30 Comments
Jul 12, 2020Liked by Anthony Pappalardo

Not for nothing, but most of the SLAP community was not defending Johan and rather arguing with a few trolls or people that were missing the point. It makes sense since the negative comments tend to outshine the positive ones in most aspects in life, but we may not be having this conversation if not for SLAP.

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1. It is for something. 2. The SLAP boards have had a history of hate speech, go back and look at the "are there any Jewish pro skaters" thread etc. 3. I'm not attacking the SLAP community I'm saying that it's the most visible skate message board and it allows hate speech. For those who are claiming it's a free speech violation, moderation is common in online communities—some have filters so you can't type the N-word etc. This is a good thing. Also, a monetized or data collecting board isn't free speech, it's not a newspaper. The point of free speech isn't so you can use a fake name and call someone a slur. 4. Instead of the SLAP boards being bummed that they are painted in a bad light, why wouldn't they get the ppl who are saying wild things banned and clean up their own block? Just my thoughts.

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Jul 12, 2020Liked by Anthony Pappalardo

I hear ya. I've seen some pretty gnarly stuff said on there and don't really mind when people talk shit about SLAP. From my understanding, they are increasing the amount of mods with the update they're currently doing. Bleeping out of racial as well as sexual orientation slurs would be very nice.

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It’s a positive step if so. I’m not anti-SLAP, I’m anti hate

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But you're only making this distinction now, in your comments. You haven't mentioned in your article at all the good the Slap community may have done in supporting these victims, in this and other situations like it that have arisen on those pages. Not only that, but you're a writer with a platform seemingly asking for other people not to be given or to use their own available platforms. That's problematic. As 4Chan and the like show, kicking these rancid subsections of humanity off other "mainstream" platforms rather than engaging with them, mean they congregate in other, more lawless places, where no one with apposing views is able to question them or hold them accountable. These more isolated aspects of the internet are infinitely more problematic than places like Slap, where at least evil encounters good from time to time. And I think it's fair to ask people to be less polemic when it comes to discussing this stuff. If you listen to things like the NY Times Rabbit Hole series, it's clear people festering in isolation online are infinitely more at risk of, say, radicalization than those that encounter apposing beliefs and opinions.So I would just suggest being careful what you wish for in regard to filtering voices, no matter how vehemently we all might appose them. Because that mentality will come back to bite you, especially if your own, more liberal voice begins to silenced as a result. I think being anti-hate doesn't mean silencing hate. Only exposing and apposing it. You run the risk of only making things worse otherwise. People who feel like they aren't being heard do very scary things. Aren't you a writer? Isn't the point of writing to communicate? I think there are fine lines here, and that we all need to be very careful as we consider them. I know right from wrong, or think I do, but that doesn't mean everyone out there has been gifted those same opportunities and support systems to feel that way; to have been guided. Isolating people further by shutting them down does nothing but strengthen their beliefs.

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Message boards aren't platforms so if you think they are you are mistaken. If you're worried about censorship, think first about how hard it is to get a rape conviction. Nothing is going to bite me because I'm not worried about being bitten. If you want to fight for your right to flow hate speech on a message board you don't really care about anything but your voice. Every "platform" you want to defend is a paid media / data collection situation and if that's what you want to defend, good for you but you're a sucker cos you aren't getting paid and they are. Weird.

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Dude, this is a ridiculous defensive argument. Have you really read anything I just said? Can you really argue against the need to be careful what we wish for, or the VERY REAL fact that that isolating communities and opinions online has had incredibly dire real world consequences? I'm not defending hate speech in the slightest. It's crazy that's your read on my comment. I'm talking about the need for a little thought and nuance, and for not only using one side of a coin to make your argument. I'm honestly pretty shocked by your response. Have you seen any of the amazing positive things people have written online about this, or things like this? As for Message Boards being platforms (they are, for better or worse) vs just data mining collections for corporations: Sure, I'm with you. But then what the fuck is Instagram? Which is the platform used by the victim that caused this whole important conversation in the first place. Not to mention a million other important movements/conversations. Do you use Instagram, or Twitter? I'm asking because I have no idea, but assuming you do based on the article above. Do you think those platforms are maybe a little more worrying/problematic than a decade old skateboard forum? I would suggest you pick some battles here. As for the rape conviction comment: I would think long and hard about saying something like that to a person you have don't know. I have several people in my life who have suffered various forms of sexual abuse, and think every day about what it means to come forward with something like this, never mind getting to see anything like justice. I would think my post above would have hopefully indicated I wasn't an absolute fucking moron but I guess not. See, I think this is the point: By me having a slightly different read, or apposing opinion on this topic than you (you who have chosen to publish an article online about your opinion), you have clearly decided that I either don't know what I'm talking about, or am on the side of those that use hate speech or have defending the attacker. And that couldn't be further from the truth. I care so strongly about everything that ISN'T my own voice. I would have thought my argument above suggests as much. And as someone who is very much in the business of trying to have his own vice amplified, and put forward his own opinions and ideas regarding what to do about this situation (all of which are well and good and some very interesting), I'd think a little more maybe about calling people out for caring only about their own voices. Maybe use this platform you have and have earned to give someone else a voice that knows even more about this than you, or I, or the fucking idiots that leave stupid comments on Instagram and Slap. Or maybe just appreciate that some of us might think there's a lot of worms in this particular can we should all be trying to (help) unpack.

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Apologies for the billion typos.

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One last thing: I should also point out that it would appear the mods on Slap have been making a concerted effort to clean their house. (discussing filters, bans and the like) And this before you published the above. Of course, the casual observer/user might not see/know this, so I get it. Oh, and a newspaper like the NY Times is perhaps not the most democratic example one could cite for a platform for free speech. The publishing industry has a history of suppressing certain voices just as badly as everybody else. So as much as I hate the Internet, message board culture, Instagram, FaceBook and Twitter, it's hard not to argue those are very much the defining free speech tools of our time. For better or worse. Which is why they're also so problematic. While I think everyone should have the right to have their opinions heard, everyone also has the right to say those opinions are idiotic/offensive/dated/simplistic/confused/dull/unnecessary/outright wrong. I'm sure you and I can at least agree there.

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Completely irrelevant skateboarder that no one cares about? Check.

Cool 2020 buzzwords? Check.

Condescending woke attitude? Check.

Convict without evidence? Check.

Authoritarian ideas on impeding free speech? Check.

Self righteous word salad straight out of Huffpo? CHECK.

You are a fucking joke.

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author

The entire piece is based on a post that is an admission of guilt. The "joke" is that believing victims is something you'd push back on.

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He's one of the best to ever do it... And no one has ever heard of you at all. Sit down little boy.

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Jul 7, 2023·edited Jul 7, 2023

So SJ stands for "Social Justice" then?

Oh, and maybe you should do a YouTube search for the writer before you call him "irrelevant" or claim nobody has ever heard of him.

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interesting read, thanks anthony. but i dont think censoring slap, or anything, is the solution .

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author

What is the problem w/filters that don't allow racial slurs, homophobic language etc? I don't get it? This is common on every online form, save Stormfr*nt and shit.

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Why can't you just accept criticism and opposing ideas? You're a writer. How are you going to perfect your craft if don't develop thicker skin? Are you going to take the time to attack everyone on here who points out some holes in your argument?

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lol hate speech is illegal anyways.. thicker skin? you are obviously WHITE MAN who has no idea what its like tone called a slur over something you can't change about yourself.. people like you are whats wrong with the world

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Definitely not white and definitely not talking about hate speech. Where do you see that in my comment? I'm talking about being a writer. Criticism and opposing ideas are part of the trade; it's feedback. Duh! Your feedback to me is that I'm white and . . . you lost me after that. Are you asking if I've ever been called a racial slur? Sure have. But my point is that great writers are writers who can take an argument and look at both sides of it. That doesn't mean they have to agree with both sides. Pops doesn't get that, and maybe you don't either. I can't tell; it seems you think based on your emotions instead of using your brain.

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Pappalardo and his woke gender denial makes me sick to my stomach. If trans mutants want to compete, let them compete against each other.

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author

Marco's Bio:

"White, ex-swimmer and transphobic who thinks all the attention to trans is misplaced and absurd. Sport participation should be determined by birth gender, not medical gender."

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My brother David has been diagnose with HERPES for a little more than a year. He showed signs of it for close to three years and no Doctor was able to figure out what was wrong, until my sister whom he had been living with kept trying to bring him to each doctor ---- finally found a doctor who recognised almost immediately that he had HERPES. He has been taking medication that was made available to him only through a medical grant funding from those who have donated to the continuing research for a possible cure. He has slowed down in the progression, but without side affects. My hopes and prayers are that, you can HERPESo contact the Doctor for possible cure if you have HERPES or any relative suffering for same disease here is their contact is as follow. healthmedlab@gmail.com OR info@healthmedlabclinic.com  their Website: www.healthmedlabclinic.com They cure all types and kinds of diseases

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Thank you, Anthony Pappalardo.

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Two questions:

Did you go to school for writing?

Do you get paid to write, full time?

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author

This comment hasn't helped anyone.

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It wasnt a comment it was a question that you could have easily answered. I was being sincere. But wow you really are insufferable.

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You are an asshole. You threw all those people that wrote comments on Johan Stuckeys apology under the bus, making them look like supporters of a rapist. Johans Stuckey made himself out to be some kind of victim in his apology, and didnt include any other details. People who posted did not get the full story by just reading his post, and you left out a major reason why people would post positively. You made the people who posted on Johan Stuckeys insta look like rape apologists, and they are not. You are a wanker and your writing is garbage

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You have proved my point. If you make a post you are responsible for it. If you are applauding someone who has admitted they have done something wrong w/o knowing what you're commenting on, that's your problem. I didn't make them look like anything, they made the comments not me. Spend your time supporting ppl who need help, not fanboys who hate to hear that their idols are trash.

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There comments were based only on Stuckeys post you moron. Stuckeys post did not address what he had done as anything malicious. He played the victim and his friends gave support to someone playing the victim. You then blow them up in an article. Most if given the full story may of rightfully been more angry with him. What he did was reprehensible.... You are a self righteous virtue signalling cocksucker.

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Darrell, in his post he says he knowingly passed herpes to his partners and said racist things. If that's something you rally behind... that's weird but then again, you think cocksucker is an insult. Enjoy the Day of our Lord and thank you for caring more about my life than I would ever think about yours. (chef kiss)

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