Announcement: two more commenting guidelines
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
I decided to add two more points to the Racialicious commenting guidelines I posted when I turned comment moderation on. From now on, if you use either of these tactics in your comment, it will be deleted. Why? Because I’m bored with reading the same old drivel and life is just too short.
8. Don’t respond to a post or comment by saying “why don’t you focus on some REAL issues like the war/starving children in Africa/police brutality/etc.” Newsflash: this is a blog about race and pop culture. If you’re not interested in discussing the intersection of those two things, please go elsewhere.
9. Don’t respond to critiques about racism by telling the person making the critique that they’re just too sensitive (or unattractive. WTF?). Coffeeandink said it best in the brilliant How to Suppress Discussions of Racism: “If you can accuse your opponent of “paranoia,” “white guilt,” “internalized racism,” “whining,” “overreacting,” “paternalism,” “condescension,” “being obsessed with race,” “bitching about racism at the drop of a hat,” or “taking things too personally,” you don’t need to bother addressing the content of their remarks.”
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
HighJive wrote:
Carmen,
You’re too sensitive. Why don’t you focus on REAL issues like the war on starving children in Africa being brutalized by police?
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 3:32 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
LOL! Ok I’ll let that one slip.
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 3:37 pm ¶
Alex wrote:
Well obviously this change is directed towards me and other serious posters.
If you don’t want debate in your comment section, why don’t you change your comment policy to “Only bland repetitions of what the post said are acceptable.”?
Are you threatened by the fact that there are some legitimate issues raised in my comments? Would you prefer if I was a Bot writing “You go girl!” and “Racism is bad!” in my lines?
If so, just let me know and I’ll raise serious concerns on an ACTUAL racism discussion blog.
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 6:00 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Exactly which legitimate issues were raised in your comment? From what I saw, you ignored all the issues she discussed in her post, and simply wrote her off as a whiny girl who’s just too unattractive to make it. If that’s not a quick way to shut down discussion, I don’t know what is.
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 10:11 pm ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
Also, no. 9 was more of a response to all the comments about the Erica Watson situation than anything else. After a week’s worth of “shut up you sensitive little loser, if you can’t take a joke don’t go to a comedy club” over and over and over again, let’s just say I’m done with those types of comments.
Posted 19 Mar 2007 at 10:14 pm ¶
Alex wrote:
Looking back, I see some of my posts have seemed inflammatory, but I can assure you that was not my intent at all.
My style is to be skeptical of all claims at first rather than to believe everything I read. I’m sure anyone who sees racism as a serious issue, would do the same thing.
Posted 20 Mar 2007 at 12:21 am ¶
Anu wrote:
yay Carmen! You go girl! Racism is bad! Its annoying to have to sift through a whole bunch of posts that really have nothing to do with the topic or debate. People who have nothing better to do than ridicule someone’s looks should try perezhilton.com or try savetheworld.org if global warming is more your thing. On RACIALicious.com people just might be talking about race.
Posted 20 Mar 2007 at 12:28 am ¶
April wrote:
LOL @ “unattractive, WTF”… ignorance is a sad state of being.
Posted 20 Mar 2007 at 12:46 am ¶
Y. Carrington wrote:
Blog moderators have the right to set the parameters of engagement on their sites as they see fit. You’ll get no complaints from me.
And for those who complain that Racialicious should focus on “real” issues, there are PLENTY of bloggers that cover hard political race topics, many of whom have been linked and cross-posted at this very site. If that’s indeed what you’re looking for, it’s easy to find. You have no excuse.
Posted 20 Mar 2007 at 5:13 am ¶