Why does Blue Blood allow so and so to say things I don't agree with?

[Amelia G]

I just received a few report posts emails along the lines of: Amelia, you don't think blah blah, so why are you permitting so and so to say blah blah on the boards?

It is very important to me that Blue Blood provide a venue for people to exchange points of view in an intelligent way they would not regularly have the opportunity to. I know that my own worldview is not confined to the values of just one particular culture or subculture. There are pieces of a variety of worlds which speak to my heart.

I am not going to have some sort of instituionalized set of values everyone here must conform to or risk banishment. I am not going to exile someone because I don't like their opinion. I hope that will not make it so that people whose opinions I do like can't take the heat, but preaching to the choir does not make for much of a conversation and I genuinely believe that the only way to change the people's minds is through discourse.

Any questions?

[Toe Cutter]

Who sent those report-posts, and in regards to what thread where they objecting? (I have an idea, but just curious)

[Amelia G]

I got a few complaints. If I'd wanted to call people out, I would have named names. The issue is communicating the principle I feel is involved, not taking people to task whose point of view I share on the specific topics, but not on allowing people to express themselves.

[Toe Cutter]

Sorry, I see your point.

[Buster Friendly]

having been on some very heavily, and seemingly abitrarily censored boards, I apprieciate your stance Amelia.

I'm pretty much for letting people say whatever they want.

...and mocking them mercilessly if I feel like it.

thanx.

[HeadlessBill]

I assume they didn't see the flashing ACLU thingie that is sometimes at the top of the boards?

[killerkat]

ok,wait i don't get it...

some on was agitated about B letting people say things They don't agree with?


wow...just ,wow....

[cheinara wraithwalker]

I like being able to speak my peace. I don't do it much, but I like to when I feel the need (read:bored) to.

[Vitorro]

One of the reasons I enjoy the Boards so much, freedom of opinion and expression without censorship like so many other wannabe sites do.

[Jax]

How retarded.

[TheDeathKnight]

See, if they have a good point, they will have good debate about it.

If they can't defend their stance, they will get harrassed, heckled,
and made to feel unwelcome, until they leave...

But if they want to defend their stance, and debate it, then bring it on!
That's what makes these boards cool.
I can say what I want, except for ****, ******, *******, etc...
Hahaha!

Just making a little joke about the fact that there still is
*some* censorship here, even though not that many
people here find those words offensive...

My point is that if I keep using the word "******",
I should get hassled, and told why it's lame to use it,
until I learn not to... Rather than it just being censored...

But in general, I really like the free expression here.

[killerkat]

How retarded.

thank you for being blunt about it

[Jax]

thank you for being blunt about it

Would you expect anything less from me?

[ForrestBlack]

...Just making a little joke about the fact that there still is *some* censorship here...

I think the objective is to keep things in the realm of discussion and communication of ideas, not some shallow epithet fest. If someone can't make their point without resorting to second grade name calling, they might want to think about their qualification to be making the point at all.

[keiko]

How weird would it be to agree with everything? That would really go against my nature and be an un real representation of the world we live in. People disagree. That's life. Unless some one is being really awful and malicious I thinkthat they should be treated with the same respect as everyone else here (even the hippies and emo kids) till they actually commit an offense other than haveing a different view on life. That's what makes us better than the asshats that shun us.
K

[Spaceman Spiff]

I just wanted to point out one of my favorite ideas, I belive Jax might have even said it in a certain thread, that if you don't like what's on then change the channel.
...I'm not, by any means, asking anyone to leave the boards over dislikes in the subjectmatter, I'm just saying ignore the threads that upset you... its not as if the entire board is being over run, everything seems to be pretty well organized. I welcome outside viewpoints, and like many above me, I think they make for better debates and conversations.

[TheDeathKnight]

Exactly.

If you don't want to talk about racism, then go to the thread about corsets.

Or VW bugs.

There's a lot of other shit here.
As well as on the rest of the internet, and in life.
If something bothers you, or pisses you off, then go do something else.

[ForrestBlack]

If something bothers you, or pisses you off, then go do something else.

Or, talk to them about it. Share your views. Put some effort into understanding theirs. Even if you don't agree. A lot of racist, classist, groupist, views are based on a lack of understanding, fear of unknown behavioral norms for unfamiliar groups, misguided assumptions and generalizations. Some of them are based on an unwillingness to adapt to a different social climate. I'm not saying you have to be willing to fully embrace anything you encounter, but sometimes I think it makes sense to confront that which is pissing you off or bothering you, hopefully with an open mind. Pretty much any group has it's militants and it's diplomats, it's heros and it's morons.

[TheDeathKnight]

Exactly...

Race problems, and cultural problems, are *real* things.

There *are* ghetto-ass people,
and I don't expect people to love them with open arms.
Many of them are assholes, criminals, etc...

But I'd rather talk about what causes the problem, than to just say I want to be
alone, with my own people, and to hell with everyone else...

So if I expect a racist to understand black culture, I need to be able to
understand racist views and opinions. And calling someone an asshole,
or ignorant, is just as bad as them calling people in the hood ignorant, etc...
Maybe they both are, but it's better if people understand each other,
instead of hate each other... Calling someone names does not help.

[drewblood]

this thread scares me

[Tequila Zaire]

this thread scares me

Should I feel bad about finding that kinda arousing?

[Tequila Zaire]

Kinda odd someone from these boards would send such emails when they could easily comment about them openly...I just don't get it. It's seems like a waste of energy and time given that it's been proven time and time again that we don't have to agree with EVERYTHING said on these boards. Like an above post stated...if you don't like one topic...move on to the next one.

[Amelia G]

Kinda odd someone from these boards would send such emails when they could easily comment about them openly...I just don't get it. It's seems like a waste of energy and time given that it's been proven time and time again that we don't have to agree with EVERYTHING said on these boards. Like an above post stated...if you don't like one topic...move on to the next one.

Certain topics are hot buttons and I received multiple complaints, but I really feel strongly that it is better to at least attempt to rationally discuss issues.

When I am at the point where I won't even discuss something, that is a remarkably strong statement about how pessimistic I am about either the thing or the specific person I'd be discussing it with. I'm pretty optimistic about most people and about the benefits of communication and I think that is generally a good thing.

[TheDeathKnight]

I'd like to discuss the problem of the festering penus in detail...

[Evilbink]

First off..I LOVE THIS MOVIE !!!

Secondly...

How weird would it be to agree with everything? That would really go against my nature and be an un real representation of the world we live in. People disagree. That's life. Unless some one is being really awful and malicious I thinkthat they should be treated with the same respect as everyone else here (even the hippies and emo kids) till they actually commit an offense other than haveing a different view on life. That's what makes us better than the asshats that shun us.
K

[mmmcherry]

How weird would it be to agree with everything? That would really go against my nature and be an un real representation of the world we live in. People disagree. That's life. Unless some one is being really awful and malicious I thinkthat they should be treated with the same respect as everyone else here (even the hippies and emo kids) till they actually commit an offense other than haveing a different view on life. That's what makes us better than the asshats that shun us.
K

at the risk of sounding totally... weird... by agreeing... haha... i totally agree with this. half the people i know dont understand that people have their own opinions and they think that their own is the most important, therefore everyone should agree. wtf...

(even the hippies and emo kids)

HAHAA I AM THE HIPPIE!!! one of these days ill post pictures of me in my full hippie gear... aka... my everyday clothing.

[Morning Glory]

no questions. I totally agree. as I said, I am not in favor of speech that is harmful. I haven't seen that on this board, and I think that the few limitations that we do have are to keep it that way.

annoying, disgusting, objectible, disagreeable... these things I do support and defend the right to be spoken, and most certainly debated

[ItalDvl]

It doesn't take a genuis to figure out what thread you were getting complaints about.

But seeing how I am new to this borad then I just want to say.
If you feel some something I say is out of line and I havnt yet caught my self. Point it out. I will usally change my attitude. My purpose here on this borad is not to impose on those that have been here longer then me or make them feel uncomfortable.

But I strongly agree with "if you don't like it go away". With that said.

Take care

[Flip]

i commend amelia's stance on this, and also thank her for it, i have some pretty strong views when i choose to share them, and revel in the fact that i can share them on here and get intelligent responses. After all, we are all grown ups (atleast the majority) we should be able to resolve issues with conversation.

[sunkarma]

Exactly...

Race problems, and cultural problems, are *real* things.

There *are* ghetto-ass people,
and I don't expect people to love them with open arms.
Many of them are assholes, criminals, etc...

But I'd rather talk about what causes the problem, than to just say I want to be
alone, with my own people, and to hell with everyone else...

So if I expect a racist to understand black culture, I need to be able to
understand racist views and opinions. And calling someone an asshole,
or ignorant, is just as bad as them calling people in the hood ignorant, etc...
Maybe they both are, but it's better if people understand each other,
instead of hate each other... Calling someone names does not help.

Ok, I will start off by saying...what the fuck?
You can be with your own people....and to be honest, if I was one of your 'people'...I wouldn't want YOU.

You are narrow minded, and very much a racist if you expect me to sit back and allow you to disgrace me along with some other members of this community, all in the name of 'free speech'. Well I can speak freely too, damnit. And I say...

FUCK YOU.

Ghetto my ass. I have more education in my little pinky than your whole family might have (2 Bachelors, 2 masters, 1 Phd)...and I really, really dislike your statements, yet in the upholding of 'free speech'...I will let you, and them...go..
Debating with you is simply not worth my time nor effort. Let alone the 2 calories per finger it takes to type this. You can have your views...(I have my opinions on them, however)...but you should've come off a little differently than you did.
I understand your wanted to be with your own race, more power to ya...
But if we truly take a look back at history...it was the white man that came and destroyed the american indian race that made up the USA. So if you want to get down to 'who came first'. It is obviously clear. But do I tell all of you to 'go back to XYZ?' In fact, most settlers that came here were CRIMINALS FROM ENGLAND/etc. So not only were you white, but criminals, at that. You brought disease, VD,and killed off the indian population with your germs. Now, WHO IS PURE?
Sure, I could get behind Minister Farrakhan who actually sided with the white supremacists for a bit and let them keep their ignorance. I could just say lets 'kill them all' and blow up the whole planet and destroy the ENTIRE human race because none of us are worth blah blah blah...but why bother to even go through that?
But whatever....
After all, IGNORANCE IS FREE. So have yourself a heaping helping...
Now, that is my 'free speech'.
In fact, dude's post angered so MANY OF MY FRIENDS that joined this board to support me..that they left...and are not saying too great a thing about this board..which makes me sad (one bad apple should not destroy the whole bunch, but if it's left to rot in the bucket...you know the outcome)

From a friend:

I'm all for free speech, but not for the understanding of a bigot. These folks wanna sit there and try to "understand" him. What is there to understand? It's just like AOL and it's purchase of Blackvoices, now it's domainted by racist morons who have money to purchase accounts and spew this crap. If you had more than five blacks in that board (and there probably aren't even that) the guy would be outnumbered.

Rosa Parks did not sit on that seat refusing a white man to listen to some skinhead justify his view of a seperate world.

And what's even worse is that some of us even made the fucking country on our own backs! and they wanna talk shit about how we are racist towards them. We got a reason to be racist towards them, and it's not written in the everyday petty people-to-people relations, but in HISTORY itself.

That's like understanding certain folks i've dealt with on forums in the past, there's a point where you make them god like and untouchable; the best solution is to let them continue to talk shit and eat their own words. I would have replied back with a longer reply, but I would be seen as "not understanding".

Like I said, ignorance is free...just ladel out some more to the people who want to digest it.
Me, I'm puking your crap up....it does not agree with me. Racism never did.

Yes, it is better that we all understand each other..but that will never happen in this petty world. I'm not calling names..and I don't think that anyone here is truly ignorant, but your words may be. There are better ways to say things than "All people that wear the color blue are ghetto" (example). That is a generalization. Not all of us fit your stereotypes...so get out of your black hole and progress with the rest of us into the 21st century, would you?
---THAT IS MY FREE SPEECH FOR TODAY---
Comment if you want.

[sunkarma]

^^^^ Furthermore, excuse me if I made any typos..I'm typing without my gasoline (3 cups of coffee) and I'm running on empty. Plus, its like 6 in the friggin morning...

[Buster Friendly]

thank you for saying something intelligent about all of this sunkarma

...just because people have an absolute right to say whatever they want, doesn't mean we should let them do it unchallenged.

which is why I was making an ass of myself on that other thread.

(2 calories per finger? wow...)


....and thinking about it... damn, you do have more education than my entire family... which is why we challenge you to a dance off!!

[sunkarma]

I could do the moonwalk......

Or the cabbage patch or something

LET THE DANCE OFF BEGIN!!!!!

And for the record, you are NOT an ass. You just stated your opinions in a strong way.

[Buster Friendly]

[QUOTE=sunkarma]I could do the moonwalk......

Or the cabbage patch or something

LET THE DANCE OFF BEGIN!!!!!


wha-uh-oh....



...and for the record I was trying to be an ass... c'mon 'kill all the white people' hahaha, man I love eddie murphy.

nah, I could have posted historical arguments about why whites aren't really all that great, or how anthropologists have determined that we ALL come from the same 50 square miles in africa, or why the italians, irish, spainiards, and welsh are all 'not really white' (what ever the fuck that means) by strict racist standards (moorish conquests)... yeah, I could said stuff like that...

...but instead I choose to go with 'kill whitey'... I mean, as much as I love me some masumi max *swoon* (and your gorgeous self), I have to admit that I do love me some white wimmins too...

...but such asnine discussions call for equally idiotic responses.

[cheshire centauri]

Who sent those report-posts, and in regards to what thread where they objecting?

was this a joke?

i'm imagining toe cutter in a gestapo costume with a german accent!

[funkatron]

^^^^ Furthermore, excuse me if I made any typos..I'm typing without my gasoline (3 cups of coffee) and I'm running on empty. Plus, its like 6 in the friggin morning...

No offense, but I think you're also typing before reading (unless I am missing some other post/thread that everyone knows about but me). For example:

But I'd rather talk about what causes the problem, than to just say I want to be alone, with my own people, and to hell with everyone else...

I understand your wanted to be with your own race, more power to ya...

I also don't see how you took "there are ghetto-ass people" to mean "all african americans are ghetto-ass people." At best it seems like you might question why he only mentioned "black" culture in the post when "ghetto-ass" certainly applies to lots of differently-colored people (including whites), but it's at best implied, certainly not a direct correllation.

[sunkarma]

No offense, but I think you're also typing before reading (unless I am missing some other post/thread that everyone knows about but me). For example:





I also don't see how you took "there are ghetto-ass people" to mean "all african americans are ghetto-ass people." At best it seems like you might question why he only mentioned "black" culture in the post when "ghetto-ass" certainly applies to lots of differently-colored people (including whites), but it's at best implied, certainly not a direct correllation.

The stuff in the italics is what a friend of mine wrote to ME...I don't know if that came off as that or not, that is why I put it in italics, actually, to make it stand out as not my words. The rest...are mine.

And you are right about the 'ghetto'. But most commonly, it is used to describe black folk. There are irish ghettos, etc...etc...

But most commonly, it is used against black people. So that is what I interpreted it as...

Now, if we want to talk about the POOR IRISH people as well...who came over here poor and were put into indentured servitude and never released...we can....lord, I see why the whole 'alcoholic' ideology behind the irish stereotype came from. All that depression would drive someone to drink.

There really is not one race that has not been subjected to some type of stereotype or racism or slavery or whatever, in some aspect.

[sunkarma]

[QUOTE=Buster Friendly]

I could do the moonwalk......

Or the cabbage patch or something

LET THE DANCE OFF BEGIN!!!!!


wha-uh-oh....



...and for the record I was trying to be an ass... c'mon 'kill all the white people' hahaha, man I love eddie murphy.

nah, I could have posted historical arguments about why whites aren't really all that great, or how anthropologists have determined that we ALL come from the same 50 square miles in africa, or why the italians, irish, spainiards, and welsh are all 'not really white' (what ever the fuck that means) by strict racist standards (moorish conquests)... yeah, I could said stuff like that...

...but instead I choose to go with 'kill whitey'... I mean, as much as I love me some masumi max *swoon* (and your gorgeous self), I have to admit that I do love me some white wimmins too...

...but such asnine discussions call for equally idiotic responses.

Kill whitey....


That's the best joke I've heard all day.
Man, what a bellylaugh. I think I even saw a t-shirt with that on it somewhere...

[funkatron]

The stuff in the italics is what a friend of mine wrote to ME...I don't know if that came off as that or not, that is why I put it in italics, actually, to make it stand out as not my words. The rest...are mine.

*nod* yeah, I realized that. I was only addressing a couple things you wrote, actually.

And you are right about the 'ghetto'. But most commonly, it is used to describe black folk. There are irish ghettos, etc...etc...

But most commonly, it is used against black people. So that is what I interpreted it as...

I can dig that. I dunno if that's what he meant. I guess I'd want to ask if that's what he meant first, before assuming -- I don't think TDK has demonstrated prejudicial tendency before.

Now, if we want to talk about the POOR IRISH people as well...who came over here poor and were put into indentured servitude and never released...we can....lord, I see why the whole 'alcoholic' ideology behind the irish stereotype came from. All that depression would drive someone to drink.

There really is not one race that has not been subjected to some type of stereotype or racism or slavery or whatever, in some aspect.

Nope. And really, there's some evidence that the concept of "race" is scientifically invalid anyway, so...

[Buster Friendly]

hey, I'm 'whiter' than most racists probably are, and I'm deffinitly 'geh-hett-o' azz...

...I know from gub'ment cheeze samiches, aight?