POLL: Should We Allow Race Discussions on GC Off Topic?

[Chase]

Cultural Background: race in the United States is an explosive topic; probably the single most toxic, divisive topic. The U.S. has fairly heavy racial admixture (compared to pretty much any other country), and a large amount of racial tension. Most people in the United States have strong opinions on race, one way or the other. Many other people are frankly sick of hearing about race, in any form or fashion.

Girls Chase Background: one of our members started a thread in Off Topic entitled "Are Black People Really Being Held Down By White People?" This thread quickly morphed into a discussion of "Are race differences real and are they significant?", which was not at all the original subject of the post, and posters quickly started breaking out their arguments and citations.

At this point, I closed the topic. As soon as you get onto "Is race real, or is it only skin deep?" you've opened up the whole "Who's the real God: is it Jesus, Allah, or Karl Marx?" business and everyone is at each other's throats.

Cacc (the OP of the now-closed thread) felt this was censorship though and asked why it was closed. His comments:

This is the girlschase boards where smart, intelligent folk gather; who's going to get all emotional and start throwing purely insults? This isn't reddit...

This is your boards and you can regulate it whichever way you wish,

but why the censoring?

I'm inclined to head off anything I see as potentially poisonous to the boards, and "Is race real and are its effects significant?" is about as potentially poisonous as you can get.

That said, I don't want to close out topics if you gents genuinely want to hash things out so long as it doesn't proceed all the way to "nasty" (although it's a bit more work for us to have to monitor some hot thread to make sure it doesn't go nova). So I will leave it to you:

Should we permit discussions here that originate as or veer into "Is race real and are its effects significant?"

Poll runs for 30 days (for those folks who only check in from time-to-time).

Chase

 

[trashKENNUT]

I want to throw a curveball.

I'm willing to throw my Girlschase forum membership on the line to discuss anything, and everything.

If I insult someone, I'm out. Even if it is one word of profanity or saying this person is an idiot without telling a reason why. That's it.

That's a great offer One needs to know where they stand and whether that stand is theirs.

Often the stand belongs and is those they condemn incessantly,



Zac

 

[Indian Race Troll (IRT)]

If you allow that then you may as well allow the countless whiny threads from ethnic guys talking about white women not wanting them.

I vote NO!

 

[Hue]

Personally I like seeing the rhetoric and thought out arguments on here regardless of topic and I've been inspired by some of the posts/replies Chase, Franco, Richard, and Hector have contributed (among others).

So long as people can remain collected with civil discourse and not start to dig into others that are having the conversation beyond calling a spade a spade (ie. "you seem to be thinking about it like this" VS "you fucking clueness moron"), I don't see why people can't debate what they would like to debate.

But you have to consider, "why here?". There's many opinions out there, and many tools/vessles to form your own (internet, books, university, etc.). Reddit seems like a fine place for debate, as does face to face conversation, and debate clubs for that matter if you want to sharpen your intellectual spear.

Since we have PM's for if I'm particularly interested on someone's opinion on XYZ, I vote no.

 

[Mr.Rob]

I'm indifferent to banning/allowing race discussions specifically. Anything that turns toxic is always a buzz kill (as was OP's thread heading that direction) but I've never had a problem with race/political discussions in the past on GC since they were always few and far between and moderators always shut things down when they get too out of hand. If we were having race/political heated threads every week I'd be a hard NO.

I vote yes to controversial philosophical discussions that may overlap with race/politics. For example Ree would always post those dark moral thought experiments (i.e. should we tattoo all the population with AIDS thread) I found those topics to be interesting.

At the end of the day I vote for whatever keeps forum morale high and senior/long term members from being alienated to seek out other places to hang out on. I realize my reaction to inflammatory posts is amusement and most guys react with distaste/annoyment so I get it if we need to do away with said posts.

My 2 cents.

-Rob

 

[Richard]

I think you and Franco have been pretty good (and fair) about shutting down any topics that have the potential to get out of hand.

I don't think I've seen a single topic get the boot from the get-go and I'm pretty confident saying it's been the people posting and replying that are what lead to an eventual thread locking, as was the case here. I'm still not all that good at offering a differing point of view without it coming across as an attack so I take responsibility for my part in making that race thread a little bit toxic. Funnily enough, I don't have super strong views about race and was only responding (at first) because the topic seemed interesting.

Anyway, I don't have a strong opinion on allowing or banning any particular content on the Boards. I think most discussions have the potential to be fruitful but I'm fully aware that most discussions are permanent and can turn people away from the Forums/site so I leave the say-so to you, Chase

-Richard

 

[Sub-Zero]

Unless the thread is about something positive about race, maybe how to get a female of a certain race, or helping said race, there's no point. I don't know the black audience here, but how do you think black people would feel if they saw some shit being talked about them on a forum? I don't think that would go well to be honest. If it's helpful advice then cool, but if it's to bash, why? Do you think that's really worth discussion? I feel this is mostly a white forum, so i feel race bashing can easily happen, and you already know how the whole black and white thing goes.

What if I made a post saying why are whites so entitled and bitchy?, or some personal opinion of mine? And when you do that you are saying one race is like that as a whole, when it's not true. I don't think it'll be constructive at all or help me as a man. I honestly feel like girls chase is the only place where I feel all races can come together as men and improve as one. I really don't think about race when I talk to yall, just my bros trying to reach their goals. If I see some type of discussion I don't feel sits well with me, it would change my perception of the people on here. Better to leave it alone unless it's to help someone out and be inspiring.

 

[Seppuku]

Maybe this sort of topic is OK to talk about in the US (or not), but if you're an outsider to US society this discussion seems really out of place, almost surreal.

First, the argument is very shallow. The OP is defining a measure of success of "races" in which his own race fares well (IQ, inventions etc...), and uses it as a "proof". It is purely arbitrary. We can think of other measures of success in which Black guys fare better, and turn around the argument (e.g. look at your sport teams). At the end of the day no one has proven anything, and this discussion doesn't help anything except promoting bad emotions.

Besides, there are several African guys reading this (as well as non African Blacks) and at least as a matter of respect to them we should refrain from throwing these sort of comments at their face.

We should keep this Boards a place of mutual respect. I voted NO.

Seppuku

 

[trashKENNUT]

Besides, there are several African guys reading this (as well as non African Blacks) and at least as a matter of respect to them we should refrain from throwing these sort of comments at their face.

Zac gets called

- malay dog
- seamonkey
- malay! (linguistic killshot)
- lazy malay
- black (when i sweat a lot, and working under hot sun for a week or more, i am a knee-grow. LOLX)

and many unspoken nuances. Linguistic killshot everywhere. I get stick and it's very ruthless. Not mentioning comment and linguistic killshot on characteristics yet.

I can tolerate almost everything. I just fuck your wife if you not careful. HAHA XDXDXD

p.s: i'm kidding. maybe not on the wife part... I just want to lighten up the mood.

Zac

 

[Hector Papi Castillo]

I'd say naw.

I think race discussions are cool as fuck and there's a lot to learn from it. Our cultures obviously spring from our races and natural tendencies, for me, but even that is contentious and when it comes to really foundational arguments, nuance is missed and people get up in their feelings. In the end, it becomes about

1. Not appearing racist

2. Proving your own race/culture's advantages

No one can do this maturely. I know maybe a handful of people in my life who can manage it. We're not rational beings. We can't handle it.

Nope.

Hector

 

[Lover]

I don't think the topic itself should be banned if the question seems relevant and new (and, of course, not deliberately trying to provoke anybody - which is eaiser said than done on written media). For questions already answered and discussed thoroughly in other threads with toxic topics, close it and show the OP link(s) to the old thread(s) answering his question.

With that said, I understand that race, feminism, Trump etc. are becoming dangerous and tiresome topics to discuss and read about. But in the future, there will be other toxic topics as well. I find it strange to just boycut every single one of them. The ideal solution, in my eyes, would be to inspire people how to discuss these topics in a mature way, no matter how butthurt one or the other might get from just talking/reading about it. But I can see where Hector is coming from too.. it takes a certain kind of personality, mindset and world view to do it maturely. However, nobody learns this just by eating a red pill. Somebody(-ies) must show the way. It will take time, yes, but I think it would be worth it in the long run if a culture in GC was created where people, despite getting triggered, discussed toxic topics rationally, more or less.

Personally, I've avoided most race threads because they were draining at the time. Don't know how I would react these days though (haven't read Cacc's either). I'll tell you if they ever pop up again

Tldr; allow race discussions, but close new ones if already dealt with in another thread. And don't ban toxic topics since they will always be there. Instead, let's take the time to find out and show how we discuss them in a rational/professional/mature/[insert own adjective] way.