Deleting racist comments?
David T from Harry’s Place turns up in the comments and says:
Katy
Come to Harry’s Place. We’re trialing a policy of pruning the anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish bigots, and the trolls, and off topic posters.
That’s amusing. So I read an article on HP, calling for people all over the world to highlight the peace protests in Israel, and the third comment says:
Dear god, there’s an idiot born every minute.
Its only because of those brave Jewish bombers that idiots liike this can blog against their own armed services. The IDF – killing muslims jihadists so we don’t have to.
Not only conflating Jews with Israelis, but also implying all Palestinians are jihadists. That policy isn’t going so well is it?
Anyway, we do have a policy of deleting all anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish comments on here – so that will be followed through as soon as the admins see the comment. I don’t care if you’re angry about the situation in Gaza – keep your language under control or you will be banned.
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Filed in: Blog, Other racists
Shouldn’t they rename it to Prince Harry’s Place???
Yeh the comment you pick out does show a level of bigotry, I agree on the first point about conflating Israeli and Jewish, though the IDF are killing Muslim jihadists. They have just recently killed a top Hamas leader (who sweetly kept his family by his side – they have died too)
From your point of view the IDF are bombing Palestinians, so you see that as a conflation. But from the other point of view they are bombing Hamas — with a large number civilian casualties.
Israel have said they are targeting Hamas, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable for people to say they are killing Muslim jihadists.
I am not agreeing with this commenter btw. It seems really quite an immature comment.
Marvin,
A baby found with two bullets in the head…a very young Jihadist I guess? Or maybe you’d argue that was a potential jihadist.
Sorry Sunny, sticking to the subject…I promise to keep it under control, even if the official Isaraeli PR machine tries to wind us up on these blogs.
From your point of view the IDF are bombing Palestinians, so you see that as a conflation.
Do you want to remind me how many children have died so far marvin, or shall I?
official Isaraeli PR machine – hermes
Pro-Israel sickos who want to murder brown kids – SE
Lunatics.
Palestinian sources claim nearly a third, Sunny. We do not have any 3rd party verification. It seems an extremely high number indeed Sunny. I think it would be difficult to kill such a high percentage of children even if that was your stated aim. Children are always innocents and Hamas have used them and will continue to use them very cynically.
Yeah very funny Sunny
You probably won’t believe this, but about 10 mins ago, I culled about 5 or so objectionable posts from that thread. And then I saw that you had devoted a post to it!
Here’s my thinking on “pruning” and the reason for giving it a go.
http://www.hurryupharry.org/2009/01/13/pruning/
Obviously, I have to do my job, so I’m not doing this full time. And I’m doing it in a completely impressionistic way: with the goal of making conversations more interesting, and less screechy.
I do think it is a bit wankerish to devote an entire post to the subject of a comment on a comment thread, but, you know, fair enough…
Hermes – If you were protesting in 1968 you don’t appear to have learned very much. Demonstrations achieve nothing except in the mind of the demonstrators.
I understand that it makes them feel they’re doing something. But, sorry chaps, that’s the truth. It doesn’t matter what the cause is, whether you’re pro or anti, the greatest achievements are overtime paid to police forces, and everybody’s insurance premiums increased.
SE – You really baffle me. Where on earth do you get the idea that Jews hate brown people? Did a lad surnamed Cohen once point out that you’re a bit of a twat?
It’s entirely appropiate to make our current deletion and banning policy (I use the term lightly) completely clear.
We’ve had a huge rise in traffic, which means new readers and commenter’s. They need to be made to understand how we do things here.
I think about a third sounds about right – poor families tend to be large and kids get everywhere. I heard it was about 50/50 civilians to Hamas.
The Hamas number two, for example, died along with his family. One has to wonder why their military leader in the throes of a hard-fought conflict would wish to shelter with them.
The cynicism of Hamas is quite evident: they’re all over AJ parading the corpses of children yet, until recently, have foregone any talk of peace. Hamas care not a jot for the Palestinian people – as Islamist militarists they are just pawns in the greater struggle against the infidel thatb they wish to continue for as long as possible. This is why, despite the best-efforts of Western supporters, reaction on the “Arab street”, as well as among their governments, has been muted. They don’t see the martydom of the Palestinians on the alter of Islamism as quite so romantic – it’s a bit closer to home.
I do think it is a bit wankerish to devote an entire post to the subject of a comment on a comment thread, but, you know, fair enough…
I think its a bit more wankerish if your insinuation is that this place is somehow more full of bigotry than HP is. You invited the blog post yourself really, by posting that comment and then not following through with your claim.
The point was – we’re both having to deal with bigotry – yours is anti-Muslim, ours is anti-semitic.
Now, now boys, you know you love each other really…;-)
And Hermes, love your handbags!
Chairwoman,
As far as I can make out SE’s logic seems to be,
Israeli government = all Israelis = all Jews
Hamas = all Palestinians = all brown people.
It’s a depressingly common thought process.
DavidT, I really don’t know why you are bothering. You’ve built a brand which attracts bigots by the bucketload and now you want to throw it all away. Why? And why now?
I am not sure telling us you have a fulltime job as well is good enough. You are a legal professional so it wouldn’t be such a big deal for you to work out that if you don’t want to encourage these bigots you shouldn’t be running it.
Personally I think you should continue begetting bigots.
Does anti-muslim mean anti-Islam? Are you conflating those as well? If I think that Islam is very far from being the best thing since sliced bread, am I barred from explaining why?
Brett of Harry’s Place thinks CiF is an “antisemitic cesspool” because of the particular type of racist comments that accumalate on there. But he doesn’t regard HP as being an “anti-Muslim cesspool” when his own threads threaten to overflow with another particular type of bigotry.
He’s such a well-balanced young man.
I think it may be possible to clean up HP, in the same way it was possible to clean the Augean stables. But it will take a Heracles.
Too many years with nobody shovelling shit, that leaves a big task. Best of luck to David T. I think PP’s policy of making it clear that slavering bigots of whatever stripe will be out on their ear is a better policy in the long term. Also medium and short.
And we all know what will happen to DavidT when Heracles comes his way.
That’s right, Regime Change at Harry’s Place.
Personally I rather leave them to wallow.
Indeed. For the most part blogs get the commenters they deserve, see Guido’s for a good example of this.
I gave up reading HP some time ago despite it being one of my regular reads when I first got into blogs etc (little history, when I first met Sunny, one of the things I suggested was to read HP although of course he was ahead as the game as per and already was!).
I used to regularly recommend it. I was impressed by their outting of the HuT guy that had managed to get a job as a Guardian reporter (another small piece of history, I met him a few months before his outing and had figured out his leanings).
But yeah it’s a waste of time now…
Cheers. We do try and get things right as best we can. We delete crap when we have to and as soon as we see it. We can’t be online 24 hours a day but I think we’ve done ok so far.
‘I used to regularly recommend it.’
I am astonished. The first time I looked I knew, but I suppose that was probably well after you came across it.
Sunny, admins, is comparing the actions of the IDF to nazi’s racist? (according to your rules?)
Furthermore in the past I have had posts deleted for suggesting that Israel was playing with european emotions and guilt and getting away with it’s own crimes. Now this same comment has been made by a Labour MP, Gerald Kaufman,
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3657024,00.html
Surely, if it’s suitable for the house of commons, it’s suitable for PP?
“Does anti-muslim mean anti-Islam?”
Are there really dickheads out there who think there’s a difference? Muslims follow the religion of Islam.
What a bunch of evil thicko thugs do in its name counts for shit as far as the religion is concerned
I never said I agreed with it’s politics, just that it was an interesting read (in the general scheme of things, you have to remember there were very few blogs of note back then, no Iain Dale claiming it as his own etc). I think it was the Eustonite crap that made me think there was really no hope for it.
Don’t be cute. You said all that then ended it with crap about Jews. You’re a fucking idiot, you continue your flame baiting and racist shite and you’ll just be banned.
The hypocrisy of Harry’s Place is plain for all to see presently in its banner image: the same site which criticises others for comparing Israel with the Nazis is currently comparing the idiotic tiny minority smashing Starbucks’ windows with… the Nazis and Kristallnacht. Which is more out of proportion? Forgive me for thinking it might just be the latter.
Sunny, admins, is comparing the actions of the IDF to nazi’s racist?
No, it’s just as hyperbolic and idiotic as the term “Islamofascist”…. and makes you look as silly as the commenters on HP who spend their day cussing Muslims.
‘The Hamas number two, for example, died along with his family. One has to wonder why their military leader in the throes of a hard-fought conflict would wish to shelter with them.’
I suppose you think they would be in their right to seek out Livni and her family to deliver them their own highly charged B&Q Drainpipe?
“I suppose you think they would be in their right to seek out Livni and her family to deliver them their own highly charged B&Q Drainpipe?”
The Hamas policy of launching indisctiminately aimed missiles is pretty much the same. It means that there’s a much higher chance of “collateral damage”.If Hamas were known to have accurate missiles and announced they were set on killing Livni- who is a legitimate target from Hamas’s view- then we would think her to blame if she kept her family around her so the same applies to Hamas leaders. Incidentally, it’s said that some Hamas members gather their families around them as generous means of giving them a free trip to paradise. Any evidence, do you know?
An interesting question: a Hamas leader has already been killed along with his four wives and some or- according to some reports- all of his children. However, one of his children had already died- in a suicide bomb attack. In that case, were his wives legitimate targets as weapons manufacturers and his children as weapons of war?
@ 29 ” legitimate targets …. his children as weapons of war?”
I cannot see how children are ever legitimate targets
‘In that case, were his wives legitimate targets as weapons manufacturers and his children as weapons of war?’
Perhaps you could answer your own question?
It sounds so much like women are potential targets for having the capacity to give birth.
The weak are equipped with peashooters. The strong trangressors have been empowered by the UN, by european post holocaust guilt, general US stupidness and the uselessness of Arab nations. The fact that they arent strong on their own account is evident in their behaviour and the words that roll off their tongues.
Itsy bitsy peashooters. Fatah proved to be more easily domesticated than hamas, for whom demonisation was always on the cards. Ever since the lobby got them put onto the terrorist organisation list. Ahimsa hasnt bedded down too well in this particular anti colonial struggle. Maybe if they converted to Buddhism Radiohead would sing for them…
Even their electoral victory is subverted by those who turn around and play the ‘ooh look how democratic and white we are’ card every chance they get.
when this present massacre is over i wonder what the political plates will look like.
If I could answer the question I wouldn’t ask it, Refresh.
“It sounds so much like women are potential targets for having the capacity to give birth.”…it looks horribly as if their father considered his children potential weapons.
No, Fug, Hamas are not equipped with peashooters. They have rockets which are lethal if they hit their targets. It’s an interesting moral dilemma. Hamas have killed as many Israelis as they can and their weapons
are completely indiscriminate; the Israelis have killed many more Gazans but they are aiming at Hamas members and fighters and- given the ratios of dead- are killing a higher proportion. Which deserves more condemnation?
“I suppose you think they would be in their right to seek out Livni and her family to deliver them their own highly charged B&Q Drainpipe?”
Of course they would if they could – Hamas favour the bus bomb do they not? Women and children a speciality.
Support the Palestinians by all means, but why stand up for the people who are using them as human fodder to further their twisted vision?
Now, you could have said they were *both* equally out of proportion, but you didn’t. Which leaves open the possibility that a country in which there are several hundred thousand survivors from the Nazi period are little better than the Nazis.
Of course, then there’s the matter of the difference between objecting to comparing A to B, and drawing attention to those who are comparing A to B or adopting the tactics of B to attack A. Plus the patent dishonestly in excoriating what you call the rank hypocrisy of a webpage, whilst affording yourself a get-out-gaol-free card for the real-life actions of a bunch of ‘idiots’ (i.e. un-noteworthy).
Yes, I could have done, but then they’re not equally out of proportion are they? There’s a massive difference between racist morons smashing a few windows and the Israeli state, not its people, killing 1,200 people in three weeks, isn’t there? Or alternatively, there’s a massive difference between a state organised pogrom which killed 100 and destroyed thousands of shops and individual morons acting of their own accord, isn’t there?
My point which you seem to have completely ignored is that Harry’s Place excoriates anyone who dares to suggest that what was going in Gaza might have been comparable to the actions of the Nazis, then thinks it’s perfectly appropriate to compare the actions of a tiny minority of those same people to… the Nazis. No amount of rhetorical or indignant bullshit is going to get you out of that.