Meteor Blades still refuses to say why he banned Tom J, the secret censorship decision that inspired the Arab Writers Strike at Daily Kos. Weird, anti-openness must an important value for him and/or site property owner Markos Moulitsas, definitely more important than free speech. I mean, what is the problem, even the Daily Kos apparatchiks have lined up massively in favor (64% versus 28% against) of making banning an open process:
Well, otoh, there was this obscure exchange:
Meteor Blades, with respect, why was TomJ banned?
Sorry, I came here from FDL, I don’t know.
Also Jane Stillwater?
by thatvisionthing on Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 08:57:50 PM PDT
Multiple warnings, each previously suspended… (8+ / 0-)
… for a month and, after being reinstated, still either ignoring those warnings or violating the rules.
Don’t tell me what you believe. Tell me what you do and I’ll tell you what you believe.
by Meteor Blades on Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 09:08:55 PM PDT
What rule?
Was it Tom J’s comment with 2 HRs?
People here may know I/P rules but I don’t, sorry. Scanned the FAQs and still don’t get it. Thanks.
No answer.
But MB did take time in the Arab Strike Diary to tell three non-specified myfiredoglake users that they are lying about having been banned at Daily Kos. Since the Dkos banning process and who is banned is a complete secret, there is of course no way to know who’s lying and who isn’t (trust MB; asking to verify his statements is a bannable offense). Here’s Meteor Blades’ accusation (pro-censorship and anti-Palestinian recommenders noted):
For the record, at least three of.. (10+ / 0-)
Recommended by: Paul in Berkeley, LeftHandedMan, arielle, kalmoth, leftynyc, Corwin Weber, Its the Supreme Court Stupid, thebluecrayon, Mets102, angry marmot
…the “bannees” making “insightful contributions” on the myfdl comment thread of this diary are lying. They are NOT banned at all and have never been.
Don’t tell me what you believe. Tell me what you do and I’ll tell you what you believe.
by Meteor Blades on Wed Oct 27, 2010 at 08:21:54 PM PDT
P.S. Is it unintended irony, or does Meteor Blades’ tag line mean he wants to be known as a censor of political speech?
P.S.2. Arab Writers Strike at Daily Kos was yesterday’s 7th most commented on (294 comments) and 12th most viewed (553 viewers) diary at Daily Kos.
P.S.3. Here’s simone daud‘s original call for an Arab Writers Strike (non-Arabs welcome to join), and a reminder of what it is about:
We are definitely (5+ / 0-)
being personally abused in every essay.
I’m not feeling very welcome here.
The people that show up on every essay speaking to, and showing video of the crisis in Palestine get verbally abused and have their essays derailed by a vocal few who are trying to eliminate any Free Speech on the subject.
It is horrific when humanitarians and Peace Activists get shouted down by name calling and vile comments.
Tom J was a brilliant writer and a man concerned with our relatives there.
I had my ratings taken away months ago for uprating something by sheer accident, after removing it and apologizing for the scroll over. They were never returned.
I feel it is because I am an openly Arab man of Palestinian descent who speaks against the atrocities in Palestine.
But I am loathe to be silenced by those who throw “anti-semite” around to defend a Government that has run as far right amok as the Bush administration and beyond.
Let me sleep on this Simone.
P.S.4. For me, it is also about the big political blogs, and the obvious fact that they are the ‘public squares’ of the 21st century, where free speech rights have to be given priority over private property rights:
Herding sheep into bipartisan political positions (1+ / 4-)
is what censorship of the actual diversity of opinion among Democrats ends up being. And many of us are tired of the bipartisan and right-wing crap we get from the national Democratic Party and this Democratic Party subservient blog.
Free speech rights supersede Kos’s property rights. The correct analogy is claiming the right to free speech at a privately owned shopping mall. A shopping mall, like a big political [blog], is one of the only available ‘town squares’ of the 21st century.
