SteveMartin wrote:
TXWard, I am not sure if you are trying to cloud the issue, or if you just genuinely don't understand what was going on. Player Hester created an account that was designed to be inflammatory to a large number of people. He then proceeded to post abusive messages in bad German in game chat. He followed that up with abusive messages in bad German in the forum. The next step was abusive messages in bad German in the personal e-mail of a number of other players who had an issue with the previous behaviours.
Now, if I have this straight, you are defending this player's right to make a nuissance of himself on the grounds that he has a right to his own political opinion, or that he may be trying to put forward some sort of historical treatise.
Here in Canada, we do not object to anyone doing historical research or even offering differing opinions on accepted knowledge. A discussion of the relative merits of fascism or Nazism will not get you censored here and probably will not even raise the collective eyebrows of the general public. Goose stepping down the main street, dressed as a Storm Trooper and carrying a swastika banner is likely to get you fined however. Calling people dirty swine and wishing them death is very likely to land you in a jail cell.
I object to Nazis on principal. In my opinion they represented the very worst qualities in man. They had to be destroyed at a terrible cost to the world and I can think of no good reason to encourage the propagation of Nazi myths.
The same arguments you use to defend this player could be used to defend the demented individuals who deliberately crashed loaded airliners into the Twin Towers in 2001. They simply had an opinion that was different to yours and they were expressing themselves in the only way they felt they could. Perhaps you are right and we should have ignored them too, maybe they would have just gone away.
No, you do not have it straight and apparently, never will. Neko got the point, but it still escapes you for whatever reason. I've never defended Hester's being a nuissance with his poor German antics in the game chats and Forum posts, and certainly not through email. You have, however, defended your wife's and other user's personal attacks and name calling directed at Hester, some of which occurred before Hester's antics started up.
Your comparison to the Twin Towers attacks was rather lame. Thousands of people died in that attack, of all nationalities, beliefs, and religions. Hester, on the other hand, was not a physical risk to anyone on this site. His kills are make-believe, just like the rest of ours. You do understand the difference between a game simulation that includes simulated deaths and the actual real killing of people in the corporeal world, right? Perhaps you do not comprehend the difference, and that is the root of the flame war after all. If that is the case, say so and I will thank you for getting to the root of the problem. |