State of Dialog on the Internet

I’m continually amazed at what passes for political dialog “out there,” and have promised myself to not return to a particular forum after the last dust up. But I fear it is exactly what people want. I created PoliteTalk to try and attract people who want to debate issues without insulting each other. But alas, it has not caught on. People enjoy insulting each other too much, it seems.

My latest experience is all too typical. In a thread about waterboarding and torture, an Australian informed me that David Hicks, an Australian terrorist captured on the battleground in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo, indicated he was repeatedly sodomized. Hicks has been in solitary confinement, so his comment is pretty clear: American soldiers are sodomizing their prisoners. On the eve of Veteran’s Day, I was upset by this, and indicated that the only “atrocity” committed at Guantanamo was throwing the Koran in the toilet where, I angrily added, “it belongs.”

Admittedly, my statement was insensitive to Muslims, but it is how I feel when faced with the lies that the terrorists employ so quickly. While I’m torn about the issue of water boarding, and don’t like the idea of torture under any but the most extreme circumstances, throwing a terrorist’s Koran into the toilet to try and provoke him to anger and make progress in interrogation hardly seems like torture to me. In a society that permits artistic and political expression such as the famous “Piss Christ” or flag burning, I fail to see what the big deal is about expressing disdain for a “holy book” that is the source of so much hatred, misogyny and fear among its adherents … and the rest of the world.

So guess which statement created the most controversy? The one alleging that American service men, made on the eve of Veteran’s Day, are repeatedly sodomizing prisoners at Guantanamo, or my flip comment that the Koran belongs in the toilet?

I was the only one to object to the suggestion that American servicemen are sodomizing prisoners at Guantanamo. Hundreds of people viewed the thread, most of them Americans judging by the demographics of the forums. The moderator quoted “1984″ to me, suggesting, I thought, that I was no better than the Jihadists. After asking, he clarified that he meant I was no better than Muslim culture, which doesn’t make sense to me as it is hard to compare an individual to a culture. He did avoid the prospect of moderating himself for a direct insult with his explanation, but it doesn’t ring true to me.

I try to make moral distinctions in life. I believe it is better to hug your wife than beat her. I believe it is better to have a justice system that prosecutes those that kill homosexuals than it is to have your justice system try gays and execute them. I believe western culture is demonstrably better today than Muslim cultures.

But that view is more objectionable to some than the assertion that American servicemen are sodomizing their prisoners. Even on Veteran’s Day.

Anyone have a picture of a Koran in a toilet? Perhaps my goal of calm, rational and polite discussion is outmoded, and will never again be seen. Perhaps the future of debate really is Ann Colture and Michael Moore, and not PoliteTalk.