as far as the "respectability" debate goes, you make good points and that was a thoughtful post, but in my view, certain ideas, no matter how politely expressed, are violent or hateful. i think in the case of a dispassionate, careful argument about why jews are the untermensch, for instance, a respectful response only legitimizes an ugly and inherently violent point of view. if someone replied to that person with "kill yourself, anti-semite retard," i think that's a valid expression of the type of strident disdain that such an argument deserves, and banning the respondent for being crude and offensive, while letting the nazi carry on, is actually its own type of bias toward civility over any sort of righteousness or fairer world.
that's why i like the rules post in forum affairs that ropes off religious, racial, and sexual intolerance and precludes those issues from being "up for debate." i dont think that takes too much discussion off the table and i think it works well. when, in general forum, babyshark violates that rule, and then other people violate the rules in turn with insults and death wishes, i've treated everyone equally by simply trashing the thread into the flame forum altogether instead of singling anyone out. i don't personally think it's good to tell lightbringer, tora, and other muslim people that they just need to deal with someone posting a steady stream of anti-muslim hate propaganda.
i do realize that babyshark actually does think that the very concept of islam is dangerous and feels that being silenced on that issue is pc censorship. i believe if she wants to have those discussions, we offer a place for that type of argument: the flame forum, where claw has had many long debates justifying racism. i believe a safe, moderated space for babyshark to post about other topics is a good thing, but i dont believe islamophobic arguments belong there.
you have a different view on debate and you explained your philosophy pretty well above, and i respect that. if you prefer to give bs a safe place to espouse her anti-islam views free from abusive repercussions, that's okay! i will not be responding to it, however, in part because i don't wish to give such views any oxygen, but also because i believe it would be a waste of breath. i actually think it's more sanctimonious & arrogant to think i could persuade someone into uprooting their entire belief structure than it is to recognize that we're at an impasse. in many cases up-ending that person's belief structure would literally mean destroying that person's identity. it's just not gonna happen. thank you