Can someone explain to me some BGG moderation decision?

I guess you're not "liberal enough". It's all about control, small-minded, weak people on a power trip.

Absolutely. The general societal mechanics of uncritical adhesion to authority, exalted enforcement of ideological bundles where you can't discuss a single aspect of it, of segration and exclusion, are insensitive to the Right/Left polarization.

I'm personally a pragmatic, and I believe people show more of what they are worth through their deeds than through their words. Being labelled as "something not good" because you don't ascribe to the pre-specified terminology of the group is just a re-implementation of the old macaque-like social structure where clan members recognize each other through specific pheromones and lash out on members of the other clans. I can't fault people for being primates, but we sure should strive to go past these old reflexes.

They’re entirely delusional. It is one of life’s greatest challenges to have to listen to someone’s argument when you disagree. That requires brainpower in order to sum up a conflicting view. Also, let’s face it… the human mind tends to recognize and accept ideas based on emotional bias. It’s just flat out easier for some dope to eliminate anyone with conflicting views and wipe them out of the picture. Then, what is perceived as true by the masses can be validated with concurrent agreement. History decides the victors.

Thanks a lot, Hana, for the very detailed reply!

I, personally, believe that France is a heavily racist society. But most people just don't know about it. I realized it in two ways: I had a friend from Marocco and one Friday afternoon, we were hanging out together and she had to go buy groceries for shabat. Well, buying a few items of food never felt so tiresome and complicated. She was stopped multiple times, all of her bags thoroughly searched, and so on (and she had a big bag pack since we had come straight from the university).

And there is also my wife. She is Colombian (well, and French now) and looks very much Arabic. Many times we couldn't go into a store because she had "weapons" in her bag or because they needed to search thoroughly her bag pack. The administrative staff at the university treated her harshly, and one day, they even sent security to force off an amphitheater during a lesson. She dropped her studies, left the university, and started anew with a different curriculum, a different university.

But these "spectacular" scenes are actually not the worst. The worst is that she is constantly asked (by her PhD supervisors, by her colleagues, etc.): "Oh, and when do you plan to go back to your country?" Except now France is as much her country as Colombia and, well, there's me, and an overgrown larva now. Cultural conflicts with my family have also been very harsh.

Another example of racism. In Brussels, I live in a neighborhood with a majority of people of Middle-Eastern ascent/origin/cultural background/ties/whatever. Many women wear an abaya, you constantly hear Arabic being spoken in the streets, and all the bakeries offer mostly bread and pastries in the Maghrebine tradition. And it was pretty much the same when I lived in Ivry-sur-Seine so for me it's just your typical urban neighborhood and it's part of the reason why I was drawn to this particular part of Brussels when I looked for a place to live.

But every time my father visits, he is a bit shocked. Every time he sees an expensive car (and there are LOTS of them, people are crazy about cars here, to my utter dismay), he thinks: "Oh! This is suspicious! They must engage in drug dealing!" Or, they are just successful at their jobs? There are medical doctors, attorneys, all sorts of professions. Would he be shocked to see a white-skinned medical doctor driving an expensive car? No, that would be regular. But a Middle Eastern woman with an abaya? It has to be the wife of a drug dealer (because, yeah, it's almost the male that brings back food to home).

Another thing. In the countryside where I lived during my childhood, most people are white-skinned. When I arrived in Paris at the age of 18, I was impressed by the large diversity of people you could meet there. But one thing shocked me: I was in an elite school (yet public, and free of any expenses), and the overwhelming majority of my comrades (most of them probably achieved well-paid jobs by now, highly positioned on the social ladder) were white-skinned. But the overwhelming majority of the people who served us food at the canteen, who cleaned the floor, and so on, were black-skinned, Asian, or Indian.

So, yeah, racism is a thing. It's heavily a thing. And I know it almost first-hand since as a family, we had to deal with the sometimes very harsh effects of it. We have learned a few tricks: when we first engage with some administrative duty, or for anything related to school, I always show up first and speak on the phone, because I am white, and have a native French accent, so, I immediately get respect for it.

But the funniest in all this is that my wife and I are often deemed racists (especially in my family), just because we don't comply with the terminology, with the conceptual bundle that so easily denounces it, and just as easily fails to concretely apply it when it actually and crucially matters. I am not free of biases, far from it, but at least, I have an empirical knowledge of racism, rather than an academic one.

I'm not gonna pretend I have as diverse field of view, very far from it. And I can only judge by what I've seen and experienced in my own country. I had some different ethnicities around me ever since primary school. Back then we had a classmate who was Romani and there's 100% prejudice in our society, but she said she never felt unwelcome anywhere. But overall? I'm sure many are met with scepticism and higher alert.

In university I met more people of different ethnics, din't really look disproportionate to what I saw outside. And what I heard was they chose our country because nobody cared to look at them differently.

However, I did meet myself a dislike or hate to certain group of people which was partly due to our history (quite recent one) and people's projection of actions of country's leadership on the whole country. It's Russians. Recent world developments certainly didn't help alleviate that. When you meet a person speaking Russian in Prague, many people get wary and assume mafia. It's akin to thinking every Japanese is Yakuza.

So my thinking is also biased due to how my surroundings work. I also only ever had one friend of different skin colour, which doesn't really show much since I had like 10 friends in my whole life. It's different looking at potential issues from the outside and you personally living it every day. I don't know anything beyond what people tell me or I see for myself.

I agree with Mike here 'Z'. The whiny side of things on this side of the ocean is WAY out of control. We live in a world (at least in North America) of extremes. It's disgusting to be honest.

I think your experience proves why I too (as @SnowDragonka mentioned) try to stay out of most conversations on BGG now. It's not worth my own health/stress/anxiety to give these conversations or people my energy (or to have it taken from me).

I'll say it again - this is why ST is the best online community. 😊 We are all real, honest and no one takes offense to a difference of opinion or creates something out of nothing here.

I believe sometimes BGG is difficult for me to cope with because I don't have the necessary distance. I live in a country where I have no friends, no relatives, save my wife and son, and I can't devote any time to anyone anyway because of high familial and professional demands. As a result, BGG (and ST as well) is the Alpha and Omega of my social life (which is kind of sad). But, unfortunately, BGG is still a social context, and for utter misfits like me, it's always going to be tough. Especially since I am never shy of going into the arena to brawl for a bit...

By the way, I could barely read what you posted from bgg, and in my own blissful ignorance: I don't care. If it's validation you seek you may have it from me. We all make mistakes whether intentional or not, and others make mistakes that may cause harm to our persons even though they think they're role is to protect those around them (or their jobs). It's all part of the game. Your time and energy is far to valuable to be wasted on this. Unless, of course, you choose to remain in this discourse. But I suggest you ✂️✂️✂️ the cord and let those others engage in a one-sided conversation without the benefit of your input.

Thank you for your support, Gloomknight!

You can click on it if you want to zoom in. It's not super interesting, it's mostly a reflection on how Tolkien (who can be seen as the inventor of "Fantasy races") construed this concept in the frame of his own fictional world.

My main point is that whatever is a "Fantasy race" bears no relationship whatsoever with what some people consider as "human races", and so starting to get concerned because Orcs are portrayed as evil is at odds with their allegorical function in Tolkien's works. If you start to draw parallels and consider them as "lineages" and basically need to reserve them the same treatment as you would do with different peoples of this Earth, you are just stirring uneasiness and an endless stream of problematic stances.

My own thinking is that if you start making this parallel, there is really no way you can get out of it in any satisfying way.

Apparently, this line of thinking is problematic/unrespectful/not fitting and I sincerely would like to understand why, one-sided discussion or not. Trying to understand stuff is my way of living.

Z, as one of ST's resident brainiacs, I don't think trying to understand idiots is going to be a fruitful endeavor for you. Just flip 'em a 'virtual' bird, and say, "I'm not wasting any energy and/or time on you fools." 🙂 In the book Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet, by Darynda Jones, she writes, "You can't fix stupid, but you can numb it with a 2x4." I'm sure that's not your style, but I love it! 😄