Political Extremism On Nairaland?

Hmm...

*sighs* 

Advocacy of violence is where we (I) draw the line.  Anyone who advocates violence in a fragile ecosystem like ours is not peaceful.  Most people prefer peace and place a great value on human life.  The firm opinion of the management of this forum is that no sensible person wants to see lives thrown away due to careless actions resulting from careless talk.

All sorts of opinions are allowed on this forum, but every community must draw a line somewhere, right.  For example, some forums won't allow what we have in our Sexuality section, others won't allow teenagers, et cetera.  On Nairaland, we allow all sorts as long as someone isn't advocating, promoting, or condoning a crime or acts of violence. 

We allow homos, Xtians, atheists, playas, virgins, businessmen, employees, Ibos, Yorubas, hausas, Fulanis, Muslims, Americans, Belgians, Nigerians, and in fact just about everybody who doesn't encourage or promote violence.  I think we have tried.

Folks, when I saw that mail from Segun, I took the whole write up with mixed feelings. I did a bit of ruminating over what could have made him to issue such a warning at this time.

On the one hand, it's possible the poor guy has been threatened by some SSS people! You never can tell, with this site gaining so much popularity now, and with the kind of very hot national issues brought in here for thrashing, the people at the top might begin to get uncomfortable! Believe me folks, there are SSS men and a lot of OBJ apologists on this forum. They will inform their leader when the heat is on. And the man, surrounded by those who love to hate him, might have issued a warning to the good lad, Seun.  And that, of course, through his henchmen on this site.

On the other hand, although, this doesn't look much like it, some people might have been posting something that is really tending towards what he termed political extremism on this site - I'm yet to see! And I won't be surprised to know that the phrase  political extremism came from some Abuja political masterminds loyal only to OBJ.

Either way, I will continue to post my candid opinion on national issues on this site until I get banned one day. As far as I'm concerned, most of what's happening around us in this country is bad enough to make one go mad. And when an avenue, like this forum, is created by reasonable people, the powers that be should please allow us to vent our anger through this medium. I don talk my own o.

@seun. i support you on this. i know we have got to have open mind but there is a fine line that should be drawn to differentiate this forum from violence breeding ground.

violence can achieve a lot, but it is those that are left standing that would be counted as righteous. and once it is allowed, then there is no end to it. letz grow up. even suicide bombers have good reasons (whether it is good enough is another thing) and I don't think any of you will allow his or her child/sibling/parent or even friend (sef) to be a sucide bomber just because of open mind.

may be am old skul...

ok, seun, create a rest room (or boxing ring) for the extremists among us. and they should have someone to mop up the blood after them

Finally someone is saying what I said all those months back before I went on my self imposed exile...

Way to go Naijaguru!!!

NAIJAGURU, GOD go bless u!!!! they say he who hides his feelings dies slowly. honestly segun is treating us as kids abi as neophytes or wotever.this is a forum for christ sake where u say ur mind innit? na so i post one important topic segun just commot the thing and told me that the forum doesnt discuss such issues shooo! wetin i post? "will u beat ur wife(partner) or devorce her if she got an attitude." this is followed by a write up thus... wot will u do if ur partner u love so much has developed an attitude,bla bla,bla bla. because people talk about this everyday,if my wife does this i will beat her,i will devorce her,i will kill him,i will devorce him.this is for us to reason together. na him segun just commot and wrote me that if i kw any person that beats his wife that i shuld tell him so he can report the person to the police"hahahahahahahahaha U COULD IMAGINE THAT, the thing vex me bt i take with a little pitch of salt.hahahahah

Hehe. I'm Seun not Segun.

No, I have not been contacted by any SSS agents.  I am sure that they will contact other forums (like one with "Biafra" in the name) before they contact me.

This policy is driven by my desire to sleep well at night with a clear conscience.

@ Seun
I feel for you o

@ Conscience



Oga, don't forget OBJ's supporter on this forum is not more than three.  Most people criticize him anyway.

I have had my share of Seun's repression of views that are at variance with what he thinks.

Well I don't blame him; he owns this site so it's left for him to determine what get posted here.

What I know is that views can only be suppressed.   

I think seun should do that. Believe me you can't spot articles that will stimulate acts of violence, its a subjective thing
See what I am talking about? Whats in this post that may cause violence. I think its cool to bury our whims when dealing with the public like Nairaland

Naijaguru

You are indeed a guru, this post is timely. I had decided to stop posting at nairaland because the posts are deleted or edited. I screamed blue murder when I saw my post edited and the meaning contorted.

@Seun, What is a clear conscience, what you alone believe to be the truth? That is not a board but an instrument of propaganda; exactly what you claim not to want.

@joftech, Does Seun the site and the ideas in it? If he does I’m gone. 

I am watching the outcome of this debate and the administrator’s attitude before I decide my next line of action. The administrators must respect the concept of a board of ideas otherwise there are many boards out there.

Seun you are doing a good job, and stick to what you are doing. Every forum has rules and they have to be obeyed. You do not have to be a newspaper or television to have rules. Most people come to this forum because its fun. It will no longer be fun if it becomes a place for people to bash other ethnic groups or nationals, and people will leave in their droves.

There is nowhere in the world where free speech means you can threaten the existence of others or insult their sensibilities. We all know that advocating violence or secession, in any country in the world, is likely to be extremely emotive and stressful for some people.

Nairaland is a good fun place now because people can come here and have harmless fun and banter. People can, and do, still criticise goverment and poke fun at government officials. Very many issues of national importance are still being discussed here. There is nothing wrong with all those things.

Do not create any rest room for anybody to air extremist views. Some people want to hijack Nairaland for performing their own dirty work. I have seen it happen in some other forum. Instead of them becoming places for intelligent discussions they became places where people traded cheap, nasty insults.

Don't change anything, just keep doing what you are doing.  

@all
Where do i start from?
I agree that we are all entitled to our rights to express our views but i also agree that we have to weigh whatever we say. In all forms of human interaction ther must be basic rules which will be considered fair to the aggregate of the populace when any falls short of this you either have anarchy or dictatorship.
Which one do we want?
What do you thing the Hutu radio annnouncer was feeling when he was urging the Hutu militia to slaughter Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994?
What was on the Nazis minds when they spread their propaganda and pushed for Hitlers "final solution" to the jewish question?
My people, freedom without control = anarchy.

The problem what us Nigerians is that we do not want to be oppressed, downtrodden, victimisted yet we have no qualms about denying others the same rights we seek.

If people like Awo, Zik, Balewa etc, were sanctioned, we will all be living in colonial Nigeria. Fela was sanctioned, so was Mandela, and what did they stand for? Radical ideas in their time.

Everyone has the right to express their opinion and the right of rebuttal. If we say that people will hijack nairaland for their agenda and that must be opposed are not also saying that we shall preserve the agenda or nairaland. Does Nairaland have an agenda? So if someone is advocating violence, what is he doing, recruiting members. If there was no nairaland, he will still do the same thing. Nairaland without sanctions tells people what the alternatives are.

Let me go a step further. I did not agree with certain characterizations of Igbo, Hausa etc. on this board and argued against it, but never once said that the person that made the remarks had no right o to make them. I simply felt he was wrong and presented an argument to support my position. What if he did not have the right to say what he thought? What if I did not have the right to say what I thought? What will be the truth? Or is the truth the administrators editing of my statement?

Seun himself started a post to refute the perception that Nairaland is a Yoruba board. Why did he do that, why was that necessary? because he wanted to balance perception. He did not simply say, he gave people of divergent views the opportunity to share their perception. That goes to the reason why CENSORING speech leads to only one conclusion. You remove what you don’t like and keep what you like.

Everyday we hear opinions, some we agree with others we disagree with. The role of a place like nairaland is to offer each side an opportunity to present their views, not one over the other. Once you take sides, you are the one with an agenda.

It is a great thing that a place like nairaland exists where people can say what they think. I hate to think of it as a place that furthers someone’s agenda then I do not wish to be part of that process that was why I said earlier I was considering not posting at nairaland because someone took the liberty to edit my post.

By the way who is an extremist? the person you agree with or the one you don't