racism in Yahoo Answers?

Question

I've noticed that most of the questions posted are hateful, offensive, and degrading. Why? You all know that are certain people who post numerous racist questions. Why do they do this? What can we do besides report them? Where should we draw the line as far as Free Speech goes?

for those who want to post 'facts':
what cities were includied in the studies, major cities or smalls towns too?
don't just give me statistics, give me examples, give me proof, then we'll talk.

Answer 1

You noticed eh. We have and it wont go away.

Answer 2

I'm new here, Cutie, and because I realized I get points for answering questions, I figured I might as well start collecting! I love winning things!

I have not yet noticed any hateful situation on here, though I don't doubt the presence of your observation. I have witnessed this on other online boards, and if I started exploring the various posts on Yahoo, I would probably see the same.

I think the best and immediate thing to do is to calmly ignore racist or radical-type posts. Why add fuel to the fire? If everyone ignores the post, they'll stand out as the loose cannon that they are without having to read through pages of rebuttal, etc. If you feel courageous, however, you could try to appeal to the poster. You could attempt to engage them in a friendly, objective exchange; but I think the main reason why racists posts occur to begin with, is that people are just using posts as a vent, as a release. A lot of these people would never in a million years say what they're writing; and to a degree, they may not even mean half of what they write.

The reason why I think this is that, I myself resort to long writings and ventings when I feel like I have no one to talk to. The interenet is an introverts best friend. Some posters do not have the ability to carry on a conversation in person due to shyness or general lack of social skills. Therefore, when they have a podium provided to them through the means of tthese posts, they completely let loose. They go wild. They're frustrated with their lives for many different reasons, on many different levels--and this is their means to release their wrath.

I'd let them say what they have to say; and then as diplomatically as possible, ask well-crafted questions to guide them to the root of the problem. If they say, "I hate purple monsters because they think they're better than the rest", innocently ask, "how so?" "when have you witnessed this?" "do you think it might be because of...?" But let them be the responder. Through a dialogue, one might be able to break down these barriers, maybe...

Hopefully I haven't ranted too much Cutie, but I just wanted to give you my insight!

Answer 3

Yahoo Q & A draws the line and many in the community do as well. Unfortunately, it's not fair that some people are penalized for speaking their mind and others who are flat out hateful and offensive continue to come back. What can we do? Nothing because racism is not easy to abolish.

Answer 4

I feel you! Why are people allowed to leave offensive and ignorant questions on a website that's supposed to be for educational and informational purposes? I really don't understand how yahoo can let this happen on their website. Some of these questions use inapporpriate language and nothing is done to stop them. Perhaps we should create some sort of petition and give it to Yahoo. I'm not really sure what else. Reporting or flagging a question is obviosly not working.

Answer 5

As far as free speech goes, expressing hate is allowed. I don't like it but it is necessary for the good of all.

Reporting and ignoring are good things to do. Whereas it may seem like a lot of people express racist feelings, it really is a small minority.

Answer 6

I have noticed also. I put a value on my time and if I determine that someone is just trying to yank someone's chain, I make my chain unavailable. On the other hand, if I sense that an asker is posing a question about the racism around them, I treat it like any other question.

Answer 7

Yeah, its small minded and over the top. On the positive note, we can agree that if someone has a low enough life that they have to spend their time posting racism..... they probably aren't successful anywhere else in their lives. They are just low lives...

Answer 8

I think most people have a little bit of racism in them, rather it's against whites, blacks, hispanics, etc. I think most times the person is trying to get out that they were insulted by that race and wants people to know...although, I don't know exactly what comments were made.

Answer 9

It would consume you to go into the time it takes to resolve this. It's not only racism that is offensive, but christians too have valid issues .

Answer 10

Just ignore them, they are looking for a rise out of anyone thats offended. As long as you are proud of who you are...who cares what anyone says. Call me cracker,call me white trash,call me anything you want...who cares. I am proud of who I am and noone will tell me otherwise, you be proud of who you are too and ignore those ignorant fools. If noone answers their assanine questions, they will stop asking sooner or later.

Answer 11

I dont know what to do about it, but i know that they post cause here cause they can be anonymous. They can't spread their hate in public without getting their butt beat and hated by their communities.