DaveTLV @Surasanji@social.cleverlibre.org

@SecondJon @wilw

Not a single one of us is totally innocent and we all have views that may, or may not offend others.

And that's fine. People are free to offend and be offended as they will. That's life. Not everyone is going to get along.

I won't pretend to know if Mr. Wheaton is phobic to anything at all. I won't pretend to know him as an individual.

I certainly won't deny that one of the reasons I'm willing to defend to him is that he was involved with one of my favorite things in the world, Star Trek. I'm a human being, and there are certain mental processes that just sort of click. My biases will always play into my decision making process.

It is totally unforgivable and unacceptable for what amounts to the 2018 version of a pitch-fork wielding mob to tar and feather some poor dude who was- as near as I can tell- not doing anything at all to try and harass anyone.

Personally, I don't care at all what your outlook on life is, what your gender is or isn't, your religion, or your creed, or race- none of those things truly matter to me whatsoever.

What does matter, however, is your behavior and how you treat others..

You can't change how other people act- but if you're someone who feels it is okay to attack someone else because of a traditional bias, bad actors, social issues effect you than you are, quite simply, part of the problem.

You aren't going to change the world by attacking other human beings. Nobody responds well to the proverbial (or literal) punch to the face.

This doesn't mean you accept bad behavior, or people who's opinions (or actions) are destructive. IT does mean, however, that you- as an individual- have to behave in a way that is almost entirely consistent with the values that you claim to hold. Integrity is, without a doubt, a far better measure of a human being than any spoken, written, or followed ethical/moral code.

TL;DR: Be Excellent To Each Other. Treat people like people and *be consistent* in the application of your chosen morality. Being a member of a minority does *not* give you a right to be a douchebag.

@Demo318 Mazel Tov!

I have been asked to keep things short with a Content Warning. I apologize in advance, I won't be doing that here:

I am exceedingly upset that @wilw has more or less been chased off Mastodon.

He absolutely doesn't deserve to be treated badly, to be maligned, or abused. This admin who's banning Mr. Wheaton because of the actions of OTHER PEOPLE is, quite frankly, a total hashtag. I'm going to use Hashtag here as an insult, because honestly I can't think of anything else without swearing loudly.

I don't know the full story. I don't want to know the full story- because some dude, and it *doesn't matter who said dude is* just got bullied and harassed right off of a social network by toxic, garbage people.

And do not for a moment think that you are not garbage people, those who did this. You are. You are garbage. Rationalize your behavior however you want, but at the end of the day? You are a dumpster fire of a human being and you need to look at yourself good and close and do something about it because I don't want your toxicity poisoning the well any further.

@wilw
I can't speak for @freemo personally, but I feel pretty confident in saying you would absolutely be welcome at #qoto.

https://qoto.org/media/KYEJcgBMsxOJWXKvj_c

@thomasfuchs https://i.imgur.com/4RCYAMi.png?1
Poorly Drawn Lines sums it up well, I think.

@sara I enjoyed a very nice Shawarma.

@mooselwhipes Most of the people who came into my casino were legitimately looking to have a good time. They enjoyed gambling as a hobby.

A small percentage of those people were addicted to gambling. Those who informed us of their addiction were immediately blacklisted from the casino permanently. Addicts are ultimately bad for business within the online casino industry. Many legit casinos are able to take credit cards and Addicts represent a major fraud danger.

As for me, personally? I had fun in that job. The customers are fun. The people I worked with were nice, mostly. Most importantly, it allowed me to pay my rent and buy food. I never had any kind of moral issue with offering people games to play for the potential about winning money.

The gambling industry is very upfront about what it is, and online casinos doubly so due to the way customers in internet business are really happy to shout scam with very little proof.

Real gamblers know they'll lose. Most rational people walking into a casino understand that- this is a game, and your chances of winning are far less than your chances of losing.

It wouldn't be fun any other way for them.

@pkok @absolutus @freemo Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is one of my favorite movies of all time. I highly recommend it. Stupid and funny in the best ways.

@pkok @absolutus @freemo You are forgetting something: https://youtu.be/S67sDHdhpio

@SecondJon You're welcome! :D