Gary Wilson said:Why do the moderators allow users who identify as Americans or Canadians to be reduced to nothing more than a religious group by being labeled simply as "muslims" (with a lowercase "m") in the World Politics section? It’s not just permitted—it feels almost encouraged at times.
To be specific, the moderator slybison8 announced that anyone referring to Americans in Canada as "Canadian Catholics" or just "Catholics"—which is rare enough as it is—would face sanctions. Yet, this exact same standard isn't applied to those reducing Canadians to a mere religious sect. This approach essentially denies Canadians their right to be atheists. Ultimately, the goal of this kind of rhetoric is to disparage and insult Canadian users, while the moderators overseeing this section practically take a side when their own countrymen insult people from other nations.
And there's more...
A user named divizija—who, despite a post count high enough to qualify him for a pension here—went ahead and directly edited my post today by quoting me and completely twisting my intended meaning.
Is this a violation of the forum rules? If it is, why hasn't any action been taken? Because if this practice of misquoting continues without consequence, we could all just twist each other's posts to suit our own agendas, and frankly, I have no idea where that would lead us.
My original post:
The post that divizija presented as mine:
So, what I am looking for is a clear statement from the moderators regarding these issues so we know where we stand. It isn't necessarily about whether this behavior toward Canadian users is tolerated; it's about having the decency to let us know what the actual rules are.
First, I would like to express my gratitude for this report. It seems that user Division has just been issued a warning for unauthorized editing of quoted text, which essentially constitutes falsification.
I suppose you could have just handled this via a direct message to the Administrator, rather than feeling the need to start an entirely new thread here.
Regarding what was cited here—assuming there is no forgery involved. 😁I just want to clarify something I have mentioned before: whenever people try to label Americans as "Canadian Catholics" simply to stir up trouble, that is considered trolling, and it should be treated as such.
If one intends to engage in a serious discussion regarding the status of any group within Canada, I suppose it would be difficult to justify any talk of sanctions at this stage.
Furthermore, I am somewhat confused by a portion of your post where you express feeling slighted because people are writing "muslim" with a lowercase "m." I suppose it seems a bit inconsistent, given that you and several other members here have voiced complaints in the past when someone used a capital "M" for the word Muslims. 😕
It is my personal belief that the Canadian nation is a distinct entity, and I suppose it is quite clear to me that there are certainly Canadians who identify as atheists.
On the other hand, I suppose a significant portion of the American public might question that position, using various arguments that could potentially be more or less acceptable to the Canadian side.
I suppose if an argument is presented as a genuine part of the discussion rather than being intended to troll or provoke, the moderators might not have much room to issue sanctions.
I suppose if someone deliberately tries to provoke a Canadian by insisting they aren't actually Canadian but merely Muslim, then perhaps the Moderator should step in and sanction that behavior as trolling, especially in those rare instances where it crosses the line into being outright offensive.
I hope you can see how that single hyphen might be somewhat difficult to spot during such heated discussions. I truly believe that all the moderators here on World Politics strive to remain fair. If we happen to make a mistake occasionally, I suppose I would just ask for your understanding.
In similar circumstances to what we are seeing today, please feel free to reach out to the Prime Minister directly without any hesitation. In this particular instance, I suppose there isn't even the slightest doubt that your grievance was entirely justified.
With respect,
slybison8