Greetings, WikiEN-l,
My point then (and so it remains now) was centred on what I termed intrinsic/irreversible properties, the distinction between the inherent and inherited. The latter says: you may be sub-human now, but you can convert to what I believe in and then be human, just-like-me. The former says: you will *always* be sub-human, as an intrinsic trait that cannot be reversed, you can't be just-like-me, ever.
There is an alarming tendency on the part of some participants in this thread, I find; I will go further, a seemingly heartless and ugly current, whose basis is intellectual lazyness at best, and an utterly corrupt and morally bankrupt mindset at worse. The so-called moral high ground of un-"principled" relativism. But before I'm banned from the list on account of flaming (which I nonetheless am taking pains to direct with a measure of moderation, though ambiguities will not save me), I'll pause for a personal example from Wikipedia:
About two months ago or so I encountered an abusive editor who refused to speak to me because, as he told me, and then all of WP:AN in a notice he authored, that he does not, as a matter of principle, speaks to homosexuals (at the event, I never made privy to him whether I was even male or female to begin with, I was only reverting, warning, and eventually banning him for homophobic hate speech on [[Iran]] -- the user was defending the Islamic regime's policy on homosexuality and a certain infamous execution of underage homosexuals in a very prolific fashion, but I digress).
The user explained that he considers homosexuals, and later he added, also Jews, to be lower than animals or something to that effect, etc., noting how he would "love to rid the world of gays and Jews."
Now, there was a certain vocal user, an established user, a user with thousands of edits, who insisted that my actions were contrary to policy and that I should have attempted to resolve my *differences* with that abusive user (well, his proxies, since at that point he was propogating his hate speech via block evasion) through the dispute resolution process. This is what I'm talking about, and of course this exchange led to a whole lotta (wiki and otherwise) love!
Anyway, I do not look forward to the (further ensuing?) agenda-driven(?), moral abstractions about preemptive banning and how SlimVirgin's ban amounted to nothing but that; insinuations on her purported 'selectiveness,' and on how terribly unfair this whole ordeal was to this neo-Nazi and his (surprise-sururpise, who would have guessed it) accompanying *hit list* (ah, yes, but this hit list, unlike some others that I, myself, had been subjected to on Wikipedia, did take place offsite, though I would still argue, within the realm of the known universe). Someone get the poor fellow a worthy and so-called 'righteous' advocate(?). And most of all, I am not looking forward to the flames, but I sure do expect them after having said all that (which nevertheless, isn't actually so much). Alas, I do confess to being mildly curious in seeing how subtle and/or decisive they get...
*Though*, you can always shower me with love, instead. It is within your power and even the realm of possibility. Please shower me with your love. Let it shine, shine, shine. Let it shine.
Love, El_C