Should RF take stronger action against hate threads?

[wizanda]

RF are an incredible forum with great moderators who are reasonable and just but in light of recent events I’m appealing for greater vigilance of threads seeking to demonise any group of innocent people.

We are down near Hell, so I demonize all of us:

We're all fallen angels in some way, with our own inner demons to deal with; where all of us have one wing, we could take that one wing to fly, yet many of us spend our time pulling feathers off each other.

In my opinion.

 

[Cooky]

We are down near Hell, so I demonize all of us:

We're all fallen angels in some way, with our own inner demons to deal with; where all of us have one wing, we could take that one wing to fly, yet many of us spend our time pulling feathers off each other.

In my opinion.

I don't see it that way.

...But I'm mostly an optimist. I only demonize bad things, IMO.

 

[Jim]

...Also, people who instigate personal attacks should stop.

I think that even more important than that is for people to stop rewarding, encouraging and supporting personal attacks across faction divides.

 

[Jim]

We are down near Hell, so I demonize all of us:

I don’t demonize any people. I do demonize some behavior. For example:
- Conscious, intentional cruelty and personal attacks.
- Rewarding, encouraging and supporting cruelty and personal attacks.
- Persistently evading the issue of cruelty and personal attacks, and diverting attention from it.

 

[Notanumber]

Should a modern day interpretation of any religion even mention the killing of others?

 

[Cooky]

Should a modern day interpretation of any religion even mention the killing of others?

Not in any kind of positive, supportive light. Absolutely not!

...I say this as a fellow human being -a descended living survivor of over 3 billion years.

 

[amorphous_constellation]

I am not even allowed to discuss my religion or what I do.

Well consider this : the Jews for example , are not allowed to speak the name Yahweh , and they often write the word god as g_d , because they believe that they can profane god. Whatever your religion is , you might see that sort of attitude as an analog, perhaps it does not wish for man to profane it

 

[amorphous_constellation]

I believe to try and indicate or attribute to an entire religion the judgement of violence is but a prejudicial veiled attempt to demonise, discredit and incite hatred against Muslims or any group in general under the guise of ‘freedom of speech ‘.

That assumes that a religion, which is a collection ideas, is the same as a person. So I guess then, that science is the same as scientists, and politics are the politician, and education is the teacher. I think maybe you are disallowing people people a reasonable level of discernment, where the subtlety between person and idea is not a small one to anyone who thinks about it a little bit. Why should I not have more faith in common thinking than your idea here? Perhaps some do, do what you say. But why should I generalize the intent of everyone who examines ideas? How is that fair. And often as well, not only do those who successfully judge ideas not judge people at the same time, but they also may not even often judge the whole body of ideas that an idea is in, for the sake of that one idea they find disagreeable

On many forums and on this one also I’ve seen quoted out of context ‘kill them wherever you find them’ as a way of propagating Islam and Muslims are evil. But to people who have studied the Quran and Muslims they know the context of that passage and that’s not what it means.

I have not read the Quran, though I intend to eventually. Thus, I don't comment much about it, I usually stick to things that I have read about. At the outset however, I might comment that a statement like 'kill them wherever you find them' does not sound very nice, and I'm having trouble imagining a context that would thoroughly nullify the raw impetus of it, which seems to be that of killing those who are probably not looking to be found, or not expecting to be killed.

 

[oldbadger]

With the Anniversary of the NZ massacre being commemorated, findings are that hate speech online has been a major contributor to many of such crimes.

What? On RF?
Hate speech on RF doesn't survive for very long. Indeed, I don't expect you will be able to direct us to any such posts.

There is the 'report' button for any bad posts.

 

[Jim]

I think that the idea of “hate speech” is too politicized and polarizing to be useful for any beneficial purpose.

I see some ways that Internet discussions might be facilitating the growth and spread of all kinds of cruelty, violence and oppression, and I agree that forum moderators might be blind to some of it, but if that’s true then it makes no sense to me to call for them to try to minage what they can’t see.

I have some ideas that I’ve been discussing in some other threads, for anyone who wants to help reduce and counteract the kinds of behavior in Internet discussions that might be facilitating the growth and spread of cruelty, violence and oppression, physical and psychological. I’ve seen some good ideas from others, in those threads, but I would be glad to see more.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Honestly - I think we need more people to ignore the hell out of anyone who raises their voice with hate. I say we LET THEM DO IT ALL THEY WANT - but we learn to ignore it - don't give people with those ideas the time of day - make them learn the cost of their ideas. A cost in loss of social standing.

I feel that the only way through all the negativity is to allow it and learn to become impervious to it. If no one can affect with negative words, then they will stop trying. So the solution isn't to take the rights, or even the convenience, away from the hateful - it is to solidify our own standing... all of us. Become stronger. Learn that words have no power unless you grant it to them. Obviously put down any physical attempts to hate on anyone without a second thought. But words? Let them be spoken. Let these people unveil themselves for what they are, or are willing to be. Allow your enemies to be known, and treat them as such.