At 10:29 AM 7/22/2008, Ken Arromdee wrote:
Which is not a positive comparison. Because it leads
to serious injustice
in the schoolyard, when a kid gets bullied, complains about it, and the
teachers punish both the bully and the victim.
Well, smart teachers don't punish either, and avoid deciding blame.
Rather, they stop and prevent further abuse, they make sure the kids
can talk about what happened in a safe place, etc., etc. And they
encourage the kids to find ways to get along, or, at least, to leave
each other alone. And when one kid is constantly the focus of
complaints, then they need to give that some special attention.
When there is a brawl in a bar, and the police walk in, they do not
attempt to figure out who caused it, whose fault it is, who is to
blame, etc. They tell everyone to stop. Now. And if *anyone* doesn't
stop, they arrest that person (or worse.) How often that person,
being dragged off, is screaming, "But he started it!"
Perhaps. Perhaps he did start it. But you continued it, and you are
still carrying it. Drop it. Or be arrested.
Our "Stop!" is warning followed by "arrest" (block) if the behavior
continues. Sometimes we get totally distracted by trying to figure
out who was wrong (i.e., who started it). Admins should stay out of
that, almost totally. Disputes will always erupt, and, it is often
possible to find out "who started it," but that actually doesn't
help, much, to stop it, because before each action there is a cause,
and before that cause another cause, and on without limit.
No, stop! Now! Then, when we can start to communicate civilly, we can
start to resolve whatever underlying problems there are. It's not
Rule Number One, but WP:CIVIL is far more important than our
too-common casual tolerance of incivility might indicate.