First of all, this is an online forum. Safety is not an issue. No one here can hurt you. That is an excuse people use to censor others. The proper answer to bad opinions is good arguments against it, not censorship. Yes you have the right to tell someone they're wrong; you don't have a right to tell them they can't have that opinion or that they can't speak their opinion (in general, not on a private forum like this. The mods are of course free to limit topics as they wish here)
What I meant by actions is that yes someone has to say they are racist or spout racist BS before it can be responded to. But it is an opinion and should be responded to just the same as any other disallowed topics. Whether thats an immediate ban or a warning first or whatever. My point was that I didn't think talking politics should get 3 strikes but saying you hate whites or something should be an instant ban. Treat all disallowed topics the same, otherwise you are effectively punishing someone for what their opinion is by treating it more harshly.
In response to your Orwell quote, I would say of course stop that version of Shakespeare from harming little girls. And punish his actions absolutely! But yes his art still contributes to society and I wouldn't support "canceling" his plays being taught as they are now because they are still worthwhile contributions to society. All people have good and evil in them and if they act on the evil then it should be punished and if they create something good it should be treated good.
I do agree with certain topics being off-limits on this forum. It ruins the vibe when we're discussing things like this. Racist crap has nothing to do with gaming and shouldn't be espoused here. Neither should politics or religion or probably other topics. But we should treat those topics the same, regardless of how we personally feel about them. Thats all I'm saying. Its okay if you disagree.
As others have said, it is a safety issue, both for the members and the forum itself. "Sticks and stones" is an outdated platitude that has been proven false by psychologists, political scientists, and philosophers. I posted the bartending example because it shows how an entire place can be easily destroyed just by having hatemongers there. That works the same for digital space.
Racism is not the same as general politics. Saying "I think there should be more funding for trains" is not even close to the issue that hate speech is. False equivalence is a logical fallacy, and should be avoided like any other. Weird that you argued for nuance on understanding racism but not on the way that rules should be applied.
Punishing Pedospeare would probably result in no new
King Lear. You can't really direct stageplays from prison, and you can't sell tickets when nobody wants to say "wow, that Pedo guy's work is awesome." (See Ezra Miller's
The Flash for a real life example of how that went.) And no, I'm not saying don't study his old work. There are lit scholars who study HP Lovecraft and boycott JK Rowling because there's a big difference between a 100+ year old problematic work and a newly published one.
Your "good and evil" argument is a baseless opinion. Literally, as you provide no argument for it other than assuming we all agree (we don't). We don't all have a racist or other cancellable person inside us. And many of us try to learn from our mistakes instead of doubling down on them, which racists tend to do.
As for discussing politics, religion, etc, that kind of depends on the game. Is it wrong to discuss socio-economics when talking about
Grand Theft Auto (a satire of certain socio-economic trends in the late 20th century)? Is it wrong to discuss religion when talking about
Xenoblade (a series which tends to end on fighting monotheistic deities, and not without the plot building up to it)? And there are other examples out there of games that touch on social, political, and economic concepts either on purpose or by accident. Having a conversation about them that resembles actual art discussion instead of the common consumer report-style review ("game good, graphics, good, me have fun") isn't exactly a bad thing.
Laws have varying punishments in a civil society. We shouldn't go Hammurabi on the forum just to make all rules as strict as the anti-racism rule. And we shouldn't do the opposite, either (loosening them just to give the racists leeway). That won't create a likeable community.
or ? on the user's profile, to keep an eye on a given user and inform others of the possible "danger" about him.
