[IMC-Boston-Editorial] Veteran Trolls

[visnusdream at juno.com]

We really should have an Editorial meeting. I have been a troubled with the general mood of some of the editing. This latest concern about Veteran is really disturbing to me. The way I read our editorial policy, we should always err on the side of free speech. We can't guide conversations. I don't see how his comments can be part of some "some neo-patriotism kick" and at the same time they "siderailed any discussion on the actual event." The event is a counter Thanksgiving festival. It's an act of protest about patriotism, and what it means to be an American. Veteran's posts are antagonistic but they are in the vein of a political cartoon. He is mocking the notion that Thanksgiving is a celebration of genocide. He is saying, I think Thanksgiving is great and I 'm going to enjoy it." The idea that he shouldn't is definitely an issue about which intelligent people can disagree. Our editorial policy does not demand that all presentations be rhetorical essays discussing every facet of an issue. His response and some of the other responses that accompanied it are straightforward and easy to understand. He did not attack anyone; so on what grounds is this post "disruptive?" I do not think we can find a reason to call these posts disruptive without creating a new arbitrary standard, which caters to our own political sentiments. There is no section of our editorial policy that suggests anyone should censor these posts. 
Also, we can not blame him for being "one-sided," as was done. Half our articles are one-sided, which says nothing of the majority of comments on  the site.
If there are other problems with Veteran that I didn't catch or that have not yet been mentioned, I hope can discuss them. I'm actually confused about what we are doing if we even want to hide these posts. I thought the whole purpose of the comments section was to provide a space for people to share their thoughts after reading an article. This guy thought, well you guys go protest, I'm going to celebrate and eat a dead bird. That's what he thought. Its lame; but so what?
The other day I had to unhide a post, wherein a guy had simply said that he thought Fort Benning, GA was a nice place to live. what's wrong with that? Anyway, I am worried about where this is heading. We cannot become a amateur left-wing version of Fox news. At least one person posting under the name Veteran has contributed a lot of insight to several discussions on the site. I don;t agree with one single thing the guy has written but I believe we have to recognize that he represents a popular point of view. IMC is providing a space for people like Veteran to interact with people who organize counter Thanksgiving festivals. It is not always going to be pretty, nor are the discussions going to always stay in the confines of the initial topic. Our editorial policy doesn't say these are criteria anyway. 
There is so much going on right now, I have little time to argue about these things, but I would like propose that we all re-read the editorial policy and share our understanding, in a few sentences, about what we think it means.
Hoping that we all agree to err on the side of tolerance and free speech,
Jamie  
  
 
 
This guy Veteran posted a ton of stuff that totally , while also spamming the page *AND* being one-sided (as in all of his posts were based on  and not about bringing food to the protest). 
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