[poop MANIAC(fecal frenzy!!!!!!!!]

PREFACE

One of our generous Benefactors decided that this post about community response certain behaviors was not on topic in the discussion about community response to certain behaviors that it was originally posted, but I still think it's important to consider. So, I have made this thread to keep the sanctity of the original thread and to appease Him.

Marginalization of Unconventional Community Members and Persons of Horizontal Diversion

Whose voices matter? Whose words should be heard, and whose words should be deleted?

When we have an open, honest discussion about important topics like transphobia in Dinklebergs, how should we handle incorrect opinions and reductive dissension?

While on issues such as this we can all agree that there is a wrong side to take, I think it's important not to silence that wrong side with institutional marginalization, regardless of how inflammatory, indelicate or mean-spirited that voice may be. Not only is it important for the transparency of the community to understand who stands on what issues, it is important for its healing and the growth of its participants afterwords to be able to look back on their input. For the community, it is a way to gauge with open clarity exactly what individuals hold the problem opinions. For the individual, it offers a chance to revisit their own state of mind and involvement in the topic, and in the best case scenario to learn from their past selves as they can view them through the clear lens of hindsight. When that past self has been scrubbed from the record, not only does the community lose access to valuable context and personal histories but the individuals within often meet their suppression with frustration, closing both sides of the debate to mutual understanding and, eventually, respect. A silenced voice considers how make itself be heard, not how to understand the person it is talking to; it will not change its message, only shout louder.

How does one resolve a dispute? By declaring the righteousness of one party, and pigeonholing another? Would it not be better to meet unhelpful criticisms with invitation for elaboration? Rather than be silenced and forgotten, these voices should be directly addressed, conversed with in the open and made to understand their harmful ways of thinking. When confronted with these voices, would it not be best to prove them wrong in their convictions by clearing their haze of emotion and negativity with open-minded logic and reasoning rather than excluding them from the conversation altogether?

In some cases we might consider these silenced voices to be immature, that rather than coming from a point of malice they may simply not understand the clear and objective line between joking and serious topics. But consider this: What if each individual person has a different definition of that line? What if each human being had a wholly unique perspective to which they approach the world around them? Is it fair to impress upon them our own, to assure that our ideals of maturity and right-mindedness is the most correct approach? And if so, is it fair to place the weight of that line, that mentality upon them without first civilizing them by educating them on the correct placement of lines to cross and second understanding their own moral structure and what it means to do right by them? Is the Chinese Communist Party right to enforce their system of morality on the Uyghurs, without even understanding their position first? Was it fair for Bagosora to decide what a Tutsi's words meant, regardless of their actual content? Perhaps I am somewhat biased, having been the target of staff suppression myself before, but I believe every person's words deserve to be heard, and to deny them that is terribly dehumanizing.

We as a community have decided that rather than to simply turn a blind eye to harassment by blocking or, even worse, ignoring the perpetrators and have, through our rules and guidelines, made a commitment to protecting ourselves from their harmful speech. To protect ourselves most effectively from this sort of antisocial behavior, the solution is to break the cycle of conflict, to build friendships, to cultivate a higher understanding of ourselves and each other. I know some may be opposed to that, but it is my personal opinion. Looking forward to community discussion! :)