America kinda sucks

[CroakandDagger]

What does that have to do with anything?

To my knowledge they are the only Scandinavian country to have done so, and they are one of the only Scandinavian countries left out of the list of enlightened America-nukers.

Do we count Åland?

[Jamiet99uk]

Who knows how large Åland's nuclear arsenal is! I didn't even realise until tonight that Iceland and Finland had nukes!!

[Octavious]

How else do you think Iceland won the cod wars?

Åland never developed its own nukes, of course, but instead commandeered a Soviet nuke that was about to be tested there as Soviet intelligence believed the place to be uninhabited. Known as the Tsar Bob-omba, it remains the most powerful nuke ever created.

[Jamiet99uk]

The Tsar, Obama?

[zultar]

"The person responsible - even though it was a clear joke - would have been immediately banned without discussion, their posts deleted and it's unlikely anybody would have said a thing."

You know I don't like to waste my time on the forum with this nonsense for the most part, but once in a while, it seems necessary.

Please provide one example where the mod team banned a person for a single statement they made where they weren't warned or silenced multiple times. If you can't, then please stop making up lies. Stay and play if you want to and argue with people within the rules, but don't make up lies for your own random needs to discredit the team. If you can't do that, then leave the site. I'm not going to let you make up lies about the people who volunteer their time to make this site run.

[Jamiet99uk]

Typical moaning Croak.

[President Eden]

I suppose I'll stand up and be counted. I don't have a dog in this fight, since I couldn't care less about Machiavelli's post. If anything it was pretty funny, stay mad bro.

I have my strong doubts that the moderators would have said anything about the post had Croak not brought it up. I also have my strong doubts that had Machiavelli made the same post about Pakistan, as Croak brought up, that there would not have been a quick and stronger response, including a silence. I think this response from the moderator team to the critique is unnecessarily heavy-handed and emotionally invested.

I don't think there's anything malicious to this pattern, and I would rather participate in a forum where posts like Machiavelli's are laughed off than moderated, anyway. I think it is worthwhile for me to speak up and make this observation so I am.

[Kingdroid]

They banned the practice of Halal as inhumane.

Which it is.

wat

[CroakandDagger]

Please provide one example where the mod team banned a person for a single statement they made where they weren't warned or silenced multiple times. If you can't, then please stop making up lies. Stay and play if you want to and argue with people within the rules, but don't make up lies for your own random needs to discredit the team. If you can't do that, then leave the site. I'm not going to let you make up lies about the people who volunteer their time to make this site run.

That's the thing about draconian moderation and censorship, when the regime asks for narrowly defined examples they're a lot harder to give. I recall that Condescension was banned a short while ago for giving feedback to the team and not reacting like a simpering weakling when he received abuse for offering his opinion. I noticed that CAPTBrad was silenced recently and have to say that I don't even know what that was for. I also recall that I was once silenced for a week even though I had broken no rules.

None of those examples fit within the arbitrary criteria you have specified, i'll grant you, but I hope you appreciate that from where i'm stood your post sounds a lot like;
"Knuckle down and don't mention our selective moderation, or fuck off."
I mean sure, it's your site. Run it how you like.

But while i'm here i'll offer criticism where I feel it's warranted, and if that means i'm banned when I wake up tomorrow that's just the price I pay for not being intimidated by red names and big gold stars (As impressive as they are.)

wat

Animal rights come before religion.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/worl ... 35580.html

[Durga]

Cond and CaptBrad were both silenced numerous times first.

Isn't the whole point of halal and kosher to like... slaughter animals in a humane way? Or are you a vegetarian Croak

[ziran]

nazis are shit and should be called out as such, regardless of country of origin.

[CommanderByron]

@Croak, I don't think anyone is trying to intimidate. It's been made pretty explicit that all the people you mentioned were given numerous warnings and all the benefits of the doubt before any action was taken. There is a fine balance between over-moderation and under-moderation and no matter what decision is made some subset of the site will feel that you have leaned too far one way or the other. That's not just here, but everywhere in life. So the moderation team does it's best to try to make the right decisions. I will say one of the most impressive things about becoming a mod here has been seeing how a group of NOT like-minded individuals can have adult discussions and come to consensus. I for one an proud of that, because it isn't something often replicated.

- Personal Response not official. (I can still have opinions because unlike Zuckerberg I am in fact human)

[CommanderByron]

To respond to the OP: America does suck. As an American you should be able to admit that we aren't perfect and can improve in a ton of areas. Sure we may not agree on how to reach that end goal but we can agree when things are broken. If you can't acknowledge that you are living in sub-standard conditions than you are cursed to live in them for eternity.

Saying America is exceptional does nothing but hurt us. It's positive to be negative, because negativity drives ambition, drives innovation, drives progress.

[CroakandDagger]

Isn't the whole point of halal and kosher to like... slaughter animals in a humane way? Or are you a vegetarian Croak

Thank you for highlighting typical Western ignorance of Jewish and Islamic cultural/religious practices.

No, it isn't. The purpose of halal and kosher is to slaughter animals in an unnecessarily cruel way so that the meat derived from that slaughter is "fit for consumption" by the faithful.

While european regulations dictate that animals be stunned before slaughter in order to minimise the pain and suffering of the animal and make the process as gentle as it can be, methods of religious slaughter involve keeping the animal awake and fully conscious while it has its throat cut and dies in agony.

[jwoelmer2]

As an American, I freely admit that our country sucks. But what country doesn't? I mean, I know it's popular to point to the supposedly superior health care of European countries or various other positive aspects of just about *any* country. But they have problems too. I've lived in Germany for a year as a student, and there are plenty of political and social problems there too. It's in the nature of man to disagree with others, try to rule the system, and make other people's lives miserable. You're not going to change that, and certainly not by just labeling a whole country as shit. Come visit sometime! And not just NYC or Los Angeles! Allow your mind to be changed.

[ghug]

Croak, how do you feel about factory farming?

[Octavious]

In fairness to Croak Halal meat is widely considered to be unnecessarily cruel. Not just by the usual suspects like Peta, but also the RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association, and the majority of authorities regarding animal welfare. Regardless of the original intent of Halal butchery, it is no longer fit to be part of civilised society.

[flash2015]

In fairness to Croak Halal meat is widely considered to be unnecessarily cruel. Not just by the usual suspects like Peta, but also the RSPCA, the British Veterinary Association, and the majority of authorities regarding animal welfare. Regardless of the original intent of Halal butchery, it is no longer fit to be part of civilised society.

So you would say the same about Kosher as well? My understanding is that the slaughter methods are very similar.

[Octavious]

There is an argument that the chalaf, when properly used, effectively stuns the animal. Frankly, though, I've never been particularly convinced that this is the case, and again organisations like the RSPCA are very much against it from a cruelty perspective.

[flash2015]

This guardian article suggests that most halal animals are stunned before slaughter anyway (at least in GB), whilst for Kosher stunning is not done at all: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyl ... er-involve