Quote:
Originally Posted by Julie Steiner
Just a quick reminder that Eratosphere's guidelines don't prohibit harsh criticism of either poems or ideas. If you think someone's poem or idea is dreck, you are free to say so (ideally by identifying specific points that will help that person revise).
However, critiques need to stay focused on the poems or ideas, and not wander off into critiques of the personal shortcomings of the people associated with those poems or ideas.
An attack on the weaknesses of your poem or idea is not automatically an attack on you. Please don't interpret it as such. (And if someone does attack you personally, please don't respond in kind--just remind that person of the site guidelines, and bring the conversation back to the poem or idea.)
Now back to our regularly scheduled argument.
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Hey Julie. Nice to see you as a moderator. This idea of separating the person from the ideas is about become a much more difficult task so I don't envy your job. Here is the thing: The ugly notions in the hands of thugs like Trump who act quickly and with certainty are actions almost before they are ideas. And defense of them, or allowing the actions taking place to be obscured is a necessary part of that action. So when someone in power moves to split families and deport people in mass simply or to gut the few remaining regulations that are slowing the destruction of the biosphere down the action is inherent in the idea and a refusal to acknowledge the need to resist that idea/movement is to take sides. And if you take sides with deforestation or deportation or you are part of the action. You become a deporter, a misogynist, a racist, what have you, by nature of the necessity of your support/silence/assistance in the spread of propaganda. These aren't disagreements on scansion. This is a critical moment where only clear and uncompromising resistance has any chance of lessening the damage. So forgive me if I lose patience with stupid/violent ideas and suggest that holding them might make one stupid/violent.