[WikiEN-l] Re: WHEELER's anti-Semitism

[Elisabeth Bauer]

Christopher Mahan wrote:

> Yes, and this is exactly why it's ok for Wheeler to express
> him/herself in this forum in the manner of his choosing.

It's not okay.

> I did not mean "being destructive" by hurting other people's feelings
> and motivation.  I meant it as deleting content or damaging content
> in wikipedia articles.  

Hurting other people's feelings _is_ destructive. Its contributors are 
the most valuable part of Wikipedia, and hurting them is damaging to 
Wikipedia itself.

> The reason why I say that hate speech is not destructive is that
> speech itself is strictly communicative. 

I disagree. Speech can be used as a weapon, and in extreme cases even to 
kill someone. And a person saying things like, to use a drastic example, 
"in hitler's times you would have been sent to the gas chambers" should 
be banned in Wikipedia.

This mailing list has a long history of wrong accusations of 
anti-semitism, but that's no reason not to react on real ones.

elian