The paradox of tolerance needs to be required reading.
I can agree with limiting moderation to the topic of the community, as suggested. This actually over time has a de-radicalizing effect, as the Nazi gardener gets tips from a Jewish Pumpkin farmer… Etc. As they say do not let them expouse their politics, and there is merit to this point.
But not all things are alike. The issue with calling someone online a “retard” isn’t that we’ve become softer, it’s that people with mental illness and mental handicap took offense to their name being pejorative.
And saying “all ideas are equal” is the way you get overrun by bad actors. Every forum ever can tell you. No, nazism is not something we will entertain debate on, because it’s not a topic for debate. It’s a mantra of hatred, and any “debate” in an impersonal online forum only serves as a platform to spread fallacies and racism. Forming actual community bonds in other areas, or in person, may de-radicalize a Nazi, but debating them never will. It will only loudly spread their claims to new listeners.
The paradox of tolerance needs to be required reading.
I can agree with limiting moderation to the topic of the community, as suggested. This actually over time has a de-radicalizing effect, as the Nazi gardener gets tips from a Jewish Pumpkin farmer… Etc. As they say do not let them expouse their politics, and there is merit to this point.
But not all things are alike. The issue with calling someone online a “retard” isn’t that we’ve become softer, it’s that people with mental illness and mental handicap took offense to their name being pejorative.
And saying “all ideas are equal” is the way you get overrun by bad actors. Every forum ever can tell you. No, nazism is not something we will entertain debate on, because it’s not a topic for debate. It’s a mantra of hatred, and any “debate” in an impersonal online forum only serves as a platform to spread fallacies and racism. Forming actual community bonds in other areas, or in person, may de-radicalize a Nazi, but debating them never will. It will only loudly spread their claims to new listeners.