Reparations paid to Guantanamo detainees...

[Gandalf]

It's a pretty fucking blatant phrase. Home of the cowards. Cowards' home. People who live here are cowards. Don't try to 'aww, it's not so bad, Nigger and Niger sound alike, and Niger is a place where black people are in charge' it. Grow the fuck up.

The United States is the home of the New York Yankees. This does not mean that an American in a NYY.

[White Haven]

Can you truly not see the difference between 'Capitol of Treason' referring to the capitol of a nation and this condemning the nation itself and 'City of Traitors' which would paint every resident of Richmond, Virginia as a traitor personally? Are you really that incredibly dense, or just that colossally dishonest and evasive?

[Mr. Coffee]

[quote="Gandalf]The United States is the home of the New York Yankees. This does not mean that an American in a NYY.[/quote]

Australia isn;t the land of criminals despite it being founded as a penal colony by the Brits, you fucking criminal.

[Mr. Coffee]

Thanas, I think the crux of the matter is that you keep saying that 'it's been addressed,' and yet the same text labeling the US as the 'home of the cowards' and thus Americans as cowards is still there and all you've said is 'well, I don't mean it thaaat way' without stopping or even acknowledging that you fucked up. If I had posted a thread saying 'oh look, the Nazis are playing up again' with an article about Angela Merkel doing something fascist-colored, you'd be flipping your shit, and rightfully so, and you wouldn't be amenable to accepting the excuse of 'well, I didn't mean Nazis, I meant that Merkel is acting like a fascist.' You'd be demanding a full retraction and an apology, and we both fucking know it, so kindly dismount your fucking high horse.

Why does "home of the cowards" become "all Americans are cowards?"

EXACTLY FUCKING THIS.

Yet, that is exactly what you fucking said, you goddamn Nazi.

[Thanas]

Can you truly not see the difference between 'Capitol of Treason' referring to the capitol of a nation and this condemning the nation itself and 'City of Traitors' which would paint every resident of Richmond, Virginia as a traitor personally? Are you really that incredibly dense, or just that colossally dishonest and evasive?

Home of the cowards. Cowards' home. People who live here are cowards.

Capitol of a traitor nation. People who live there are traitors. It is the exact same thing you tried to pull with my words. Don't try and pass this off as a different kind of logic, asshole. It is the exact same fucking thing - the meaning of the words only become clear through the context.

Edit:

Yet, that is exactly what you fucking said, you goddamn Nazi.

Unlike you I have never singled out one individual here and said "you are a coward". So congrats for sinking to that level.

[White Haven]

Maybe this is a linguistic thing, because 'capital of a traitor nation' does not imply anything as insulting to its occupants as 'city of traitors.' One condemns the nation, the other the inhabitants of the city directly. Maybe it's linguistics, maybe it's just you being a cunt again, hard to say.

[Terralthra]

I have my Senators' and Representative's legislative offices on my speed-dial. Jub can take his unwarranted assumptions and fuck off.

[Thanas]

Maybe this is a linguistic thing, because 'capital of a traitor nation' does not imply anything as insulting to its occupants as 'city of traitors.' One condemns the nation, the other the inhabitants of the city directly. Maybe it's linguistics, maybe it's just you being a cunt again, hard to say.

You explicitly refer to Richmond as the Capitol (city) of treason (and I mean it is pretty clear that you mean the whole city as you say Richmond and not XXXway). I don't see any distinction there between that and "home of the cowards". I mean, if I wrote "home of cowardice", would that be okay with you? Presumably not. Even more, it is incorrect, for cowardice did not originate there. I presume capitol of cowardice would be okay then...oh wait, this is getting silly, for then people will complain how that cowardice is less ugly than the cowardice in [insert nation here].

[Simon_Jester]

If it is acceptable to make offensive generalizations about Americans, is it equally OK to make offensive generalizations about people from other countries?

If you're basing this question on the idea presented in the OP, I would assume that it comes down to the question of whether or not a populace can be considered accountable for the actions of its elected leaders.

More precisely, whether all of the populace can be considered accountable for the actions of elected leaders, and whether it is justified to insult them on the grounds of that accountability.

Personally I'm rather iffy about this. Collective responsibility of populations for the actions of a government because they failed to resist it hard enough at the time leads down some very dark paths

[Mr. Coffee]

Unlike you I have never singled out one individual here and said "you are a coward". So congrats for sinking to that level.

Barrin other Germans on this bard making themselves known to me (sorry bros), but you singled me out, singles White Haven out and as far as I am concerned singled every fucking American on the board out with your OP. Flagg doesn't count, because fuck that guy entirely.

So, you called me out, Thanas. I am here. Please tell me again how your generalizations are different from my, you goddamn Nazi?

Either admit you are wrong for generalizing me and the rest of my country as cowards or deal with it when I call you a Nazi, you goddamn Nazi.

[Gandalf]

Australia isn;t the land of criminals despite it being founded as a penal colony by the Brits, you fucking criminal.

Australia is also home of the Indigenous Australians, yet only 50% of my parents are Indigenous. A statement about a land being the home of x has nothing to do with the proportion of its inhabitants being x.

This might be of some assistance.

[Thanas]

Unlike you I have never singled out one individual here and said "you are a coward". So congrats for sinking to that level.

Barrin other Germans on this bard making themselves known to me (sorry bros), but you singled me out, singles White Haven out and as far as I am concerned singled every fucking American on the board out with your OP. Flagg doesn't count, because fuck that guy entirely.

So, you called me out, Thanas. I am here. Please tell me again how your generalizations are different from my, you goddamn Nazi?

Either admit you are wrong for generalizing me and the rest of my country as cowards or deal with it when I call you a Nazi, you goddamn Nazi.

You want to go down this route, Coffee? Really now? Because last I checked, individual insults were still against board rules.

Oh and quit dragging this into other threads. I will take mod action against you otherwise, Mr. Vendettopath.

[Dark Hellion]

My god this thread is fucking stupid. I feel stupider for having read it. I was writing a long, thoughtful post on why people are offended and why this thread has descended into the shitflinging stupid that it is but you know... fuck it. Simon has already tried so goddamn many times to make N&P posters act like something other that vitriol spewing asshats or pretentious douchebags and it really hasn't done anything.

This is a board of highly educated, intelligent individuals and I feel like I need to go read some fucking twitch chat to wash the stupid out of my brain. You should be fucking ashamed of yourselves.

[mr friendly guy]

There's a difference between saying "Christianity is a stupid religion" and "Christians are stupid." There's a difference between saying "Russia is an aggressive country" and saying "Russians are bloodthirsty savages."

Statements of the first kind are okay if you're tolerating insults, which we do here. Fine and good. I signed up for that.

Statements of the second kind are only okay if you are also prepared to tolerate racial stereotyping. And I thought we weren't willing to do that here. I didn't sign up for that.

The thing is, it seems that some Americans interpret the statement in that manner. I see it as "Americans say they are the home of the brave, yet their government behaves anything but", rather than all Americans are cowards. To be frank, it looks like the same rhetorical trick theists use when one criticises their religion, by saying that "ah, you're also attacking me on a personal level."

I mean Thanas has criticised the PRC for not sticking to the "rule of law," even as they advocate it. Does that = Thanas generalising every single Chinese national as opposing the concept of rule of law? If you say any answer other than yes, explain the difference.

[Soontir C'boath]

As far as I see it, it is a mockery of a phrase in our national anthem. Though frankly, even then, I wouldn't call ourselves cowards as much as a good portion of the populace is complicit given the last goddamn poll about torture.

[Mr. Coffee]

You want to go down this route, Coffee? Really now? Because last I checked, individual insults were still against board rules.

Last time I checked, making sweeping generalizations against entire peoples based on the acions of a few of those peoples was against our board rules, you Nazi fuck.

You really want to go down that route? Because it sounds to me a lot like you're trying to use your status as a mod to curb my rights.

It's ok, already made a formal complaint, Nazi.

Oh and quit dragging this into other threads. I will take mod action against you otherwise, Mr. Vendettopath.

Already did that, \assholei. Please, though, show me where I'm pursuing a vendetta, you enormous asshole. Better mods than you have tried and they all failed, Thanas. What the fuck makes you think you'll fair other than the same, son?

[Dark Hellion]

As far as I see it, it is a mockery of a phrase in our national anthem. Though frankly, even then, I wouldn't call ourselves cowards as much as a good portion of the populace is complicit given the last goddamn poll about torture.

The thing about it making fun of the national anthem is important because within the context of the song the phrase is referring in general to the populace of the nation.

The other distinction is that the insult being thrown is not tongue-in-cheek but is meant to be insulting. If it had been something like "home of the fat" it would have been funny. Now not all Americans are fat but obesity is a serious problem in America. But being fat is not necessarily a character flaw. But being a coward generally is considered to be a major moral failing.

Had the discussion been about American complicity and the lack of overall character that has been shown in the representatives that have been selected in the last 15 years of election cycles no one would have been upset. Hell, most of the American posters would have been on-board and supportive of such statements. The choice to go for what was a broad, personal insult against the general populace of America was offensive.

Frankly, it was a lazy, throw-away insult being thrown out in place of thoughtful commentary and the assumption was that it would fly because sentiment against many American actions is high on this board.

[Jub]

I have my Senators' and Representative's legislative offices on my speed-dial. Jub can take his unwarranted assumptions and fuck off.

Awesome, that's one more non-coward who's actually trying to changing things for the better! Good job on being better than at least 90% of your countrymen.

[Soontir C'boath]

mockery: ridicule, contempt, or derision.

Frankly, you guys are reading too much into it.

[Terralthra]

I have my Senators' and Representative's legislative offices on my speed-dial. Jub can take his unwarranted assumptions and fuck off.

Awesome, that's one more non-coward who's actually trying to changing things for the better! Good job on being better than at least 90% of your countrymen.

I don't think you should be so arrogant. There are a good number of people who are also trying to change things according to their definition of better, which you disagree with, and many more who are complacent because they don't see anything significantly wrong. Rather than castigating them as "cowardly", maybe understand them so you can disagree intelligently and maybe change minds. You don't change minds by telling people they're cowards or stupid.

"Less than 10% of the population agrees with my definitions of better and is actively trying to bring them about", does not logically lead to "therefore 90%+ are cowards".

[Mr. Coffee]

why the fuck do we have to put up with such inflammatory shit as Thanas as our mods for a board that is already inflamitory. Do we really need Mods adding to this shit?

[Jub]

I don't think you should be so arrogant. There are a good number of people who are also trying to change things according to their definition of better, which you disagree with, and many more who are complacent because they don't see anything significantly wrong. Rather than castigating them as "cowardly", maybe understand them so you can disagree intelligently and maybe change minds. You don't change minds by telling people they're cowards or stupid.

"Less than 10% of the population agrees with my definitions of better and is actively trying to bring them about", does not logically lead to "therefore 90%+ are cowards".

If only 10% of Americans think that stopping abuses of US power* is worth while I think perhaps the word for Americans should be a little stronger than cowards. The fact of the matter is that each and every person who takes no action to speak out against torture is complicit in allowing it to continue. This isn't some secret that a very few people support, this is a known issue that nobody does shit about.

*Torturing people, drone strikes against anybody Obama pleases, and pressuring other nations to break their own laws to apprehend internet pirates as a few top of the head examples.

[Thanas]

As far as I see it, it is a mockery of a phrase in our national anthem. Though frankly, even then, I wouldn't call ourselves cowards as much as a good portion of the populace is complicit given the last goddamn poll about torture.

Thank you.

You really want to go down that route? Because it sounds to me a lot like you're trying to use your status as a mod to curb my rights.

I am not curbing anything. And you'll note that I have refrained from moderation in this thread, though there is plenty that would need moderation. What I am requesting (not as a mod, as a fellow poster) is for you to cut out the personal attacks against me. Specifically, stop calling me a Nazi or tell me how I am a Nazi.

Already did that, \assholei. Please, though, show me where I'm pursuing a vendetta, you enormous asshole. Better mods than you have tried and they all failed, Thanas. What the fuck makes you think you'll fair other than the same, son?

Please don't tell me that you are so childish to think this is some kind of personal duel? And under what delusion are you labouring that you ever achieved victory in some "battle" against the "mods"? Please.

[Mr. Coffee]

Not saying a fucking thing now as Thanas tried to gag me via mod bullshit. I sent the same to dalton, with logs, and I will no longer comment in this thread.

[Thanas]

Not saying a fucking thing now as Thanas tried to gag me via mod bullshit. I sent the same to dalton, with logs, and I will no longer comment in this thread.

Yeah, right. The warning you got was for dragging this shit in some other thread here and responding "Fuck you" to an order not to derail that thread too. So don't try to pretend that the warning was for anything in this thread.