So....

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Since you asked.

What MUST absolutely be said with the use of profanity that CANNOT be said just as strongly WITHOUT the use of profanity?

When the goal is to use profanity for it's own sake.

Is our command of the language inadequate to express thoughts strongly without using profanity?

Nope.

Is our self-discipline such that we can't resist lapsing into profanity?

Self-discipline only comes into it if you lapse into profanity out of anger. You can make a conscious choice to swear in full knowledge that there are other words that you could use.

Does our use of profanity strengthen or weaken the verbal case that we hope to make?

In the thread that prompted this was - no verbal case was being made.

Edited July 12, 2010 by Its a MADHOUSE

[elmcitymaven 9,711]

Indeed. The thread in question consisted only of quite outlandish expletives, that were not directed at anyone or anything. The words were there merely as that: words on a page. They were not said in anger or frustration. Despite the saltiness of the language, the discourse that contained it was cool and dispassionate.

[The_Dude 1,142]

You can talk smack about black people all you want, as long as you don't use the n-word. If you don't use the n-word, it's not racism. That appears to be the standard VJ moderators use. Use nice words and it doesn't matter how absolutely despicable your ideas are.

I learned long ago that there is no point in reporting. Like Legacy says, as long as they don't use one of the magic racial slurs that will automatically incur a suspension, there is no violation of the ToS aparently, no matter how despicable and racist the post is.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I think that you have to look at it from the Moderators' perspective. The few users you are referring to are careful in that they veil their racism enough that a moderator can't really do much about it. Unless they slip up and say something like "shoot the brown people because they are invaders" there isn't a lot to go on.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think that you have to look at it from the Moderators' perspective. The few users you are referring to are careful in that they veil their racism enough that a moderator can't really do much about it. Unless they slip up and say something like "shoot the brown people because they are invaders" there isn't a lot to go on.

I don't know - when you read a comment about Barack and Michelle Obama along the lines of "She's Zira to his Cornelius", it's not subtle at all.

[^_^ 5,021]

I think that you have to look at it from the Moderators' perspective. The few users you are referring to are careful in that they veil their racism enough that a moderator can't really do much about it. Unless they slip up and say something like "shoot the brown people because they are invaders" there isn't a lot to go on.

A post can be racist without using any actual slurs. That current moderation lacks the depth to recognize that is quite sad.