Racist comments will not be allowed to contaminate the Turner Report

In the past, I have done my best to open the comments section of the Turner Report to any comment that came along. Discussion of the things that are happening around us is healthy and the number of comments on a blog are a good sign of that blog's health.

Originally, I did not have comment moderation on the blog and for a long while it worked until some comments came along that simply could not be tolerated.

Many of these were spam messages offering no real comment on the post or comments that immediately revealed the post had not been read, but attempting to lure people to other websites.

Others were people who wanted to show off how clever they were by sprinkling their comments with vile obscenities.

Then there were the ones that wanted to spread lies- sometimes about the people I had been writing about, sometimes about me.

To keep those from appearing on the blog for even a few seconds, I enabled comment moderation, meaning I had to approve any comment before it appears on the blog.

That does not mean I am deleting comments from people who disagree with something I have written and express it in civil language. Discussion is important to any blog.

Since that time, I have had a few people who keep trying to send messages that do not belong any place in polite society.

I have immediately deleted the worst of these comments, but often these people, one in particular, have tried to tone down, then add one racially-tinged comment, then gradually build on that.

One commenter, you may remember, thought it was cute to add the suffix "tard" after everything, until I said that would no longer be accepted.

This same commenter seems to have problems with African Americans, Latinos, classroom teachers of all races, and anyone else who doesn't meet with his narrow idea of what is good and right in the world.

This commenter's mind went into overdrive Sunday when I printed the Facebook message written by my former South Middle School student Jacobo Oviedo relating an encounter he had at a Wal-Mart in Lee's Summit.

At this point, that post has 28 comments that have been printed.

Some of the comments have not been printed and will never be printed. This one will not be printed on the Jacobo Oviedo post, but I will print it here to give you an idea of what I am writing about.

A person who signed his comment "Turner the Anti-White Racist" left the following comment.

The conceit shown is that anyone who wishes to keep this nation only for the People who made it rich and prosperous are of course "racist" to wish to pass it down to children who are racially like them.

One can argue the point with these lying imbeciles but the default shall be when the Empire breaks apart and there isn't anything over bare sustenance left for whites. When there isn't anything left over to support these brown invading whordes, then those like Turner will whine about how there isn't anything left for them, much less for Turner to give to these invaders who have taken down roots.

I don't have a bit of doubt as to White survival. All we have to do is . . . nothing and wait for the food stamps and welfare payments and health care to disappear and so too will the surplus population . . . starting with Turner and liberals when the muds get hungry and restive.

Like most evildoers, Turner claims to mean well while doing evil. Can't tell him anything.

When I rejected this comment, I received another comment from the same person that dropped even the slightest pretense of civility.. I deleted it immediately.

As you can tell from the 28 comments to the Jacob Oviedo post, I encourage a frank discussion and unfortunately, sometimes people feel they can't make a point without hurling an insult. While I would prefer they did not do that, I can tolerate that to a certain extent.

What I cannot tolerate is a commenter who is so filled with loathing that he contaminates all he touches.

What I cannot tolerate is a commenter whose very presence dilutes the quality of this blog and provides a tangible insult to me and to many of my readers.

This is not a First Amendment issue, as some Turner Report critics always claim when I take a stance like this. The First Amendment, as most of the people who read this blog are fully aware, says the government cannot do anything to infringe upon the freedom of expression.

I am definitely not the government.

I am one who is grateful to live in a country where someone who has a point of view, whether it be the president of the United States or a lowly blogger in Joplin, Missouri, can express that point of view, even if it is not shared by many people.

The First Amendment also applies to the commenter I have been writing about, but he will have to exercise his freedom elsewhere.

Unfortunately, I am certain there are places, not hidden in the shadows as they once were, where he can find people who share his views and share his contempt of anyone who does not look, sound or think the way he does- people who share his belief that these people- these African Americans, these Hispanics, these liberals, these classroom teachers who have so greatly challenged his self-esteem, are taking away everything that rightfully belongs to him.

That type of poison always finds another venue to contaminate.

From this point on, that venue will not be the Turner Report.