Thanks to All

[Dexter]

I would like to thank the powers that be for closing the "White or Homosexual Members" thread. I almost started to believe that honest and adult dialogue can exist among adults. I'm glad we put that idea of free speech to rest. From now on everyone only discuss NON controversial issues please!

Again THANKS!!

[dzrose93]

For the record, I never requested the thread to be closed. If the A Phi A moderator or the GC administrator chose to shut it down, then I'm sure he had a good reason for it, and I'll support his decision.

Have a good day!

[fato]

To quote O-Dogg from Menace II Socitey, "yall actin' like a bunch of beeeitches, you actin' real paranoid!"

(Damn that boy should've won an Oscar)

[Dexter]

Originally posted by dzrose93
For the record, I never requested the thread to be closed. If the A Phi A moderator or the GC administrator chose to shut it down, then I'm sure he had a good reason for it, and I'll support his decision.

Have a good day!

Not the original thread was directed toward you, But it's funny how you feel the need to defend yourself (prematurly) and support the censorship........

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by Dexter


Not the original thread was directed toward you, But it's funny how you feel the need to defend yourself (prematurly) and support the censorship........

Actually, it wasn't premature. A couple of people accused non-AA GCers of trying to start problems in the white/homosexual thread in an attempt to get it shut down. So, in light of those accusations, I figured it would be practical for me to go ahead and state that, although I was a non-AA GCer who contributed posts to the thread in question, I did not lobby for the lockdown.

However, we mods try to work together as much as possible to keep GC a pleasant site to visit, and that's why I stated my support for whoever did close the thread. I know that most of the GC mods are very patient people, so I give whoever shut the thread the benefit of the doubt and assume that he probably had a good reason to do so.

Just my .02.

[Dexter]

While I appreciate your reasons for making your disclaimer, I cannot believe that the only way to have a pleasant forum is that everyone agrees on everything and no controversial topics are discussed. That to me seems to defeat the purpose of an open forum. Think about this if I hadn't started that thread, would you and I have even communicated with each other or better yet have knowledge of each others existence? The only way that people will learn about other people is through informative dialogue. Your views and my views are different but I know that since this discussion has taken place, a lot of people are have learned something whether they know it or not.

[fato]

Originally posted by Dexter
While I appreciate your reasons for making your disclaimer, I cannot believe that the only way to have a pleasant forum is that everyone agrees on everything and no controversial topics are discussed. That to me seems to defeat the purpose of an open forum. Think about this if I hadn't started that thread, would you and I have even communicated with each other or better yet have knowledge of each others existence? The only way that people will learn about other people is through informative dialogue. Your views and my views are different but I know that since this discussion has taken place, a lot of people are have learned something whether they know it or not.

YEAH!!!

[Professor]

While we all know that this is a public board, it still does not give an individual to post any and everything! Thus the role of the moderators to make decisions as to what he or she deems appropriate. A decision to close or delete a thread is not a consensus but an individual. In addition, I should also state moderators have a site where we post comments not seen by the general membership. Request to close threads are directed to moderators or John. I can only add that I make personal decisions to close threads when they are no longer educational, attack an individual or group or start to misrepresent ALPHA in a negtive light!

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by Dexter
While I appreciate your reasons for making your disclaimer, I cannot believe that the only way to have a pleasant forum is that everyone agrees on everything and no controversial topics are discussed. That to me seems to defeat the purpose of an open forum. Think about this if I hadn't started that thread, would you and I have even communicated with each other or better yet have knowledge of each others existence? The only way that people will learn about other people is through informative dialogue. Your views and my views are different but I know that since this discussion has taken place, a lot of people are have learned something whether they know it or not.

Dexter,

I agree with you 110% -- we shouldn't stop talking about controversial subjects simply for the sake of being pleasant and PC. But, quite honestly, I don't think that the thread was closed simply because it was controversial. There are a ton of other controversial threads on GC (many concerning racial issues) that remained open until people finally just got tired of talking about them and they fell by the wayside.

So, I don't know for sure what got that particular thread closed-- but it's been my past experience as a mod that most threads don't get shut unless some of the posters are being really obnoxious (and it gets noticed by a mod or the board administrator personally) or unless many people specifically request the closing of a thread and give valid reasons for the request. At any rate, I don't think it was done on a whim just because the issue at hand was an uncomfortable one for some GCers. I give both John and Professor credit for being level-headed individuals with good track records on GC.

At any rate, I was glad to be able to participate in the thread, and hope that I have an opportunity to converse with you in the future concerning other GC threads. I'm always up for a good discussion!

Sincerely,
dzrose93

[Dexter]

Well I'm not going to reply to an "INDIVIDUAL" interpretation of misrepresenting the frat. My views on misrepresentation is making unilateral decisions.

DZ,
Well in any light my point on censorship is that it won't be contained. Eventhough we stop talking about it. The ideas and feelings remain the same.

[Blackwatch]

Fascinating turn of events! Systematic Oppression at its best!!!
Let's look at the facts....
-Thread is started in the Alpha Phi Alpha forum about the opinions of individuals about Whites and Homosexuals in the HBGLO's.
-Interesting & informative posts, honest dialogue, good ole American 1st amendment at its best, no mud slinging, no personal attacks, good ole honest and intelligent debate.
-Then someone suggests that the honest discussion and the title of the thread may be seen as racist-which is impossible by most definitions of racism because the participants do not have the power (institutional control) to discriminate.
-The moderator is concerned about the image of the fraternity, so he places a disclaimer several times on the thread stating that these are individual opinions and do not represent the views of the general organization of the fraternity, which is true and should have been enough to stem the tide of criticism about the debate.
-But what ends up happening is that the the debate is shut down eventually. And there you have it, black people denied a freedom guarenteed in the constitution to all because we do not have the institutional control (Our own GC so to speak) that gives us the power to control our own destiny (talk about what ever we want to talk about, however we want to talk about it). Systematic Oppression at it's best (worst).

This happens all over America, from company retreats, to college lecture halls, to political forums, to church conferences, everyone wants to be Politically Correct and worry about the image of everything and not deal with the substance of the matter. What this does is hampers our struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. Freeodom is not free, we have to earn it with hard work. In this arena, that hard work is critical thinking. There are people in the black community who are suffering disproportionately (so as not to let anyone think I am not concerned with the problems of all of humanity, but why the overwhelming number of blacks in jail, with AIDS, etc.?). We need solutions, some may not be liked by all, but really work. For example, everyone talks about the alarming rates of STD's and unwanted pregnancy in our communities, "teach them about safe sex" some PC people say, as to not offend those who may be having sex. But the scientifically proven surest way to combat these issues is with abstinance. The PC people will say that abstinance is not "practical". But there have been studies shown that teenage girls are less likely to have premarital sex if there is a strong father figure in the home. But the PCer says that the nuclear family structure is patriarchal and sexist, and the black community has the higest rate of single parent homes in the US(which can be linked to the disproportinate rates of STd's and unwanted pregnancy).
But these solutions are not politically correct (read as offensive, and in our case here on GC with the thread, offensive to a few white people) so we cannot not use them, whether they work or not. What I am illustrating is that if we as black people wait for approval from white people before and as we address these issues in our community, we will stand back and watch our community die, and for what, Political Correctness (or control over our language and ideas)? Black empowerment has always been and will always be offensive to whites. If saving our people makes some white people get bent out of shape (Like Dr. King and his letter from the Birmingham Jail, "we are living in a negative peace", which translates to "don't rock the boat and you will be alright". Sure it's peaceful, but only as long as white people like the way we act) then we have to stand guilty of that crime. Chatting on GC in a PC way apparently is going to be like living during "Mississippi Burning", who wants to live like that?
This PC thing is killing our freedom struggle. Why are we debating what is racism with whites? That is like the raped debating what is rape with a rapist, the raped in the rapist's eyes was never raped. I am Guilty, and I will peacefully serve my time for being Politically Incorrect, but I will never give up. Never Give Up!!!
Blackwatch!!!

[nube one]

To the East my brother, to the East!

[Professor]

Interesting reply Bro. Blackwatch. Not that I have to justify my action to close the thread but in this case I will. The thread was closed when an individual posted that he hated white folk and homos. I deleted his post and closed the thread - - - That crossed the line for me!!!

[DST Love]

Originally posted by Blackwatch
Fascinating turn of events! Systematic Oppression at its best!!!
Let's look at the facts....
-Thread is started in the Alpha Phi Alpha forum about the opinions of individuals about Whites and Homosexuals in the HBGLO's.
-Interesting & informative posts, honest dialogue, good ole American 1st amendment at its best, no mud slinging, no personal attacks, good ole honest and intelligent debate.
-Then someone suggests that the honest discussion and the title of the thread may be seen as racist-which is impossible by most definitions of racism because the participants do not have the power (institutional control) to discriminate.
-The moderator is concerned about the image of the fraternity, so he places a disclaimer several times on the thread stating that these are individual opinions and do not represent the views of the general organization of the fraternity, which is true and should have been enough to stem the tide of criticism about the debate.
-But what ends up happening is that the the debate is shut down eventually. And there you have it, black people denied a freedom guarenteed in the constitution to all because we do not have the institutional control (Our own GC so to speak) that gives us the power to control our own destiny (talk about what ever we want to talk about, however we want to talk about it). Systematic Oppression at it's best (worst).

This happens all over America, from company retreats, to college lecture halls, to political forums, to church conferences, everyone wants to be Politically Correct and worry about the image of everything and not deal with the substance of the matter. What this does is hampers our struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. Freeodom is not free, we have to earn it with hard work. In this arena, that hard work is critical thinking. There are people in the black community who are suffering disproportionately (so as not to let anyone think I am not concerned with the problems of all of humanity, but why the overwhelming number of blacks in jail, with AIDS, etc.?). We need solutions, some may not be liked by all, but really work. For example, everyone talks about the alarming rates of STD's and unwanted pregnancy in our communities, "teach them about safe sex" some PC people say, as to not offend those who may be having sex. But the scientifically proven surest way to combat these issues is with abstinance. The PC people will say that abstinance is not "practical". But there have been studies shown that teenage girls are less likely to have premarital sex if there is a strong father figure in the home. But the PCer says that the nuclear family structure is patriarchal and sexist, and the black community has the higest rate of single parent homes in the US(which can be linked to the disproportinate rates of STd's and unwanted pregnancy).
But these solutions are not politically correct (read as offensive, and in our case here on GC with the thread, offensive to a few white people) so we cannot not use them, whether they work or not. What I am illustrating is that if we as black people wait for approval from white people before and as we address these issues in our community, we will stand back and watch our community die, and for what, Political Correctness (or control over our language and ideas)? Black empowerment has always been and will always be offensive to whites. If saving our people makes some white people get bent out of shape (Like Dr. King and his letter from the Birmingham Jail, "we are living in a negative peace", which translates to "don't rock the boat and you will be alright". Sure it's peaceful, but only as long as white people like the way we act) then we have to stand guilty of that crime. Chatting on GC in a PC way apparently is going to be like living during "Mississippi Burning", who wants to live like that?
This PC thing is killing our freedom struggle. Why are we debating what is racism with whites? That is like the raped debating what is rape with a rapist, the raped in the rapist's eyes was never raped. I am Guilty, and I will peacefully serve my time for being Politically Incorrect, but I will never give up. Never Give Up!!!
Blackwatch!!!

This post was on point!! Bravo, Bravo!!

[Dexter]

Originally posted by Professor
Not that "I" have to justify "my" action to close the thread but in this case I will. The thread was closed when an individual posted that he hated white folk and homos. "I" deleted his post and closed the thread - - - That crossed the line for "me"!!!

How many times do I need to say something about being an "INDIVIDUAL" in the frat. That's just selfish to close an entire thread because of one person's view. Why not just erase his post? I think it's unfair for an "INDIVIDUAL" to make decisions for us based on his "PERSONAL" cinvictions. There either needs to be some consultation or we need more than just one moderator.I was pledged with the idea of I-ME-MY-MINE are words that do not rhyme. WE-US-OURS-TOGETHER these are words that last forever. Maybe it's just me.