“Censorship of anything, at any time, in any place, on whatever pretense, has always been and always will be the last resort of the boob and the bigot.”
― Eugene O'Neill
Once again, I find myself amazed at the shenanigans that
take place in the seemingly innocuous venue of Susan Boyle fan sites. The latest brouhaha is an attempt at censorship. Those pushing to have someone censored would
be appalled if such tactics were used against them, even though they routinely make
slams and derogatory posts against others.
The latest subject of their witch hunt never does. He is unfailingly polite and attacks no
one. Yet the gang hounds him unmercifully. They go from site to site, trying to stir up sentiment
against him. Sometimes they succeed and
otherwise reasonable members get caught up in the blood frenzy. "Do something about him," they
cry.
And why? Because he makes
a lot of posts? His posts are mainly
tribute videos and posters, with some poetry thrown in. His focus is Susan Boyle. He never makes rude comments about other
members, even though he is the object of such posts himself.
Some people do not like his work. They are not actually required to view
it. No one is forcing them to click on
any of his threads. I don't care much
for tribute videos or posters, so I have not sought them out. They are easy to
avoid. I simply don't click on those
threads.
But that sort of discretion seems beyond the abilities of
the howling mob. They will go to his
threads every time they come to the forum and then proceed to whine about
them. Why they don't simply skip them is
beyond me.
And they claim that he has too many posts, as if there is
some kind of limit and he is using up more than his share. But that is groundless. No one has lost an opportunity to post
because another person has posted "too much". And if they want other
sorts of posts to appear on the forums, they are free to make that happen. Forums depend on the participation of
members. If the members want different
content, they have only to post it.
Instead, they seek to control the posting behavior of
someone else. They have even gone so far
as to falsely claim that he has deliberately manipulated images of Susan Boyle
to make them less attractive. That is
ridiculous, but some have little discernment and tend to believe anything.
Sometimes the complaints and attacks have the intended
effect of hurting the person at whom they are aimed. But if he protests or even says he is hurt,
the attackers accuse him of manipulation. He responds to their venom and manipulation
and as a result, he gets branded a manipulator. It
would be laughable if it wasn't so cruel.
The posts these self-appointed censors seek to curtail are
harmless. But the behavior of the mob is
not. Should they succeed at blacklisting
someone, it will be a sad day for freedom to post on such forums. And once the precedent is set, the same
tactics they used could easily be used against them. If a group complains about their posts, should their posting
privileges be curtailed? No one would
squeal louder if that happened. But they
do not want to extend the same latitude they enjoy to everyone.
