Comments deleted and access blocked

Hi folks,
    An email from Kim alerted me to some comments that appeared here last night. They were from a Nazi supporter of Boyd Rice's who attended the MIT Evil Summit. I am really glad for the warning because the comments have shaken me up quite a bit.  I deleted most of them (and in the process one from George as well). I have also blocked the Nazi poster from posting further on the site. The first and primary reason I deleted the comments and blocked him from the site is that I don't want icite coming up in any anti-semitic searches or to be linked to the sort of hate that 'Bill White' preaches. The second reason is that I want icite to be a blog where disagreement is done from a prior kind of trust and solidarity, out of kindness and in terms of if not common hopes then hopes for some kind of commons in the future.
    I left some of 'Bill White's' comments that were targeted at me in particular. Maybe out of masochism, maybe as a reminder of the edges and hate from which I am usually thankfully sheltered, maybe as some kind of proof that I'm not scared of criticism, maybe even because I worry that they are somehow true (do I really dress that badly?).  I also left the comments as evidence of the dangers of assuming the meaning of a performance (and as evidence for some of what Christian posted with regard to the history of Satanism and fascism). The guys I wondered about in the audience really are Nazis. Interestingly, they are really Bush supporters as well. So, the issue of 'overidentification' remains in a way that, in my view at least, doesn't have the kind of disruptive potential Zizek sees (Kim said as much in her earlier post on evil art as well).

Comments

[Patrick J. Mullins]

Well, I'll be goddam, Jodi, you sly fox--anyone knows 'dressing that badly' does not mean 'dressing like a whore' at around 40. I was so RELIEVED I almost passed out: I was expecting to read about ill-fitted woolen something or other in drab style or maybe even Margaret Warner and other shithead media stars who still wear the electric-blue or fire-engine red blazers with the chrome brooch; wouldn't be caught dead wearing sleaveless sheaths and gowns in the warm weather like Beatrice on Le Journal. Honey, I'm older than you are (and so show-biz oriented I'm into 'kiss and don't tell' about my exact age) and I DRESS LIKE A WHORE-I even dress like some METROSEXUAL WHORE and I just think I am fucking gorgeous! Didn't you know that Lana Turner's parents were both Alabamans and moved to Idaho just in time for her not to be known as a pure Southern belle...of course, she couldn't have done anything but the 'fiddle-dee-dee' part of Scarlett, because she was a whore-actress, I mean there has to be a balance.

That wondrous moment taken care of, I adore your attitude about comments and hope you can legislate it properly. It calls to mind a recent closing of all comments on a blog I liked until the incendiary comments must have gotten in the way of the endless controversy about the comments, so the comments were abruptly closed with much less provocation than there had been when commenters were at each others' throats. I found this annoying and either out of control or over-controlling. I have ceased to read this blog, because the comments had become the issue, the blogger had the ability to censor comments, and instead threw out the whole plant! Oh well, no big deal, but there it is.

[George W.]

Oh great, now everyone is just going to remember me as the guy who got censored along with the Hannah Arendt hating neo-nazi.

(And not that I should be pushing it at this point....)
But I do wonder though..."prior trust and solidarity"? Really? Before you were pitting liberals and posties and watching the fur fly...and it was fun. So was that ok just because there are within the liberal concensus to not cross certain lines (like saying bad things about the jews)? What about some overzealous communist (Zizek reader?) who advocates killing of capitalists in the name of radical change, or someone who really hates all Americans? Do they get deleted as well? Or is that kind of radicalism acceptable in a lefty blog?

I am reminded here of Zizek's introduction to Revolution at the Gates where he talks about the liberal Denkwerbot on radical thought. How many others will be silenced in the name of this "kindness"? Where will you draw the line?!? (rant, rant, rant...)

(Although it does not help my rightious case any that this guy could not make a coherent "unaceptable" argument, and just dropped pronouncements and insults.)

(And yes, my 2am ramble was pretty damn stupid and I am actually glad you removed it from the "symbolic register".)

(And you knew I was kidding about the Jews...right?)

[Jodi]

Patrick,
Your metrosexual reassurance made me proud to dress like a whore. At my age, I've earned it! Thanks so much!

[Jodi]

George,
Even though I knew your comments were kidding, I didn't think that they seemed like they were kidding in the context of a discussion with a Nazi. And, for me, tone is important in the discussion. How many will be silenced? I don't know. It will be on a case by case basis. Since icite is one of over 5 million blogs, I'm not too worried about it qua silencing. The whole thing does make me have to think more seriously about political violence and revolution. I am clear that I don't think it should be celebrate, that it is not an end in itself, that it isn't purifying. On the prior trust and solidarity, absolutely--debate requires a context, some forms of shared understanding. The same is true with meaning, meaning requires limits--non-meaning, nonsense, etc. So, this site isn't one designed to promote debate with conservatives (although some come by from time to time). It's designed to promote discussion and reflection among people with various sorts of liberal and left views, folks who are critical of capitalism, fascism, racism, antisemitism, sexism, and are interested in trying to think through and perhaps contribute to building a new kind of left vision. This might sound all too grand for this little blog, but why not think big?

[S.R. Prozak]

The essence of discourse is provoking expenditure of energy. If you agree with Bataille, you might see how these Nazis and you are yin and yang, and together you feed what keeps discussion about change alive.

But you might not like me either, as I'm a nihilist and I listen to death metal. I dress badly, but not whorishly.

[George W.]

Aparently Aryans now communicate in mp3s...
I guess this is what you get for blocking extremists...

[Bill White]

Hey, um

Your efforts to block me didn't work.

And you're a weenie.

And I don't support Bush, you nutball.

Grow up.

Bill

[Bill White]

Oh, and, ironically

You may ban me from your blog but

My website's commentary on you will probably be in the top ten Google search results for your name within a week.

:-))

Bill