To tell or not to tell.
I received a comment from Martha two days ago on the post Short Break Over. I left it up followed by this response
Thank you Martha for allowing people to see what kind of vile garbage people come up with.
I am leaving your disgusting racist, homophobic, misogynist (and everything else) comment up because you have managed to include all the categories of ignorant rubbish I get in my inbox every week and I just want to let people see what we are up against.
I hope regular readers will forgive this action but I am so sick of this crap. I hope from this one you can get some idea what some of us “liberal” bloggers put up with.
Martha… don’t bother.
I delete about 5 to 10 comments a week (not all as vile as this one but all pretty bad). Recently I have felt pretty isolated in dealing with this stuff behind the scenes. A couple of people suggested to me that I should leave some of the milder ones up so that others can stand up to these opinions. I am torn. On the one hand, I want to show that there is a strong opposition to these disgusting views. On the other, I don’t want this blog to become a spectator sport. I am certainly not advocating leaving all of them up for people to read because I think it will make some people very uncomfortable and stop them from commenting but I do want people to know what kind of nastiness is out there. Many of us “leftie” bloggers are trying to handle it but it’s difficult.
What do you think ?
Technorati Tags: homophobia, racism, sexism, trolls, xenophobia
Anti-Racism Rally on March 9th, 2010
Racist Attack on December 17th, 2009
Are Greeks Racist ? on September 29th, 2009
Anti-Immigrant Protest on September 24th, 2009
Racist Attacks on September 10th, 2009
Loading...
wow, i don’t know what to say, wether to delete or not. but i just cannot believe people believe this shit. reading it made me want to vomit and i still feel disgusted. same goes after the quick glance at her blog.
dd, thanks for dealing with crap like this all the time — ignorant attacks that still try the patience. you are amazing, and keep on writing.
to hell with the trolls.
I’d say delete. For the folks who have blogs themselves…we’ve seen a lot of this. I’ve seen that particular comment, under different names, at at least a dozen different blogs, and i’ve vaporized it at my places a couple times.
Outside of a framework of deconstruction (and even sometimes then) I tend to see the repetition of such material…as unhelpful. The trauma of hate is happening to us all the time. I doubt that we need to actively preserve examples, or that we are in much danger of forgetting.
Sly, I hope I am not being out of line but I think Devious is saying that she does delete but would like to share the isolation she feels with us.
I don’t have a blog so I am not aware of the kind of messages that people get. I really appreciate that dd is letting us blogless people know what the truth is even though it’s horrible to read.
Also I believe these comments have to be read by blog owners even if they end up deleting them. That must be quite a burden.
DD, I am sorry that you are dealing with this. I think we must all try and make an effort to speak up and show our solidarity against these people. Thank you for making me realise that I must take a more active role if I want to make a difference at all. Strength to you.
Delete it. Sh*t is flushed down the toilet, it’s not left on the front porch. (Pardon my imagery).
Blog comments can argue the author’s article with valid arguments and perhaps a dialogue of sorts (or at least a controlled flame) may ensue. But… this particular comment is just a waste of bandwidth and comment space. It’s name calling, worthless writing with no logic.
The insolent comment’s last sentence gives us a glimpse of commentator’s sad state of mind and finally reveals his purpose: Provoking other visitors to center around his comment. Don’t make his day by giving him the satisfaction.
Hi Flubberwinkle, I know I should. And I usually do. I am feeling sorry for myself and wanted to share my daily dealings with you regulars. I kind of knew this troll wouldn’t be back (short attention span) so I felt it safe to share this comment that made me feel so terrible. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back!
Yea, guys like this are just trolling to start comment wars, in my opinion. They do absolutely no good.
Now, there are other comments that border on the insane and supercilious that I suppose have to stay up but tend to be more annoying (I think you know what I am talking about DD) because they are trying to veil their racism/bigotry/whatever behind a string of bs.
I just wish the “left” and the “right” could have real debates with honest, polite, and reasonable discussions. I know it is impossible to expect either side to cave in to the other, but there is a way to debate without being a jerk, although sometimes you really can’t help being a jerk (myself included).
why do you blacks complain when people criticize you and say it racist. You are racist to Greece and when someone says you you go and cry. If you dont like it why do you keep saying bad things about greeks.
She isn’t saying bad things about Greeks. This blog is about human rights in Greece, and DD shares with us human rights issues that occur in Greece. Seems like a pretty simple concept, but a lot of people just don’t get it. She is not saying Greece is a bad place. She is not saying Greeks are bad. She is living in Greece, and thus human rights issues in Greece are matters that are important to her.
I realize English is a second language for most Greeks, but come on, this isn’t rocket science here.
There are Greeks who talk about the same issues, work on these issues, and fight to combat the human rights abuses here in Greece. Are they racist against Greeks? There are plenty of human rights issues all over the world, should we just shut up about them and let them happen, or should we point them out and try to work to make the world a better place? Anyone who thinks the former, quite frankly, is racist against ALL of humankind.
“It’s a pedophile heaven over here. I am sick to my stomach.”
DD said this in Racist Rape Update.
Is this a serious point about human rights in Greece, or a gratuitous – some might say racist – outburst against Greeks and Greece?
I think the argument against this blog is that behind the rights issues the author thinks she’s raising, is some rather unpalatable and unrecognized (by her) hostility towards Greece and the country she is fortunate enough to live in. She might not want or intend to come across as disliking Greeks and Greece, but this is how it seems. Perhaps if she avoided statements like the one I quoted above, then she wouldn’t encounter such antipathy.
Boasting about the fact that Greece is not her country doesn’t help either; it leads a person to ask the inevitable question: if this isn’t your country and all you’re capable of is finding fault with it, then what the hell are you doing here? This might be an unfair question, but the provocative name of the blog demands that it is asked.
In fact, DD, isn’t the whole point of your blog that there are minorities in Greece who are not receiving the rights they, as citizens and residents, are entitled to – entitled to because Greece is their country. So shouldn’t the correct – and less provocative – name of your blog be ‘This is my Country’; unless, of course, as I intimated before, the title of your blog reflects – consciously or subconsciously – your negative feelings towards Greece and your life in it.
Melusina: don’t patronise Greeks by saying DD’s language might be too difficult for them to comprehend – I don’t think you need to be an English professor to understand what she is saying when she says Greece is a ‘pedophile heaven’ that makes her ’sick to the stomach’. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to be racist against all of humankind; that would be misanthropy you’re thinking of, not racism.
Hi John K, I should perhaps have written “It’s a paedophile heaven over here AT THE MOMENT. I am sick to my stomach ” My mistake and I am sorry if that caused confusion.
This blog took it’s name from something I wrote a long time back and a few people have responded negatively to it but on the whole I think people understand. I do not intend to change it now.
As for the rest of your comment, as always, you are entitled to your opinion but I do think it is a shame that you judge me and this blog in this way. I write about issues here that are not nice and for that I am seen as being negative towards Greeks by some people. I have got used to this criticism over time and no longer feel it is necessary to defend myself in this respect. I hope you will read some other posts I have written (see Neighbourhood Story under “important posts” in the sidebar, for example) and participate in the discussions rather than simply attacking me.
Christos M, I am not crying and I do not appreciate your racist, yes it is racist, comment.
John Z., I think Greeks just can’t see past the fact that there are problems in their beloved homeland. As an American, I am quite aware of everything that is wrong with America, and don’t have problems with the criticism of reality. So I don’t get why Greeks, including my husband sometimes, take such offense to this blog.
DD might use reactionary language sometimes to present an issue, but the issues she talks about *are* reactionary. I’m sure if she was writing a blog about human rights issues in England she would use the same language.
Technically speaking, a misanthropist *could* be considered a racist, in the same manner as someone claiming someone is racist against Greeks. Greeks aren’t a “race” unto themselves, really, now are they? Thanks for patronizing back.
As to the complaints about the “This is Not My Country” title, completely and totally invalid and ignorant. She has explained it before, and again, and again. Besides, technically speaking, it isn’t her country, is it? It isn’t my country. Greeks in America don’t seem to consider America THEIR country either. So what? Why do people get their panties in a wad about a friggin’ blog title?
Greeks are very protective of their country, and I understand that. But you can’t close your eyes to the problems that exist here, either.
Moderating comments is, in my opinion, the most tiresome and frustrating part of blogging. Whatever you decide, I respect your choice. More than once I’ve turned off comments entirely or stopped moderating them. But in the long run, I think it’s more important to set a tone and disallow comments that ruin the blog’s spirit than to foster discussion about topics that most of the blog’s readers have already moved beyond.
Elaine Vigneaults last blog post..Dogs: Action Shots