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Saturday 15 November 2014

Censorship

Switching on my computer this morning I saw that there was a fresh comment on my latest post.

Eager to read it I found it was not a comment, but a hate-filled, mysogonistic diatribe on the subject of American women.

Shocked by the aggressive bile and unable to find anything remotely resembling reason in it's content , I read it twice and deleted it.

Later, I wondered two things.  Firstly, why had he (I assume it was a he) chosen my blog to display his paranoia, and secondly, had I done the right thing in deleting it.?

Normally in favour of freedom of speech I can only assume that it was my desire not to be associated in any way with its contents which made me obliterate it.

Was I right to do so, or should I have allowed it to remain in all of its offensive glory?

Opinions please.

13 comments:

  1. Ray I have had one or two of these so called comments from people trying to voice their own disturbing prejudices. I deleted mine too....you were quite right! I kept a couple of them labelled as spam...as proof of their existence but most were just deleted! Don't let it get you down...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good to know I was not being singled out Jean. That was a concern, that I might have in some way invited this invasion.

      Delete
  2. Another victim who received the diatribe on American women on my blog. I deleted it, I was able to ensure that it would not be possible to retrieve it again.

    To be fair, it is the first time I have had anything like this in my blog history. Usually I am delighted to see I have comments as they are few but this was not welcome.

    I then felt guilty for I read other blogs, think I must respond then don't get round to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was also the first time for me Pixie Mum, I'm glad to say.
      Responses to posts are always welcome as far as I'm concerned, but it does help if there is some relevance.
      This one was out of the blue (or perhaps more accurately out of the darkness).

      Delete
  3. Ray, you were quite right to delete it. I subscribe to further comments when I comment on a blog, so saw half a dozen of these pop into my inbox from various blogs this morning. Given that this sad individual was also promoting his own website, I would probably have classified it as spam, so that hopefully Blogger's spam filter would catch any recurrences.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am glad to know you have seen this 'article' too, though I suspect we could have both done without it.
      Let's hope that the disappearance of his posted comments will deter him from further attempts.

      Delete
    2. Just to add that today my blog was graced with one of his vituperative comments, so I went to the Comments section of the dashboard and marked it as spam. If enough of us do this his comments will all be caught by the spam filter. :-)

      Delete
  4. If there is a link to another blog and it is a comment that has nothing to do with your blog post Ray then it is spam and deserves reporting and deleting xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yes, I report and delete. Thankfully, I've not been bothered by anything like this recently.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, as I said, this was the first time and I hope the last, anything like this happens.
    All part of the blog learning experience I suppose.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hooray Ray for deleting contaminating prejudice and hate. By all means free speech for the bemused and confused but not for bullies and haters(hatters? )Roger X

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do like your word-play hatter is I think about right.
      It is a particular aim of mine to encourage comment but, the poison contained in this particular one was fit only for disposal.
      Nice to hear from you little bro. X

      Delete