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Old 06-11-2008
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MattLarson MattLarson is offline
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Member Since: Jul 2004
Location: Central Florida
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Re: Deadly fatwahs; Are they acceptable at USPOL ?

Quote:
Originally Posted by moon View Post
Existing threads aside, doesn't it jar with anybody that there are specific rules, apparently, banning calls for physically harming the US President, members of the existing government administration and site members yet anybody else is fair game ?
Shouldn't it be considered a breach of ordinary decency, and certainly site etiquette, to clamour for anybody's death ? Is assassination an acceptable political tool ? Is murder ?
Sigh.

The rules are left as open as possible, on purpose, because we try to lean on the side of free speech whenever possible.

Yes, calling for someone's assassination is highly offensive. It is, IMHO, a reflection on the poster.

But there are many issues that people find offensive, moon. For instance, some people probably find many of your pro-Hamas posts offensive. Should we censor you on that basis? Of course not.

The reason we don't permit calls for violence against US officials is very simple - we are bound by law not to allow that. It is just that simple.

I'd be for allowing such calls, if we could - but we just don't have that choice.

So we've opted for the least restrictive rule possible.

As for other members, it should be obvious why we don't permit such calls for violence against them.

Matt
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