Posted: Wed 23 Sep 2009 15:28 Post subject: I have temporarily closed the two political advocacy forums.
Improving U.S. Society Closed
I am temporarily shutting down the "Improving U.S. Society" forum. I may re-open it in the future, when national political debate resumes civility. I take this step because of increasing nationwide hostility and "racial" polarization regarding policies of the Obama administration.
The main problem with "Improving U.S. Society" is that lately the forum has not been advancing the site's mission of shedding light on the U.S. "race" notion. Instead, it has become a place for "liberals" to attack "conservatives" and vice-versa. Worse, issues there are often couched in terms of ethnic unity, thus embracing the very phenomenon that this site was established to study.
A secondary problem with that forum's direction is that rules of evidence (objective definition, replicability, falsifiability) and rules of debate (regarding strawmen, ad hominem, and subject-changing) are often ignored in favor of group loyalty.
This action will undoubtedly trigger again the perception that this site opposes African-American solidarity. That perception is accurate. This site is hostile to African-American solidarity. It is also hostile to White solidarity, Creole solidarity, Italian-American solidarity, Irish-American solidarity, Asian-American solidarity, Latino solidarity, Jewish solidarity, Muslim solidarity, and every other form of identity politics. The mission of this site is to explore the causes and consequences of U.S. ethnopolitical self-identities, especially those attributed to biological inevitability. The site does not support any particular self-identity.
I have temporarily shut down the "Issues for Biracial Americans" forum. I may re-open it in the future if any multiracial issue arises that demands moral judgment. Please post threads on ethnopolitical self-identity into "Ethnicity in America." Please post threads on celebrities of mixed ancestry into "Popular People."
"Issues for Biracial Americans" differed from "Ethnicity in America" only in allowing advocacy. Advocacy centered mainly on free-choice group membership versus compulsory group membership. It is now the policy of this website that everyone has the right to choose his or her group membership (or none at all), regardless of ancestry, regardless of appearance. Arguments to the contrary will no longer be tolerated in this website.
Threads debating whether U.S. laws, any particular group, or U.S. society as a whole either compels or forbids group membership based on appearance should be posted to "History of the U.S. Color Line." Threads debating whether U.S. laws, any particular group, or U.S. society as a whole either compels or forbids group membership based on invisible ancestry should be posted to "History of the U.S. One-Drop Rule."
Are those areas going to be open now? It is kind of quiet here.
I have not yet decided when (or even if) to reopen the political advocacy forums.
The problem is that Obama's presidency has exacerbated conservative/liberal polarization in all internet discussion groups, not just in this one. I am not saying that the polarization is the "fault" of the administration, nor do I care, but it clearly exists. The polarization is particularly painful in this website because supporters of the president often accuse opponents of "racial" motives. The accusation is ad hominem, of course, and so counterproductive to the site's goal. (Whether it is accurate is irrelevant.)
I realize that some members enjoy the rough-and-tumble atmosphere of political debate, but I do not intend to allow it again until I become convinced that "racial" ad hominem will stop and civility resume.
Regarding the site's quietness, check out our usage statistics. Site usage has risen steadily since I closed those two forums one month ago. By cutting back on the bickering we have increased the number of visitors. (Click on range = "1m" to see this clearly and avoid the huge visitor spike in late June, early July caused by Michael Jackson's death.) To be sure, visitor volume is not our goal. Our goal is to inform. Nevertheless, the recent quietness has not harmed our traffic--just the opposite.
'
FAQ
Search
Register
Log in
