I'm Joshua Belcher, more commonly known here on Paint and elsewhere by my username Draconid_Jo, and in case you haven't heard already, I'm running for Overlord again.
“You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
—Jesus Christ (Mark 10:42-45 NIV)
Administration
Periodically, members will be chosen to administer and moderate various aspects of the websites to assist in keeping order. Such promotions are made when needed and are chosen on merit without need to inquire. These members are expected to act as role models to the others since they are seen as authority figures.
—Paint's Terms of Membership
“Technically, overlords have the power to promote members as they see fit…”
—HullBreach, in response to me inquiring about the numerous undemocratic admin promotions made by other Overlords back in February.
“What I think, Sakuta-kun, is that life is here for us to become kinder. I live life every day hoping I was a slightly kinder person than I was the day before.”
—Shoko Makinohara from Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai
Since members to this collection of websites come in all ages, ethnicities, nationalities, religions, and other diversities, it is inevitable that varying beliefs will be taking part. All participants are expected to conduct themselves in a mature and respectful manner. Hate speech… [is] not tolerated.
There have been some events over this past day in this Community that show the need to reiterate the policies concerning allowable speech in content.
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As a general rule, members here are permitted to post on just about any topic that is not illegal and does not directly attack any specific individuals. This includes being permitted to make statements others may see as controversial on a number of topics.
If someone replies to your Blog or comments on your own profile, you can always delete the content — no matter what is said — as that is your personal array.
Admins will not intercede to remove any content in personal or general areas, unless it crosses the boundaries into direct attacks, illegal content, or what is deemed to be an incitement of violence or other dangerous activity…
Hello, I am Dawn, you probably haven't seen me before and that's because I've only been here barely over a month.
Anyways, as you can see in the title, I will be talking about the R-slur. Now, I'm not writing this to get a kick or two out of people, I've just seen quite a bit of people who thought saying this word was okay. It's not. It can be very offensive towards disabled people, including myself.
(For those of you who don't know, I have Border-Line Autisim. Border-Line Autisim is kinda like autisim, just with less symtoms and doesn't affect the brain as much.)
A lot of people think the R-slur is a synonym of the word "stupid", but it's more complex than that. The original definition of the word was to be used medically, but over the years, it has been used as an insult towards disabled people, stereotyping them, and meaning that "just because they're disabled, meant that they were stupid." Now, a lot of disabled people have suffered through a lot of serious stuff, including trauma, bullying, and sadly, some have even been killed just because they were "different". A lot of disablities have sadly been caused by trauma too. This is a topic that has not been brought up as often as it should. A lot of people need to see how serious this really is. Just because they are thought of as "stupid" about 1/3rd of disabled people have suffered.
Just because a person is disabled, does not mean they're stupid. Even if you're using it as a joke, it still should be avoided. It is a very serious word, and saying it could get you to hurt a lot of people.
A lot of people do think that because they are disabled, they should say it, but I disagree. Whether or not you're disabled, you should still avoid saying it. It would still be taken seriously, and it is not a word to joke around with.
—Dawn69, in their blog “Why The R-Slur Should Be Avoided”
Some research has examined the link between the prevalence of hate speech and the extensiveness of mental illness and suicide among the groups targeted by the hate speech.[11] Many groups who are often the victims of hate speech have higher suicide rates. In one study, LGBT youth who lived in neighborhoods with higher levels of LGBT assault crimes were more likely to report suicidal ideation.[12] In another study, LGBT youth who perceived more discrimination had higher rates of depressive symptomatology and suicidal ideation.[13] An investigation into immigrant suicide rates revealed that they were accurately predicted by the amount of hate speech directed towards the immigrant group, concluding "hate speech predicts death".[14] This is the most common justification given for the existence of hate speech laws.
I think that the answer to resolving all of these divisions and conflicts (both here on Paint and in life in general) is mutual respect and acceptance. Unity is far more powerful than division, and love is far more powerful than hate, and by accepting one another's differences and looking for common ground, we can be united in our shared love of Paint rather than divided by our hatred for one another based on our perceived flaws.
—Draconid_Jo, in their blog “My First 5 Years on Paint”
