staff Celebration is not Condemnation

[Samurai Equine 55,168]

Celebration is not always condemnation.
Likewise, creation is not always something else's destruction.

On this forum, we give users the freedom to celebrate national holidays of their countries, such as America's 4th of July celebration.
For many, this celebration marks the birth and creation of their country; their day of independence and freedom.
While it has the potential, it is not inherently political by nature. Any political reasons that created this holiday happened centuries ago. We are far removed from the political issues that happened & were settled long ago; and only a small few make this celebration about modern political issues. Most do not. For most, it is a mundane celebration. Eat food, watch fireworks, dress in the colors of the flag, etc. Those who choose to make it political are few and far in-between, and many of those who do probably only do so in a casual/passive way. It's hardly ever a lengthy discussion about government, international issues, disrespecting other countries, or other such matters.

In short, a holiday like this is about creation and open celebration. It is NOT inherently about politics, destruction, nor the condemnation of other countries. It can potentially be turned into that, but by nature, that is not the focus.

Now let's contrast this against something else, such as image of a specific country's flag being burned.
This is an act of destruction, and when it involves a flag representing a country, the act itself is inherently political. Continuing from the previous example, should a casual passerby see someone else burning the American flag, their immediate thought and reaction is most likely going to be "Oh, they're making an anti-American statement." The same is usually true if you burn any flag representing any other country. It is embedded in our collective associations. To my knowledge, there is a lack of national family-friendly holidays that involve burning any kind of flag for the fun of it in most countries. While the imagery can be used for a nonpolitical reason, it becomes all the more important to keep that reason in-context. You wouldn't run up to people saying "Die!" and expect them to automatically know that you want them to tie-dye a shirt or show them your dice collection, would you?

You can argue that the burning of a flag is not a political message, but you can't stop people from automatically assuming a political message was intended. It is a visible act of destruction, condemnation, and rebellion. It takes a lot of convincing to say otherwise.

Now obviously, everyone is different. Many people have wildly different associations. Many people cannot help but see the political side to stuff that only has a political suggestion. Some cannot help but focus on these things, while most others aren't. We have nothing against this, but as we have made it clear in the past, political discussions have a time and place. We have created a space for it, a club known as Twilight's Soapbox. It's an opt-in section of the forum that is not public. We ask people to keep their political statements there; which we made absolutely clear in the Guidelines. We have asked people to refrain from publicly posting stuff that have a strong, automatically political association with little room for nonpolitical interpretation. We have allowed many discussions in the open part of the forum, but the staff has always been vigilant. Should a discussion start getting too political, we have not hesitated in making sure it gets redirected to the Soapbox, and we continuously encourage our users to do the same. There is no room for ignorance on these issues.

In summary, we have a designated area for political discussions and statements. Making these statements outside of Twilight's Soapbox is nothing short of an action that violates our Guidelines, and ignorance of these Guidelines is no excuse. Everyone has the right to believe whatever they want, but everyone must follow the Guidelines of this forum if they wish to stay here. No amount of political thoughts or feelings makes anyone exempt from the Guidelines.

 

At the end of the day, let's focus on celebration and fun! This is a pony forum of friendship that is all about embracing diverse friendships despite any differences. It is okay to disagree but it is not okay to encourage political discourse on a fun gathering or discussion where politics were not intended.

Here at MLP Forums, we the staff have protected many groups and users from inflammatory content, and that included political discourse over celebrations and discussions not meant to be political in nature. Those who make it about politics, especially in a hateful or derogatory way, will be subject to the same warnings and punishments as everyone else. Hate speech is not protected here, but genuine discussions are allowed within the proper areas of the this forum. We only ask that our users learn the layout of the forum and to practice self-control and good disassociation skills, so as not to accidentally post in the wrong area nor turn innocent discussions into something completely different. The staff makes allowances for people still learning how to navigate this forum; we understand when they accidentally post in the wrong section. Likewise, the staff knows the difference between someone accidentally posting in the wrong section, vs. someone knowingly posting in the wrong section for the sake of provocation.

No single group of users is superior to another. No innocent celebrations should be turned into anything more then that just because of one user's beliefs. While the staff is human and always doing their best to learn and improve, users of this forum are still subject to obeying the Guidelines and being personally responsible for their own behavior. Those who chose not practice their own self-control for whatever reason, political or otherwise, are actively engaging in aggressive behavior and therefore are subject to the same warnings and punishments as anyone else.

 

We wholehearted apologize if you felt your reports were ignored. We do our best to investigate the intention of all actions, even if they do not outwardly align. It is all for the sake of making a safe, welcoming environment for all users. Rest assured that the staff's commitment to this is unwavering and absolute. Friendship is magic, as it should always be.