Ban "Birthers"?

The word that is... Yeah I know provocative title. Ok here goes I know technically "Birthers" is not that bad a term however the Obama fan club and a few others definitely use it derogatorily to inflame folks who criticize Obama or call into question his eligibility. How is this any less political trolling then "Paultard", "Obamatard" etc? All are meant to inflame their opponent pure and simple. They use it excessively even in single posts specifically for the purpose of inflaming whom they are replying to. Eventually they succeed and the mods slap the other poster who finally gets annoyed with it while the political troll gleefully continues to Birther Birther Birther the thread to death. Some of them even alert the mods as soon as they goad their opponent to flaming them back to add insult to injury. It ought to be considered political trolling IMO as that is exactly what it is because of the manner in which it is used!

The mods would have a lot less problems on political threads also IMO...

My 3 cents...

The thing is, "Birthers" call themselves 'birthers'. so... it can hardly be called derogative.

reply to post by hawkiye
I don't like banning of anything that applies to free speech.

Even if it applies to me.

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by hawkiye

 

I don't like banning of anything that applies to free speech.

Even if it applies to me.

There are already several terms that are banned on this site for purposes of keeping the site more amicable so I see no problem with doing the same with this term that causes a lot of problems here. Otherwise have true free speech which is not going to happen here for the reasons I mentioned so might as well remove other terms that are used regularly to inflame and politically troll.

Originally posted by stanguilles7
The thing is, "Birthers" call themselves 'birthers'. so... it can hardly be called derogative.

Says someone who uses the term regularly to inflame and disrupt otherwise reasonable conversation...

Click here for more information.

reply to post by hawkiye


Darn you beat me to it I was going to start a BAN ANTI BERTHERS thread but doing that now would just look silly , you know what I mean !!

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Ban 'Birthers'? Yes, let's get them the hell off of this site, so we can quit being flooded with nonsense.

Oh...you meant the TERM 'birther'? What would you prefer we call them? Idiots? Morons? Buffoons?

I really wish my mom would quit posting in these threads!

reply to post by hawkiye

Because 90% of all the mods on ats are either birthers or republicans,so they dont care,it's so obvious !

Originally posted by beezzer

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Ban 'Birthers'? Yes, let's get them the hell off of this site, so we can quit being flooded with nonsense.

Oh...you meant the TERM 'birther'? What would you prefer we call them? Idiots? Morons? Buffoons?

I really wish my mom would quit posting in these threads!

well played.

Originally posted by argentus

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

Using mod tags to emphasize that this is my opinion as a member, and not representative of staff.

To me, "birther" is a lot like "truther" in that sometimes people call themselves birthers and truthers.

Sometimes there is an adjective before either term, which makes it seem like an insult, such as "stupid" or "crazy", etc.

I personally don't care for either term, or any other generalization that seems to attempt to compartmentalize a group of people with similar interests into having the same viewpoints. In general, both words seem to often be used to minimalize someone whose viewpoint differs from someone else. I don't see "birther" as being AS politically baiting as some of the examples given in the OP, because people who support each politician would never refer to themselves in such an obviously derogatory manner.

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

Very few people refer to themselves as birthers and usually they do it so as to minimize the derogatory attempt to inflame them not because they like the term or being called a birther. It is easily as politically baiting as the other terms mentioned in the OP when used in the manner it is!

Edited to add: just look at the response so far and you can see the tone with which these people use it to do nothing but inflame. it is license to name call people and not get the post removed.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Ban 'Birthers'? Yes, let's get them the hell off of this site, so we can quit being flooded with nonsense.

Oh...you meant the TERM 'birther'? What would you prefer we call them? Idiots? Morons? Buffoons?

And here is a perfect example this post is obviously a serious violation of the T&C and meant to inflame. the poster even inadvertently reveals what he is thinking when he uses the term birther because he cannot use the other terms he would like to. Do we need anymore proof at how derogatory and politically trolling it is used for?

look at all the hate it has engendered in just a few posts by those who love to use it to inflame...

Originally posted by hawkiye

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Ban 'Birthers'? Yes, let's get them the hell off of this site, so we can quit being flooded with nonsense.

Oh...you meant the TERM 'birther'? What would you prefer we call them? Idiots? Morons? Buffoons?

And here is a perfect example this post is obviously a serious violation of the T&C and meant to inflame. the poster even inadvertently reveals what he is thinking when he uses the term birther because he cannot use the other terms he would like to. Do we need anymore proof at how derogatory and politically trolling i6t is used for?

Please, tell me how it is a violation of the T&C. I called no names. I didnt insult an individual.

Its sad that you cannot handle that there are those out there who think it is rubbish, and therefore want to cry about abuse and banning words.


And it is REALLY sad that you lack the sense to see the HUMOR intended in the post.

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by hawkiye

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Ban 'Birthers'? Yes, let's get them the hell off of this site, so we can quit being flooded with nonsense.

Oh...you meant the TERM 'birther'? What would you prefer we call them? Idiots? Morons? Buffoons?

And here is a perfect example this post is obviously a serious violation of the T&C and meant to inflame. the poster even inadvertently reveals what he is thinking when he uses the term birther because he cannot use the other terms he would like to. Do we need anymore proof at how derogatory and politically trolling i6t is used for?

Please, tell me how it is a violation of the T&C. I called no names. I didnt insult an individual.

Its sad that you cannot handle that there are those out there who think it is rubbish, and therefore want to cry about abuse and banning words.


And it is REALLY sad that you lack the sense to see the HUMOR intended in the post.

edit on 10-6-2012 by captaintyinknots because: (no reason given)

It is obvious you used the thread to label a large group Idiots Morons and Buffoons. If that is not name calling and political trolling I don't know what is. And now you are trying to back peddle in hopes of getting away with it. Thanks for helping me illustrate the point of this thread....

Originally posted by hawkiye

Originally posted by captaintyinknots

Originally posted by hawkiye

Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Ban 'Birthers'? Yes, let's get them the hell off of this site, so we can quit being flooded with nonsense.

Oh...you meant the TERM 'birther'? What would you prefer we call them? Idiots? Morons? Buffoons?

And here is a perfect example this post is obviously a serious violation of the T&C and meant to inflame. the poster even inadvertently reveals what he is thinking when he uses the term birther because he cannot use the other terms he would like to. Do we need anymore proof at how derogatory and politically trolling i6t is used for?

Please, tell me how it is a violation of the T&C. I called no names. I didnt insult an individual.

Its sad that you cannot handle that there are those out there who think it is rubbish, and therefore want to cry about abuse and banning words.


And it is REALLY sad that you lack the sense to see the HUMOR intended in the post.

edit on 10-6-2012 by captaintyinknots because: (no reason given)

It is obvious you used the thread to label a large group Idiots Morons and Buffoons. If that is not name calling and political trolling I don't know what is. And now you are trying to back peddle in hopes of getting away with it. Thanks for helping me illustrate the point of this thread....

Then apparently you dont know what name calling is. I asked a question. And I asked it tongue-in-cheek.

Need a tissue? The only thing that is obvious here is that you cannot handle those who dont see things exactly as you do.

The point is, you can ban "birthers" all you want. There will simply come another term that will be used to group these people together.

I have to wonder why someone gets SO upset over a term such as this. One that is not derogatory. One that is not crude. One that is not rude. Only thing I can figure, is that you do not like being challenged, and therefore want to attack the challenges semantically (because that is the only ammo you have).

Bottom line, grow up. You will be called many things that you dont like in your life. And most wont be as nice as "birther". Its something we all deal with. And we dont get to run and tell the teacher.

Originally posted by LastProphet527
reply to post by hawkiye

 

Because 90% of all the mods on ats are either birthers or republicans,so they dont care,it's so obvious !

You've personally spoken with, and know all the mods political ideologies? Please.

What a dumb reply.

Ban Birthers?

Nope people if you don't like a thread or the content therein there is nothing making anyone read or post in them.

Ats is the place where anyone can make a thread about anything they want and should stay that way.

No one gets to ban content they "don't like" that is not fair to anyone because anyone can be tagged with that.

Free speech as clearly defined within ATS TC.

Exercise that freedom and that mouse to find the content that you "like".

reply to post by neo96


You did not read the op did you... It was about the term not banning content. There are already several terms meant to inflame that are banned by the T&C. The term Birthers is used for exactly the same purpose and ought be added to the list to preserve reasonable amicable conversation. It amounts to a loophole that a number of people use to name call without getting slapped by mods and they use it excessively for that express purpose as even those defending it in this thread illustrate quite well.

There should be a button that closes threads if enough people think the thread is ridiculous and click it...

Unrelated to this, but that button should apply to things that have already been posted before.