The funny thing, is I'm a Democrat and a liberal, but I've been told over there I'm not a Democrat (LOL, do I have to produce my voter registration or something), and that should be a Trump supporter many times (I'm not) for expressing opinions that (IMO) are reasonable.
Extremely relatable.
I've been a registered Democrat since I turned 18, much to the dismay of my mother, who tried to forcibly register me Republican until I reminded her that tampering with another person's registration/ballot is a felony. I just voted straight ticket Democrat to try to bring some accountability and balance back into our government. Yet, when ERA had a thread about protesters harassing people in restaurants and showing up at citizen's private residences I expressed discomfort over it.
Why not go after the advertisers aligned with these individuals and get their funding and sponsorships removed?
Why not pursue elected offices so that policies can be tangibly changed?
If it's justified for a group to harass people in public and/or at their homes because of their opinions (regardless of how terrible those may actually be,) then who's to say who's next on the list? Look at anyone closely enough and you'll find dirt. How will some of these people cheering for this behavior feel if they're the next person to be yelled at at a restaurant or to feel unable to leave their home because of the group waiting for them outside? I want to feel safe in public and at home in America, and that means I have to extend the same comfort to everyone, regardless of their political leanings. That's the Golden Rule. People support gun control because they don't want to be randomly shot in public. I don't scream at, threaten or attack people in public (unless we're talking, like, stepping in against somebody assaulting an innocent) because
I don't want to be screamed at or attack while at the grocery store, or something. These are just, like, basic tenets you buy into for the ability to live in a civilized society.
I shared this opinion on ERA is this same tone, using sober and civil language, and was absolutely
screamed at. Called "an evil motherfucker," (this person wasn't even
warned, by the way. I thought this type of personal attack wasn't allowed?), repeatedly told I was lying about being a Democrat and I was some sort of alt-right spy who'd posted on GAF and ERA for almost a decade from a liberal viewpoint and then just suddenly decided to switch sides? Talk about a long con.
I say this as just about as much as someone can be a liberal, being a gay, bi-racial, adopted individual: ResetERA, at the
very least its moderation team, is what happens when progressives become authoritarian. They're trying to create as their "perfect environment" by force, using moderation and exile as a political hammer, except, when you're so terrified and paranoid that you have to banish 75% of your population to feel "safe," then you're probably never going to feel secure regardless - you just end up more and more paranoid, increasingly lashing out and alienating and browbeating the few people who've somehow stuck by you to that point.
Similarly, I was told on ERA that prejudice against whites isn't "real" racism.
No. Wrong.
I'm bi-racial black/Irish. SO many times - TOO many times - as a child I was made to feel lesser or weaker because of my black blood. Even my own family would tell me "Just don't bring it up with people." Nobody would disagree that that was racism, so why is it that now, as an adult, so many people are trying to make me feel inferior because of my
white blood, and when I point out the double standard
I'm the one being "problematic?" Saying "racism is racism regardless of the mixture of skin colors involved" got me a
ton of insulting and dismissive replies on ERA, including "Sure, keep telling yourself that," and a "Sure, Jan" GIF. I thought "being dismissive of real issues" was something that people got moderated for over there, but none of those people were earned and I was banned for "inflammatory false equivalences." According to the moderation staff of ResetERA and the precedents they've repeatedly set, racism against whites is
objectively preferable to racism against any other ethnic group. Both of my "halves" ore part of my "whole." If it was racism to belittle me for African ancestry, it's racism to belittle me for Irish heritage. It's a blatantly obvious double standard that no reasonable person shouldn't be able to see.
I'm not trying to brag or anything when I say this just now, but I'm a good poster. I'm reasonably intelligent, fairly well-spoken, and I genuinely like having long (respectful) conversations where views and ideas clash against each other and every one walks away a little more enlightened. ERA doesn't want that. They don't want to be a "discussion" forum - they want to be an "agreement" forum.