kitty_tc_69's Journal

My exodus from Scans-Daily
On this thread, ( http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/790995.html?thread=20639443#t20639443 ) I expressed my opinion regarding the Robin character, whom I have always held a deep animus towards. As the thread reveals in plain black and white, I insulted no creators nor any posters, nor did I use much if any profanity, and while my witticisms were as usual acerbic and biting, they were clearly and exclusively targeted at a fictional character who we can safely assume has no feelings to be hurt. In other words, I got hit for having an unpopular opinion. To add insult to injury, in the same thread they talk glowingly about how the community is known and admired for being a place welcoming of diverse opinions. Way to honor that principle, there!

My words are on the thread, for all to see. The mods claimed in email that I was rude to an insulted the OP, when clearly the only target of any insult I levied was at the Robin character.

My reply to them is as follows (including original email exchange):

You clearly don't recognize rhetoric or humorous sarcasm at all. I didn't attack anyone, and in case you haven't been paying attention "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little" has been accepted message board slang for years. If you consider what I wrote harsh, you clearly haven't the slightest conception what harsh truly is and I pity you if you ever have to deal with anyone truly intent on flaming in a situation where you lack the power to make them go away. Thin-skinned people don't do well on the internet, or in life in general.

Do yourself a huge favor and listen to some Denis Leary, George Carlin and Sam Kinnison sometime. Perhaps after absorbing their comedic stylings you might gain a better appreciation of how exaggeration and over the top rhetoric in service of a point works, and result in both laughter and enlightenment. It has always been the way of the jester to communicate truth through humor, and in comparison to the masters I have listed here my words are hardly harsh or extreme at all. It's a sad thing to think that were they themselves to speak their minds in your space that they would rapidly find themselves evicted.

To be honest, if I have to walk so completely on eggshells to avoid offending your vastly oversensitive sensibilities, I would sooner not waste my time. I would sooner find other venues for expression than to have to constantly bowdlerize everything I might say or think to standards even the Disney Channel might think are overzealous, and monitor every word and thought for fear someone might misinterpret my words as insult. To be clear, if I mean to insult you you'll damned well know it.

In fact, I do believe I'll indulge myself in just that, for a moment. Clearly your crew is the very type of sheltered, ultra-PC, hypersensitive pansies that Carlin warned of in his famous and spot-on "Fuck the Children!" skit. Raised by overindulgent, overprotective self-righteous yuppie parents on a crusade to protect their overvalued spawn from the harsh realities of the real world, you are the reason we have horror and action movies rated PG-13, why everything comes with warning labels for the protection of the thinking impaired, and why our culture has degenerated into the bland, milquetoast pablum that infests television and radio airwaves across this once-great land. You're the kind of people who act like you're 90 when you're still 20 and then wonder why there's no excitement or meaning in your life. You're the kind of people who sanitize their environment and destroy the immune systems of their own children for want of ever being exposed to anything they might build an immunity to. What you do, in fact, is the exact thing in a social context as these rabidly hospital-disinfecting mothers do biologically, and the results are just as wrong-headed and disastrous.

To be perfectly clear, you can keep your sanitized, milquetoast, neutered environment. Had I realized your forum was such a garden of wilting pansies, I'd never have bothered showing up to begin with. By all means, you can keep it. I'll spend my time with people who don't get the vapors every time something pierces their precious little bubble.

[=^.^=]

From: Scans Daily Moderators <dailyscans@gmail.com>
To: Kitty TC <kitty_tc_69@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 5:35:26 PM
Subject: Explanation

Dear Kitty TC,

The second rule of the community states, in part:

"2. Do not make personal attacks or insults in posts or comments. [...] It's perfectly fine to disagree with others and to express your own opinions, but if you can't do so without resorting to personal attacks or passive aggression, then that's probably a sign that you should take a step back from the conversation. Our aim is to create an atmosphere where members can be passionate about comics in all ways, and don't feel personally threatened by others."

Your suspension was a joint decision made by the entire moderation team, all of whom agreed that you were breaking this rule by being rude to icon_uk. It had nothing to do with your not liking Robin. Several Robin-haters, including a moderator, showed up in icon's post and had friendly discussions with Robin-fans; you were the only one who moved from expressing your dislike of the character to confronting icon personally. Telling someone who's taken the time to write out a long comment (or any comment) that they make you want to throw up is not okay; telling someone that they've "ruined" something you like with "the rancid taint" of something you don't like makes a discussion about taste into an antagonistic confrontation.

You also admitted that you showed up in a post about Robin just to say that you didn't like Robin, which means that there's no mitigating factor in your behavior. If you had gotten carried away during a spirited but previously civil debate, it's possible one of us might have unofficially asked you to take a step back rather than taking it to the level of a warning, but instead you came in being insulting from the start on a topic you knew wouldn't interest you in the first place. That doesn't leave us inclined to cut you much slack.

The bottom line here is that if you feel so strongly about an issue that you're tempted to start insulting people, that means it's time to find another post -- before you do the insulting. There's plenty of room in this community for everyone's opinions.

If this explanation helps you understand what factors went into our decision, then we'll be happy to lift the suspension in two weeks. If not, then you're welcome to leave the community at any time.

- skalja
Scans_Daily and NoScans_Daily moderator

On Thu, Aug 13, 2009 at 10:21 PM, Kitty TC <kitty_tc_69@yahoo.com> wrote:

I want a bloody explanation for this one. What rule did I break, here? Because it's looking to me like I'm getting banned for an opinion that you don't like. Robin is a FICTIONAL CHARACTER, whom I have expressed a negative opinion of. Is that now a bannable offense? Since when?

Because honestly if that's the case, if you're going to warn and ban people for their OPINIONS ON FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, you can go ahead and delete my login because I won't waste my time on a place that censors people's opinions. What exactly is the point of a community about discussing comics if you're not allowed to have opinions that contradict anyone else's?

Absent a very good explanation, you have vastly overstepped the bounds of your authority and are abusing your power.

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skalja (skalja) replied to your InsaneJournal comment in which you said:

*sigh* Great, you've now managed to ruin both werewolfism and cat-personism with the rancid taint of Robin-suck. Keep it up and I may lose my very will to live.

Their reply was:

Subject: Mod hat: WARNING.
Okay, enough.

This is your SECOND OFFICIAL WARNING. This is what they call a "second strike" and you are now suspended from the community for the next fourteen days, after which you will be allowed to return. Please note that if you receive one further warning you will lose the ability to post on this community.