I am a rascist troll

[Eyes of the World]

That is what I have been determined by some DUers because of this statement:

"With all due respect, W Bush was caricatured as a smirking chimp but liberals were oblivious to the feelings of those who supported him."

That is it. No pattern. No attempt to hijack the thread. No insulting. No calling out. Just a simple consideration.

Is that all it takes to be a rascist these days?

Or are there a lot of close-minded people here convinced low-count posters are trolls?


To the 11 people who insulted me and wished me banned from the safety of an anonymous jury: you made feel hurt, and I hope you have a truly shitty day.

To the one person who had an intelligent and thoughtful reply - thanks. I will stay for a little while longer. Maybe there is hope of carrying on an intelligent conversation.

I won't be answering replies to this post.

Based on what I've seen, when I come in to check the site tomorrow I will already be banned anyway.

[BeyondGeography]

1. We are all better as people for you having graced us with your presence here sir

Mission Accomplished.

[1StrongBlackMan]

2. Question ...

Why do you come into MY house to raise this?

[Eyes of the World]

11. I didnt come to "raise" anything

I made an innocuous point on a forum renowned for its open-mindedness.

I did not mean to violate group-think.

[liberalmuse]

3. The spelling gives it away every single time.

But you won't be banned unless you break the DU rules, btw. In the meantime, welcome to DU!

[Eyes of the World]

14. I am still not clear what rule I broke

I was respectful

I was addressing the topic

No profanity

Not personal

Only one short post

All I can think is that I am a victim of the low-post police

I was on the old DU since 2004, so ...well maybe the jury system has empowered the assholes.

What is to stop someone from randomly alerting posts?

[xchrom]

4. Lots of us have been pasted w/ the racist/troll label.

It goes back aways.

The racist label means a thing you can't really escape - so it's particularly bitter.

But really? Fuck 'em.

[Democratopia]

5. Hi Eyes

I am sorry that you have been insulted. I have been too, for no good reason. It is very upsetting. I welcome you to DU. Don't let the few bullies put you off. I look forward to your contribution.

[underthematrix]

6. I was dinged as racist too

for using an expression, which is a metaphor and commonly used in the AA community. I'm AA. Several times, I have started to write something here and realized this is a multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic site, which means I need to censor myself. When I want to get cultural I hang out at the very awesome The Obama Diary. The only thing you cannot do there is DISS the President and I'm totally in agreement with that.

I like this site and enjoy participating in the discussions. And I accept that whenever I post here, I have to censor myself to make sure I don't offend anyone. I'm okay with that.

Yes I remember the images of Bush as a chimpanzee. I thought it was extremely inappropriate. Whether you liked him or not, he was the President of the United States. Making him look bad made all of us look bad. However, the difference with PBO is that the fear, hate, and anger has gotten violent and become a multimillion industry. There has been an increase in membership in white supremacist and white hate groups. That's just a fact. It is not just directed at PBO. It includes Jews, Muslims, Hispanics, African Americans, Arabs, poor whites, biracial peeps, LGTB community, immigrants, and women. Hmmm . . . maybe we should start a coalition for all the sane peeps still living in America

[Cecilsmith]

17. race

we need to just open our borders, and stop being so cold to people. Everyone can come here and be happy! Obama can get money from the rich evil greedy and we can all be happy for once.

[Maru Kitteh]

23. You have tied race to terrorism and crime. Please explain

why you feel those things are related.

[Deep13]

7. I think your prediction will come true. nt

[pscot]

8. Oh the humanity!

Insulted on an internet forum. Welcome to the neighborhood.

[Eyes of the World]

12. Actually its not the insults

It is the low-post dicrimination which allowed me to be attacked anonymously, and denied me recourse to defend myself.

I'm better now.

[mcworld]

18. ...

yes, people who pick 'fights' seem like wimpy cowards who wouldn't fight in real life.

[radiclib]

9. I don't know if you're a troll or not

But I do know that "The Smirking Chimp" is a great website, and yes, it was (and continues to be) proudly oblivious to the feelings of those that supported him. I say good for them. And I don't think that makes me a bad person.

[Eyes of the World]

13. I like smirking chimp

My point is that there might have been some non-rascist republicans (eg,my brother in law) who was very offended at what we said (yes me too) about Bush.

It may not rise to slavery, but I wasnt trying to make them equal.

Just show that we may have a mote in our own eyes when it comes to other peoples feelings.

[radiclib]

15. Isn't Bush white?

How is likening him to some kind of monkey even remotely comparable to doing the same to a black man?
I think it's phony outrage. They're not nearly that thin-skinned, and they just love to make accusations of what they do themselves.

[Spryguy]

20. Non-racists rethuglicans?

That's an oxymoron bro. Also, wtf are you doing associating with rethugs? You need to get those assholes out of your life and find some good liberal friends who won't pour pure poison in your ear.

[peace13]

10. With all due respect President Obama was elected...

$ush was appointed. Right there most of us got off on the wrong foot!

[AverageJoe90]

16. Sorry to hear about that.

I've been falsely accused of trolling myself a few times. It happens.

[timesamillion]

19. I wish you would read the replies

Because I think you bring up a great point, namely people being hyper-sensitive to anything related to race. Does racism exist? Absolutely. Do we need to address cases of it? Yes.

But I think we all need to be far more discerning in what we label racism lest we render the word useless and our arguments against it baseless.

[Clemans]

21. I agree with you!

I think you made a good point about using the term indiscriminately. To me it is like being quick to call everything "like-Hitler" and other words or phrases like that. Once something is over-used it looses its meaning.