Distinctions between free speech and overly offensive

[Hathor]

Again, I'm new here, and so I feel that I'm pushing it a little opening a new thread, but I am curious about one thing on these forums, when it comes to rules:
what can I possibly say that would land me in trouble? so far, I've seen a fair bit hostility (complete with rude name-calling), but it seems fairly acceptable. I am not one to be easily offended, and so I may get a little carried away making a point. please let me know how you define offensive posts, and how you determine whether a member is simply expresing themselves.
thanks so much, glad to be a new member here, seems like a great site.
~Lily =)
(merry christmas, again)

 

[Kreskin]

Hi Hathor. Welcome to the board!

The primary issue we look at is personal attack. If posts threaten others or use excessive name calling then they likely cross the line. The second lookover from us is generally through the reported post feature. If someone feels a post is out the line we'll review it, and if a couple of moderators agree that action is necessary we'll take the next step.

We try to maintain a balance whereby members can feel free to hotly debate issues yet do so within a degree of civility.

I'm not sure if that helped. There are so many variables in a forum that it's difficult to define them all in a single clear set of forum rules.

 

[Brat]

Welcome Hathor

 

[MikeyDB]

"Free Speech" isn't license to defame abuse and de-humanize our companions along the human sojourn. That license is reserved for the few who believe their "rights" supersede yours mine and everyone elses... This "license" permits those immersed in the self-delusion of their own moral superiority and entitlement to practice deprecation and disdain for anyone's opinion that happens to appear to be at odds with the opinion of these folk.

Alternative opinions can be dismissed as "whining" and material presented by way of links to websites offering adversarial content (adversarial to the smarmy pap wolfed down by the voluntarily self-deluded crowd) is regarded as __________________...(fill in your favorite prejudice here) eg. "liberal", "socialist", "left-wing" etc. etc.

Don't spend any time researching or gathering information to formulate a considered opinion here, and if you use "big words" or write sentences that are too long for some people's attention span...you can rely on raising the ire of the Neandertals cruising the web....

Feel free to offer concise cogent (and ONLY 'brief') comment that can be dismissed and spurned by the elites who count themselves as your "superior" on the basis that their opinion and comments are prima facie more correct and germane than your own.

Don't call anyone "names" although that line is blurred quite often and everything will be just dandy....

Welcome to the board, it's just too bad that all the clap-trap from the "superior" crowd turns conversations into arguments...but hey....when they're screwing around with you their leaving someone else alone...

 

[gerryh]

"Free Speech" isn't license to defame abuse and de-humanize our companions along the human sojourn. That license is reserved for the few who believe their "rights" supersede yours mine and everyone elses... This "license" permits those immersed in the self-delusion of their own moral superiority and entitlement to practice deprecation and disdain for anyone's opinion that happens to appear to be at odds with the opinion of these folk.

Alternative opinions can be dismissed as "whining" and material presented by way of links to websites offering adversarial content (adversarial to the smarmy pap wolfed down by the voluntarily self-deluded crowd) is regarded as __________________...(fill in your favorite prejudice here) eg. "liberal", "socialist", "left-wing" etc. etc.

Don't spend any time researching or gathering information to formulate a considered opinion here, and if you use "big words" or write sentences that are too long for some people's attention span...you can rely on raising the ire of the Neandertals cruising the web....

Feel free to offer concise cogent (and ONLY 'brief') comment that can be dismissed and spurned by the elites who count themselves as your "superior" on the basis that their opinion and comments are prima facie more correct and germane than your own.

Don't call anyone "names" although that line is blurred quite often and everything will be just dandy....

Welcome to the board, it's just too bad that all the clap-trap from the "superior" crowd turns conversations into arguments...but hey....when they're screwing around with you their leaving someone else alone...

and as you can see, mikey has a problem following his own advice. Welcome and have fun.

 

[lone wolf]

Trolling is considered as in poor taste - but some folks find chaos and battlespeak is the only way they know how to converse. Reading between the lines is akin to peeking under a nun's skirt - but some feel everyone couches hidden agenda and sinister purpose in everything they say. Some know-it-alls glean their intelligence in what's on Google today, and some from bigoty. Some folks see disagreement as a challenge to their being. What's considered as free speech or overly offensive? Just like the rest of us, you'll find out when you're flamed. Welcome aboard.

Woof!

 

[warrior_won]

No one's here to play nicey-nicey-lapdog. If that were the role of these forums, the admins would be conversing with themselves and every thread would ponder the same question: Wonder why no one wants to participate in our forums?

Fact of life is that few people will view an issue in the same way, just as few witnesses will see an automobile accident exactly the same way. Confrontation and debate is generally expected and seemingly encouraged at Canadian Content -- within reason, of course -- so jump in and feel free to disagree.

(If you're looking for a quaint little town where it is unwritten law that everyone concur with the powers that be, I suggest getting your hands on a map of Southwestern Ontario. Begin your journey into corruption and oppression in London, Ontario, The Land of Kings and Queens, then move west along the 402 corridor to the land of Losers and Slaves. In this no expense spared odyssey of ridicule and dehumanization, you will experience the many splendours of lost civil rights, persecution, and poverty. So join me won't you, as we explore the evils of Free Speech, here, in the Twilight Zone.)

 

[lone wolf]

I don't know if you've ever been told before, and I know less if you'd care, but the more waves you make today are the rougher seas you'll have to sail on tomorrow. No, you're right. You don't have to let it go, and everyone has the right to be heard. Have you ever considered that maybe some folks just don't want to hear the old stuff any more.

Merry Christmas (what's left of it) and I hope you'll find a way to enjoy the coming new year....

Woof!

 

[warrior_won]

I don't know if you've ever been told before, and I know less if you'd care, but the more waves you make today are the rougher seas you'll have to sail on tomorrow. No, you're right. You don't have to let it go, and everyone has the right to be heard. Have you ever considered that maybe some folks just don't want to hear the old stuff any more.

Merry Christmas (what's left of it) and I hope you'll find a way to enjoy the coming new year....

Woof!

I assume you're speaking of me in the above blurb. I will just remind you that the seas are seldom calm for the ship navigating the storm. I use the word ship as a metaphor for victim, storm as a metaphor for crime, and the implied rough seas as a metaphor for obstruction.

 

[DurkaDurka]

I assume you're speaking of me in the above blurb. I will just remind you that the seas are seldom calm for the ship navigating the storm. I use the word ship as a metaphor for victim, storm as a metaphor for crime, and the implied rough seas as a metaphor for obstruction.

Poor Victim you are, the system is stacked against ya eh?

I have a metaphor for you, "Sh1t apples don't far from the tree". You being the sh1t apple and the tree being your redneck lineage.

 

[lone wolf]

Really, you don't have to remind me of anything. I learned a man hears the foghorn best when he stops barking orders to the sea.

Woof!

 

[wallyj]

Hathor,as you can see the members all get along great. I think everyone is just giving a little sample of what is allowed . You can probably use this thread as a guideline for what passes as acceptable debate. I have noticed that the people from the 'left' side generally try to come across as tolerant human beings until their contradictions are pointed out to them. Then cover your eyes,the vitriol is unleashed. Have at it boys and try not to use .arrogant,condescending or Hitler in your reply.

 

[warrior_won]

Really, you don't have to remind me of anything. I learned a man hears the foghorn best when he stops barking orders to the sea.

Woof!

Then the silence of my orders must be deafening. :lol:

 

[warrior_won]

Poor Victim you are, the system is stacked against ya eh?

I have a metaphor for you, "Sh1t apples don't far from the tree". You being the sh1t apple and the tree being your redneck lineage.

Redneck lineage? What would you know of my lineage? Please... Do elaborate... I'm in need of some amusement.

 

[DurkaDurka]

Redneck lineage? What would you know of my lineage? Please... Do elaborate... I'm in need of some amusement.

I have my sources Warrior, I have CSIS looking into all your activities. :lol:

 

[warrior_won]

I have my sources Warrior, I have CSIS looking into all your activities. :lol:

I don't care about CSIS... Tell me about my lineage. I think I forgot... I need to be reminded. :lol:

 

[lone wolf]

Then the silence of my orders must be deafening. :lol:

Yeah ... the wake of denial's like that....:lol:

Woof!

 

[warrior_won]

Yeah ... the wake of denial's like that....:lol:

I sit in my house... I look at a computer screen... I type comments and share opinions... I don't know if any of the admins here feel I have told them how to run their site. (Please speak up if I have, admins.)

To whom am I directing orders? And in what capacity am I making those demands?

Surely you're not suggesting that my opinion on the Middle East conflict is a demand that the Canadian Government retreat from their operations there? While I certainly hold that they don't belong there, I'm in no position to make decision on what my government will do. I'm certainly entitled to my opinion however.

My comments on abortion, do those constitute orders? I make my orders with regard to abortion by exercising my right to abstain from sexual activity. That should in no way have an effect on anyone else however... Except, the women I will NOT be sleeping with.

Oh, I know! Possibly my comment about Stephane Dion. That was an order right? My opinion that he presented himself as being something of a pipsqueak? Apparently, the Conseravtive Party of Canada shares the same view and rides him for his alleged lack of leadership ability. The President of our local Liberal riding Association also resigned her post for having similar views of Mr. Dion. Is my opinion going to have any impact on Mr. Dion? I should certainly hope not! If he gives any consideration to my opinion, he is, as the CPoC alleges, lacking leadership ability.

To whom have I issued orders? And if you say the local police service, I'm gonna scream at you. I have asked them time and time again to look into things... They have refused. If asking doesn't get results, then I will demand. If demanding doesn't get results, I'll ask the Courts to issue my demands for me. I think I'm well within my right on that matter. But I'm willing to give a Court the opportunity to tell me I'm wrong -- If I am, in fact, wrong. :lol:

 

[lone wolf]

...um ... maybe you better scream. Noting the proclivity to rant in here, it's not all that hard to imagine how those with authority might see questions of their authority - in what I am safe to assume, based on the persistence of the rant, is not strictly meek with hat-in-hand - as challenge to that authority. That just guarantees unco-oprative attitude and stonewalling. Remember: Whatever rage we can read in here will be magnified tenfold by the local demigogue when you aren't kissing ass with the proper respect and reverence he/she feels he/she deserves.

Woof!

 

[MikeyDB]

Sure we can all play "let's pretend".... we can pretend that our troops in Afghanistan are there for moral "good", we can pretend that Harper and the current phylum of political wannabe's are interested in something more than maintaining their turn at the trough...sure let's play let's pretend...

For thousands of years absolutely nothing has changed...

Not all the Christmas "Good Will" has altered the course of human history, for reasons ranging from "committment to our allies" to "religious freedom" to "securing the world's oil reserves for the filthy rich" it's all the same crap year after year after year....

We can pretend that "political correctness" will extinguish prjudice and hatred, we can pretend that we're all helpless victims and placidly accept...that's acquiescence to victimhood....

"I believe that we're fighting the "good fight" by strafing and bombing the Taliban in Afghanistan...but I won't be interrupted shopping in stores that feature Victoria's Secret or swelling the bank accounts of the Gap and Old Navy by patronizing sweatshop slave-wage businesses to provide my family with the prosperity of the Christmas season...

Yeah let's pretend that the slums of millions of people around the world are just as happy with their cast-offs from the wealthy as we will be with our I-Pods and LCD " TV screens...

Let's pretend that the IED's and blood drenched sidewalks of Iraq or Afghanistan will actually make next Christmas much safer and prosperous for everyone....

Let's pretend that there aren't hungry millions waiting for a lingering death while we recover from being stuffed with turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy....

Let's pretend that obnoxious realities like those I consider when I watch the petty bickering of the conspicuous "consumer" actually think about what life is like for billions around the world ....yeah let's pretend we really care....

There's no mystery involved in why so many around the world hate America and Canada, it's as simple and as clear as the hypocrisy that punctuates this season of excess and exclusivity....

Do I want you to feel guilty for your prosperity and your mastery of excess.... no, that isn't possible. The solution now as it's always been is to set aside little moments of obscurity like "Remembrance Day" or "Thanksgiving" when it's acceptable to consider reality and acknowledge the brutality of the inequities we claim as our right and our own.

To imagine that most are capable of "guilt" would imply that people are available to consideration of something larger than themselves.....

Not in this country and certainly not anywhere where we comodify concern and consideration for particular and specific consideration...then go about for the rest of the year wallowing in greed and whining about the price of gasoline or the use of steroids by national baseball "heroes"...

What a vain and superficial society this is....

And there are those here who wonder how it came to be this way......

Go figure!