Letters to the Editor
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It's about boundaries -- don't wall yourself off.
Ann,
You are absolutely right. But there is a danger to moderating the comments to keep ugly speech out, and that is that you will start keeping dissenting speech out, and encouraging an echo chamber filled with group think.
Pandagon, and many feminist blogs (Feminista, Alas A Blog and many many many others) make a point of moderating their blogs to make a safe place for women to speak.
(And in that sense (and others) feminist blogs are much more closely aligned in tactics with the conservatard blogs like Hot Air, Free Republic, Little Green Footballs, Red State, Townhall and others.)
This is really odd, because they aren't talking about threats, no one defends the threats, they are just talking about women claiming that having to read dissenting comments somehow makes them feel unsafe or keeps them from commenting.
Jeez, this is the internet, and to speak all you have to do is type and press enter. And an internet forum should be one of the most equalizing forums around. So what are these women saying about themselves? They are too fragile to be able take dissent? They need to protect themselves?
That's not my idea of women! That seems to be an 19th century view of women!
And the danger is plain to see.
At Pandagon, no one could ever tell Amanda Marcotte that her shit stank just as much as anyone else's. Or more specifically that she may be brilliant, but that she was a horrible fit for the Edwards' campaign. Because if you tried, your comments were deleted, you were banned, and people mocked your masculinity and worse.
So no one has a right to post anywhere. But Joan Walsh needs to be exceedingly careful about how comments are moderated, because I don't think an echo chamber of the sort that we find at Hot Air, Free Republic, Little Green Footballs, Red State, Townhall is going to help Salon, Liberalism, or Feminism in the short or long run.
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S.H.A.M.
SHAM, I'm not sure I understand your explanation, but in any case, unwanted sexual assault is wrong and you shouldn't have to put up with it. What i am asking about is it seems to me, and correct me if I am wrong, that you are saying that we can extrapolate from the behavior of the group of gay men that assaulted you something about all gay men. I would be be surprised if some gay men didn't engage in this type of behavior -- they are no more saintly than any other group of people. And in every group of people, there will be people who sexually assault others. Including straight men that take advantage of female foster children.
Anyway, you can ignore me if you want. Now that I think about it, trying to talk logically with someone who thinks global warming is not real, and loves Evan Sayet, is kind of absurd.
Sugarman, this should go without saying, but I would appreciate it if you would not speak on my behalf. I've never heard of this proverb, and I actually am Russian, but i really don't think you should be lecturing anyone about compassion and empathy. You wanted me in the Jewish club until I had the temerity to suggest that Palestinians are human beings, at which point you didn't want me in the Jewish club anymore. You don't really seem to have a lot of compassion for them, saying thigns like "the world doesn't need any more arabs" and so on. You keep trying to tie beliefs to communist and Soviet beliefs, but they are nothing of the sort. I think you do it just to yank my chain a little.
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"Ann Regentin", you are fortunate to have your own room
not everyone has that, or has grown up that way. nor does the majority of the world live that way. it has its drawbacks, selfishness and anomie. ["It's a question of keeping the discussion on topic, maintaining the boundary between one intellectual space and the next."] *"Otherwise, you get a soulless free-for-all."* - no not souless, 21st century. the idea behind this is not to have "n" one to one discussions (with you) but n*n connections among the community. Susan doesn't get it either. this is a new form of communication. subsets, with their own separate interests form and dissolve all the time. getting mental stimulation from all others.
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"No Name Given", LeCastor *is* a Law Student
if you would *dare* to have a name and listen for a while, you'd know that. do you think you can drop in a neighborhood in a burkha(anonymity) and expect to have accurate decisions of deception?
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Ms. Sierra
overreacts in the same histrionic, frantic manner that most women do. Most of you are wholly incapable of being practical, pragmatic and logical in your process of thinking and dialogue. You completely ignore that societies laws, which you have influenced, are predisposed toward your advantage whether in how a female teacher raping a male junior high school student is given probation and a male teacher associated with a similar crime involving a female student is sent to prison for 10 years or more, when a dental surgeon plans and murders her dental surgeon husband (on film from the PI she hired and with his daughter in the front seat as she repeatedly ran over him) and she gets 20 years whereas a man would be on death row (and I hear the same women saying he deserved it!), the family law court system which routinely favors women (and is a compelling reason not to marry, too financially risky) with unequal family and financial arrangements,etc. I could go on by why belabor the facts which are obvious.
Ms. Sierra wasn't threatened. She fabricated the entire claim against "rage boy" as he was a convenient target. She really needs to become an adult sometime soon. Equality only works when applied equally. This is not a male dominated society. There is no glass ceiling. If you are good enough and do work hard enough you stand a good chance of suceeding, regardless of gender. Quit carping and complaining when the system is predisposed toward your advantage anyway.