are and hold them up to the light. Hiding from reality does no one any good.

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0 thoughts on “Position on Racist Comments”

  1. What, exactly, is racism? I mean, there’s no precise definition for that word, and most of the people who use it define it to serve their own purposes.
    It’s also a very emotionally loaded word and not one we use objectively. However the user defines the word, it always means “bad.”
    That being said, if someone posts a reply that you feel is hostile and adds nothing to the discussion, why not delete it?

    1. That applies to me, too, of course, although I don’t think I’ve said anything horrendously bad.

      1. Nah you’re fine. As long as you don’t call Black people niggers or sound like a White nationalist, you won’t get thrown off by other commenters for racism.

  2. It is a huge gray area into which the terms “racist” and “racism” are inserted if you are to have a truly free discussion about race. For some, merely criticizing a group or race means you are racist.
    As commentator Stealth said, there doesn’t seem to be any generally accepted, clearly defined boundaries for what is racist and what is not. It seems just a matter of opinion, and I guess that is why you ask your favorite black commentators for their opinion.
    But one thing is for sure… that if we have a truly open discussion about race some feelings probably will get hurt, and some hardcore racism WILL come out. (Personally, I believe that racist feelings toward outside races justified from ALL points of view and from ALL races ..because is, in fact, just being realistic and honest with natural feelings common in all human beings and is most always at least BASED on facts about the other group).
    Also, some will be accused of racism that do not see themselves as such and did not intend their thoughts or comments to be construed as racist. Thanks for allowing this type of forum, Robert. And thanks to Alpha,Tulio, Jason and the others for not slamming the door down on what you might feel is racism. I love free speech.

    1. The Cultural Left has completely destroyed this word, which at one time had an actual meaning. Just to show you how far we have gone, some of my Far Right Tea Party enemies call ME racist. Racism has just become another fake, unjustified, political club to beat up your enemies with.
      Tulio is a real big free speech guy. And Alpha is way more tolerant than I am. Sometimes I tell her about some racist commenter that I want gone, and she says, “I vote no. He’s not violating the Comments Rules, is he?”

      1. Oh him! He’s actually a mulatto. He’s truly the worst. As awful as a lot of White conservatives are, I must say that there is something particularly horrible about the species known as the Black conservative. Oh well. As my late father said, “Every race has its traitors.”

    2. I think I’ve long been desensitized by YouTube. I really don’t know why anyone bothers with that hostile racist stuff as it’s adds no value. I guess it just feels good to some people to troll.
      I know there’s a lot of HBD stuff that gets discussed here. Even though it’s not kind toward blacks, I don’t mind reading it as I find it interesting and I’ve learned a lot from it. Sometimes I disagree with aspects of it and if I feel I have a good counterpoint I’ll chime in. If not I’ll keep my mouth shut.

        1. Too bad, they were both really smart guys. Both of them got voted off by you guys. I think it is pretty cool to have a forum that’s policed by its members themselves rather than me. You guys pretty much run things here.

      1. Yeah, what’s the point of calling a Black person a nigger? Unless you are trying to get punched I guess. Maybe that’s what it is. Maybe they are just trying to start a fight.

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