I posted a comment on a blog I found through the comments on Chai & Apple Pie (if you don’t read Dawn’s blog, you should… funny, enlightening and entertaining) early today and it was removed. The blog is written by a Pakastani woman and the particular post was a response to another commenter who may or may not be an idiot. The blogger wrote a long diatribe defending Islam, decrying racial profiling, and generally trying to make comparisons between extremists from the West (David Koresh, Timothy McVeigh, etc) and Osama bin Laden.
What I wrote wasn’t in any way offensive… I simply tried to correct her about her position that David Koresh and Osama bin Laden were similar. Koresh was a nutjob who thought he was Christ and the worst that he did was horde weapons despite ATF’s repeated warnings of what would happen if he continued to accumulate weapons. Koresh’s issue with the government wasn’t one of religion, but one of perceived curtailing of his freedom to bear arms. Osama bin Laden on the other hand is an extremist Muslim who uses a religious platform to wage a war against western ideals and freedoms. The two are about as related to each other as apples are to oranges. I know that my comment made it onto her blog since I got a hit from her site to this blog shortly after posting it… I went back a few hour later and my comment was removed.
Not that big a deal really, but I often wonder why people bother with comment systems at all if they feel the need to censor what people write in response to their posts. I’ve never removed a comment with the exception of double posts or comment spam because I don’t believe in censorship of any kind. The funny part of my comment being removed is that this person railed against someone with an opposing viewpoint, called them narrowminded (not in so many words), and essentially asked that the person NEVER come back to her site.
I can’t imagine telling someone not to visit my site or read my posts especially if the disagree with what I write. In fact, I’d rather have people disagree with my posts because at least that fosters communication of ideas. I may not agree with you, but that doesn’t mean I can’t learn from you. Even if you call me names or ban me from your site, I still won’t prevent you from voicing your opinion (however misguided it might be) here.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I won’t fuck with you publicly 😉