Lyn, Lyn, Lyn,

What shall I do?

First: The activity on this thread had calmed to 1 post per day and now we suddenly we have a reignited flame. Do you know why?


Second, you said this:





I want to refer you to this post, which—in the end—is about acting kind and humbly toward one another because of our interdependency:

Kind & Humble

The reason this is so important is because actions simply speak louder than words.

You have a lot to say about racism, and that's fine, but we must not forget that there is a lot more that causes division among people than the color of their skin, such as anger, accusation, presumption, and many other things.

If you want to be an advocate to end division among people, great, but if at the same time you are causing division of another kind, your effectiveness will be lost.


You said...



Now, contrary to popular "political-correctness", the belief system that someone holds affects every area of their life. Even if they don't believe in God—especially if they don't believe in God—it intimately affects, colors, even defines our decisions in life.

It is only wise to know if your mechanic, for example, has any sense of accountability when no one is looking. It is only prudent to know what your computer repair person believes because if he does not care about honesty (for example) which is directly associated with his belief system, i.e., his "religion", your computer may not receive the good work it deserves.

Now, in relation to speaking out, I respect your rights to speak out about this subject and I don't intend on removing your post, however, you should exercise your rights without wishing to extinguish the rights of others (removing posts). If you don't respect this principle, you will become the very tyrant you claim to abhor.

Now, about removing posts.


You said...





Removing posts?

Do you believe the best way to stop cancer is to cover it up—forget it—try to believe it does not exist?

In my opinion, if someone makes a racist remark, especially on a public forum, they are taking responsibility for the remark. This gives others who view the remark the ability (freedom) to make their own judgments about the character of the one who made the remark.

To remove the remark would be like trying to pretend it never happened, and thus I would remove the ability for people who would have otherwise viewed it from being able to form their own opinions about the person who made it. In short, I would be protecting the person who made it from having to take responsibility for their own statements.

I don't believe covering up racism is a solution any more than pretending there is no cancer will help us deal with the real problem. I also don't believe racist remarks influence others to change their minds about these issues, therefore, no harm is done by leaving the post online. Almost all people have preexisting opinions about racism that won't be swayed one way or the other by remarks on a forum. Only their opinion towards the person making the remark is affected, and that is as it should be.

I would also carefully review the remarks and see if they are racist at all. If the remarks you are referring to are about a religious belief towards a race of people, it is not the race that is being slandered, it is the religion. Of course, the word "slandered" only applies if what was said about the religion is not true. I personally don't know because I don't study that religion, although I'd like to know if it is true or not.

If they are true, good; Now I know and the truth is brought to light. If not, they should be properly rebutted. In either case, there is no reason to keep the truth secret.

Lyn,

You have a lot to say about "love" on your website. Let's make sure you are as effective as you can be in spreading this message by demonstrating it, whether in person, or online.


Finally, you said...



(emphasis mine)

And you sent this to your mailing list group.

Lyn,

I know that you know that racism is a generalization about people, and this type of generalism is regarded as harmful among those who hate racism, like yourself.

Unfortunately, these kinds of statements that you make (above) are no different. In this case, you are generalizing our entire forum for the actions of a few, and then, without discernment.

Instead of making these types of generalisms, let us try to be honest, telling the whole story, and most of all, let's not cause division between us. We are all working for the same cause and for the same purpose (to help people) and division will only make our cause weaker.

I've been aware of these comments for some time, but thought that, only in this circumstance, was it more-than-correct to point this out to you.

Again, let's work together to get better at working together. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Russ,
Your Moderator