MY ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE: Flagging Abuse based on Political Correctness is Not Fair

Share/Save/Bookmark

MY ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE: Flagging Abuse based on Political Correctness is Not Fair
by Darius Kadivar
20-Aug-2011
 


Dear Admin,

I rarely Like to draw attention on myself on a personal level or should I say personalized level because I do not think that I am any more any less entitled to attention or respect or even consideration by the Administrators of this site. I am merely a contributor here like everyone else with no personal gain in the management or profits of this website other than the opportunity over the past ten years of being able to express myself, entertain at times, educate or interest people with my articles, blogs and other means of expression available in the www.

I also hope in my own modest way ( at times funny at others clumsy but I believe at worst sincere and at best thought provocative) that I have also helped push the bounderies of free speech on this website but also shared knowledge with people who have been kind enough to follow my writings and blogs over the years.

If that means that I have gained an immediately recognizable name and style of expression in an online public sphere over the years it is also partly due to my personal hard work and time spent on this website.

My aim is not at all to flatter myself nor beg people fans or not to spill crocodile tears in writing this blog but I do think that I am entitled to a minimum be it Infinitesimal Fairness when it comes to being moderated in response to an argument or vehement discussion which can take place between me and someone I disagree with or who happens to disagree with me. 

Most of them ARE ANONYMOUS and other than Q ( Qumars Bolourchian) with whom I had differences and for which I was told to behave based on the editorial policy of this website to which I have abided since ( essentially not using profanity, and avoid embedding videos etc ...). 

Those who have been following my contributions or comments may well remember the exchanges with the likes of Capt_ahyab Sargor Pirooz ( Whom I never flagged nor do I believe he ever flagged me) in the past, or Ostaad and Now Simorgh5555 whose attacks and cheap shots comments including on cultural blogs or even those which have absolutely nothing to do with Iran, politics or other issues of interest to me and my loyal readership or like minds. 

Facebook friendship has also become a pretext for some anonymous people to come and befriend me only to come back on IC to stab me publicly. I don't care much for that for I don't say things any differently on Facebook than I do here. It just says more about them and their intellectual duplicity than it does about me. 

If some people don't wish to engage in a debate with me or feel that I am being abusive, I welcome them to tell me bluntly and frankly and I won't engage with them and I will respect their choice and avoid any type of exchange or commentary with them or on their blogs.

But I do have something to say about Fairness if that word means anything to the Administrators of this website.  

There is a difference between Flagging someone for Profanity per se and using this ability to Flag me on grounds which have no real reason other than engage in a psychological warfare aimed at ousting me out of this website.

This type of behavior by some people on this site often Protected in their Anonymity by Anonymous ID's and Avatars and at times Multiple ID's resort to hypocritical and nauseating Political Correctness aimed at getting even with me on grounds of Previous feuds which have absolutely nothing to do with the discussion as has been the case in this thread between Pendar Neek and Me.

//iranian.com/main/2011/aug/1979-attack-kurdistan

 

But I can come up with other similar situations than the above example.

That's Not the Point. 

 

It's just that Having been around on IC for a long time and with full accountability for my opinions and full Identity I happen to be subject to such RECURRENT accusation by ANONYMOUS commentators using ANONYMOUS Methods such as Flagging to counter me not with an aim to debate or counter my arguments with a Fair Response but as a Pretext to exert ABUSIVE POWERPLAY, PERSONAL JEALOUSIES OR CHARACTER ASSASSINATION.

 

Again All this protected by their ANONYMOUS ID's and often Multiple to get away with it.

 

This is NOT FAIR Not just towards me but is it NOT FAIR towards the intelligence of IC readers who can draw their own conclusions. 

Such Abusive behavior is nothing short of Character Assassination aimed merely by Malice not political conviction, Moral Standars or even indignation.

 

ABUSIVE Flagging even of Humorous or Ironic Responses also have become to convenient excuse to Assassinate an Online style and Personality which I have shaped over the years and which define my way of expressing myself.

 

I have no problem with tough talk or vehement exchanges as long as I can RESPOND when Provoked particularly when it comes to ANONYMOUS commentators who do not stand for what they say or comment on.

 

It's SO EASY to get away with it and Then Come up with the INSINCERE EXCUSE that they feel hurt or that someone has not respected their point of view simply because they are running out of arguments.

 

All this to say that the minimum before taking such critics made towards me or Flags into account is to FULLY read the exchange in the thread entirely in order to understand the context of what is being discussed here and the moral dilemmas which are in the Balance and not merely some exaggerated pretext or False grounds of an expectation to have a so called "polite" and "civilized"  intellectual exchange.

Otherwise I hope you would agree in all Fairness that such Political correct excuses are Truly starting to become a waste of time and energy for all concerned except for people who wish to turn the ability to comment Freely on this Website into a DAILY ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE !

 

So Before You decide on setting a new set of Editorial Rules You have in mind for your next Beta, Gamma version of IC in a near future I hope that my complaint will be taken into account not as a personal attack on anyone in particular for I don't count on changing people's personalities who all have their way of expressing themselves. But at least in regard to the type of Recurrent Abusive Behavior which seems to lack some form of moderation.

For I believe there is a difference between Flagging Someone for what he says and Flagging that person because we simply don't like them or like what they say.


If Not well then I will always have the consolation that David Starkey was Right Regarding Political Correctness in endorsing Gangsta Culture ...


 

Thank you for your Hard Work and for what it is worth for taking this comment into consideration.  

 

Best,

 

Darius KADIVAR

Humble But Prolific IC Contributor and Former Feature writer

//iranian.com/dkadivar.html 

Paris, FRANCE 

 

Share/Save/Bookmark

more from Darius Kadivar
 
Darius Kadivar

MEA CULPA: Confusion of Names

by Darius Kadivar on

In posting this blog I made a confusion between  the names of blogger Qumars Bolourchian with whom I have had trouble in the past:

 


//iranian.com/main/member/q

 

and the name of Qumars Hojjati who happens to be the editor of a website called Pars Times:

 


//parstimes.com/

The fact that I have made this confusion in my mind surprises me all the more that I have contributed to his excellent website in the past. 

But I guess the Mind often plays strange tricks with one's memory at times.

This was indeed the case here ... 

So my Sincere Apologies to Mr. Hojjati for this truly unintended confusion and eventual prejudice it may have created.

 

Best,

 

DK 


Esfand Aashena

We need Comment Control in our own blogs!

by Esfand Aashena on

JJJ's promise for changes is due "later this summer".  Granted we have one more month left in this summer, the due date could be extended to later "next" summer!

Bottom line there is no evidence that denying Comment Control in individuals' blogs have made i.com a better place or encouraged more people to join in and contribute.

Common sense on the internet with similar formats as i.com is that Comment Control IS the prevailing method.  Now I suppose some would argue that it depends what your definition of the word IS is! 

Everything is sacred


Truthseeker9

...

by Truthseeker9 on

Yawn.


Anahid Hojjati

Darius jan,

by Anahid Hojjati on

Darius jan, thanks for all your work on IC.


humanbeing

we should debate ideas, not people

by humanbeing on

dear darius,
i just read your heartfelt cry for fairness and will break my habit of staying way from IC to comment. i left precisely because of finding myself on some thread which  turned from a discussion of culture or a discussion of a woman about to be stoned, to a toxic thread revolving around issues of egos of those commenting on the thread (including my own, i must admit, i got sucked into the stupidity and irrelevant aspect of it all. later i was so ashamed that instead of us discussing the topic of the post -- a woman in a life and death situation -- we were offending each other over petty nuances which have no significance in the grand scheme of things, and are even not worthwhile as 'cyberplay'.).

as individuals, none of us agree on everything. i think for example that although we agree on certain issues, i don't hold all the same political or ideological or other opinions and stands as you do, or vice versa, but we never had to resort to personal abuse over our differences, and listened respectfully, and there are other people on this site who held the same rapport with you.

as adults we also knew how to throw some wit and irony each others' way, but always with respect, and keeping the cultural or ideological ideas first, rather than personal agendas.

as intellectually evolved people with freedom of speech and freedom of diversity we must i think also fight for the freedom from the tyranny of the type of political correctness which is itself a form of stifling oppression.


i myself am careful never to offend anyone (even men qua men -- if i am allowed some humour on a serious thread) on the basis of their identity. however i also try to be open to people referring honestly, even critically, to points about my own sectorial identity, when it is fair and honest, or when it is in benign humour.

without this, dialogue leading to rapprochement, or to mutual development and understanding, are not viable. of course the interlocutors are coming from different positions, speaking in different styles, holding different opinions and ideals. otherwise what's the point?

if we women, we jews, we afroamericans, we moslems, we akhunds, we zionists, we gazalubnan addicts, we sunnis, we gays, we minorities, we reactionaries, we royal watchers, we communists, we anarchists, or any other 'wes' are honest [[though unlike you, most on IC -- myself included -- hide behind anonymous names and avatars]] 
---- if all us 'we's are honest, we must admit that in a moment of laziness, self importance, or loss of a good rebuttal or argument, we run for the 'political correctness' card and selfrighteous indignation. and some of us abuse it.

i have not been reading up the detailed threads on here, but i cannot imagine you would refer to people of one or other sector in sinister slurs etc.

knowing human nature, as i described above, they will jump on the opportunity to call a 'foul' on the PC card. it's the easy way out of an difficult spot or a dialectical dead end. 

as i always say i say again: a site which cannot respect your fair play simply do not deserve you.

the shutting of mouths, the disrespect of freedom of ideas and focus on personal attack is not a climate which deserves contributors such as yourself. 

 

it would be a very sad day that you no longer feel at home on a site to which you contributed so much, but, believe me, it will be sadder for the site than it will be for you.


Tabarzin

A completely brand new site is needed

by Tabarzin on

With new moderator(s) not associated with the ones here; new style; new consistent rules; new everything. IC has had its day and now is more like the online Iranian community's version of a toilet can or looney house. More and more people have abandoned this place for precisely the inconsistencies pointed out. People and blocs of interests have been using this place in their games of self-promotional one-upmanship and control freakery and to air personal, sectarian, political and religious vendettas against enemies, real or perceived.

As someone else said before they left, IC is toxic, and I would go one better and say its toxicity is definitely a reflection of the mass of its regular constributors and especially the people who run the site with their double-standard inconsistenties and often malicious application of the rules, applying rules when it suits them and then bending them when it suits.

If Iranian.com is any indication of a democracy movement for Iran then this movement has already lost the struggle and there will be serious trouble in the future for Iran if the behaviour of the mob here is anything to go by.

 


Oon Yaroo

DK- Flagging, deleting and blocking polices in IC are at best ..

by Oon Yaroo on

random, arbitrary, and inconsistent! 

The good news is that, on average, everyone has been flagged and deleted at least once!