I think you are giving her explanation and apology a bit more credit than they deserve. If it had ended at #72, that would have been one thing.

I am not beating anyone– I would hope someone as active on SM and aware as you are could sympathize with the challenges of running this site. The last thing I need is for some new-to-SM person to come in, see her accusation of arbitrary banning and get the wrong impression about a project we have spent years creating.

Further meta-commentary will be deleted. We are adding no value to this thread by discussing my decisions. You are right, there is probably a misunderstanding, but please move on and discuss the airline, address relevant points or be understanding when this thread is closed.

As a moderator, I take accusations that we deleted or banned someone– which we only do when necessary– very seriously. It’s a little more than just “unfair” to level them.

As a moderator, I also take a dim view of people who attack bloggers.

Finally, as a moderator, I have neither the time nor inclination to get in a debate with you, so if you continue to feel persecuted on behalf of Priya, we’ll have to agree to disagree; there is no witch hunt and you are doing the discussion a disservice by imagining one or alleging that “others” think so. I think you are otherwise modeling excellent behavior and making your points well. I hope you continue to do so, since it helps with the moderating. Now we can move on or I can close the thread, which would solve a lot of problems, since it eliminates the possibility of witch hunts or anything else.

You’ll have to point out the civility in that statement – I enjoy the fact that I’m now privy to frank and thoughtful discussions, but I’m not sure why it hasn’t been extended to her – it seems like Priya can’t make one minor misstep without someone jumping all over her. As a moderator, I really think that you need to remain completely impartial even in the face of what may seem like unfair accusations.

This all smells of witch hunt, and I’m really not the only person who thinks so.

Nope. Nothing you wrote was “banned”, though I think you actually mean “deleted”. Either way, nothing was done to your responses. Creepy, eh? Our allergy to flaming has nothing to do with being an American blog, and everything to do with being civil. To be frank.

Others who are “on the opposite side” of MuraliMannered or whoever you think is winning or being favored have rejoined the discussion and done so thoughtfully, which is a welcome development. If you don’t want to exercise the effort, spare us baseless allegations and excuses.

“Even middle Eastern Americans (I know enough of them to form statistically significant numbers) are very leery of openly supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. What they do in their dinning table does not go beyond family chatting?”

And I was beginning to think it was the company I was keeping..

Nothing beats conceding and having it thrown back in your face. I believe my last response was banned yesterday even though there wasn’t much in it and I was keeping it light: I’m finding some of you quite creepy to be frank. So well done, Muralimannered, this really isn’t to my taste. I’ll stick to radio news…personal testimonies are fine when they suit you, being shrill and emotional is fine when it suits you…to me a spade’s a spade, I responded to something I found offensive, so did others, I responded to some personal attacks, I corrected myself and apologized where it was due and then this. I won’t dwell on it too much, this is an American Desi blog and you surely don’t represent me…so ciao

Cicatrix, I am really sorry for getting personal. Alex, thank you.

This was the case in Canada as well, but the number of complaints has steadily decreased over the years and I haven’t really heard anything about it in a very long time.

Yes, but Canada and EU will do nothing.

Well, I think the Arar case as well as the case involving the tamil students accused of purchasing weapons disproves that. You’re right though, there is still a drastic difference between living here and the States in that we really don’t have a fear of expression, but at the same time, Canada does have a right-wing government in power right now.

Anna and Murali, I think you’re both unfairly harsh on Priya. I’ll get this out of the way now, I’m no knight in shining armour – hopefully you can ascertain from my comments that all I’m trying to do is remain objective. Priya’s conceded on many points and I think you’re taking her comments out of context. Murali, I know you weren’t the first to put out your backstory, but is there a difference between identity-politics and the aforementioned “authentication”? Like I said, in a discussion like this, especially one that for some reason keep degenerating into personal attacks, familial histories tend to do more harm than good. If we were all to put the verbal guns and knives away, I can see how it would be benefical, but that’s up to you guys.

Back to the heart of the matter – I didn’t intentionally leave out Glen Waverly but I don’t know much about it so maybe you can help me out with this – the reason I bring up Hounslow and Scaborough isn’t that they’re Tamil neighbourhoods, but these are the areas that refugees located to when they first came to the country. I mentioned Cabbagetown, and that was the area in Toronto that initially took the wave of Tamil refugees. There’s other areas around the city – Lansdowne Co-op and the like. Do you think there’s an economic line dividing this then? Is it because most of people who came to Canada/UK initially lived in poverty/social assistance and had to work their way out of it, whereas most Americans came much more prepared. I’m not trying to make a blanket statement, but is there any truth to this generalization?

On a lighter note, are there really any Americans that say “boxing his ears” and “bloody good tea”?

Well in the US, the fear of government retribution for the exercise of free speech is somewhat understandable. I always felt like Sl Tam diaspora populations felt more of an existential threat from Tiger supporters abroad, than nosy government agents.

I have heard stories about SL Tams in Scandinavia, avoiding other SL Tams in public places for fear of getting involved in any kind of relationship with a Tiger supporter/fund-raiser/recruiter. The only time I’ve see a substantiated episode is when a family friend was offered a free ride at a Cal Uni if he agreed to help out the Tigers with logistics afterwards.

Yes, but Canada and EU will do nothing.

However, in US, they might (after 9/ 11), if an extra zealous FBI officer notices you even “soap box” seemingly harmless oratory, citizen or not. Especially, if it links to Middle Eastern outfits.

One example amongst 1000s: A high school girl in NYC got deported back to Bangladesh (she was in US since age 4, and was illegal, but usually nobody does anything to them), because she extolled the divinity in suicide on some internet chatrooms more out of teenage angst. An Middle Eastern origin FBI officer (herself an immigrant) went after her after following her chatting pattern on the internet for over a year as a potential suicide bomber. Last I read, a lot of people even in FBI think she acted too over zealous. There are 1000s more cases like that.

You’re leaving out Glen Waverly in Melbourne. But no, there is no equivalent neighborhood in the US. There are some spots (Houston comes to mind and northern Virginia/DC) where the population is significant enough to have rugby and cricket matches between former students of various schools (St. Thomas, etc.) in SL, but nothing like Hounslow, Scarborough or Glen Waverly (which is just a giant suburb–not really a mixed commercial/residential area).

and no Alex, I don’t pull the identity-politics card. I wasn’t even the first to identify the fact that I was an SL Tam.