The mutual back-slapping “if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything” forum culture creates a very warm and lovely rose-tinted world. However, I feel it has a very negative side. It inflates egos, allows myths to be perpetuated, creates false prophets, risks unsafe examples being emulated without caveats and encourages complacency. For this reason and the censorship in other groups, I started Esinem’s Kinbaku Group to reflect a concept that appears alien to some moderators: Free speech. This is something that my country lacks as a constitutional right, although some countries have it, yet waste it.
Do we need even our worst work welcomed with coos of adoration like a mother being shown her child’s first drawings? I honestly think we have grown beyond that and benefit more from honest peer review. Look at the talentless idiots who become the laughing stock of the nation because nobody had the honesty to tell them. Maybe if their weaknesses had been identified, they could have addressed them? On a more serious note, if poor examples are praised without anyone pointing out their shortcomings, the inexperienced are likely to follow with possibly tragic results. The greater ones standing, the greater the responsibility. I believe that those of us who educate take the biggest responsibility, myself very much included. I am aware that I am a still learning, as are my teachers who mostly study with higher authorities. Like everyone else, I’m not perfect. I make mistakes. Humans are fallible. The most important thing is to appreciate that this applies to all of us, it even applies to the rope gods. I would be very surprised if Nureki, Yukimura or Akechi ever claimed to be perfect. Indeed, there was a time when none of them could tie their own shoelaces unaided, admittedly a very long time ago 🙂 I also doubt their was ever a bakushi worthy of the name that said “Well, it’s done! I know everything there is to know about kinbaku”.
I am sick of moderators closing threads because people get heated. So what? Sticks and stones might break our bones but words can never harm us! Different or controversial ideas have always caused strong emotions. How many ideas we accept as normal today caused their proponents to be ridiculed, imprisoned or executed as heretics? Do we really need mummy watching over us and jumping in if somebody is rude to their little darling? I think we are adults. Let’s have an atmosphere more like a bar-room than a church. Somewhere we can tell a few home truths or blow off some steam but walk out the best of mates after a couple of cold beers have cooled tempers. What I hate most of all are moderators who use censorship to hide their ignorance, i.e. they will close a thread or ban somebody who asks an awkward question using some spurious excuse. This seems to be routine these days. Banning and censorship never seems to be a democratic decision being more often a unilateral dictatorial decision. I plan on only banning on a vote. This is either revolutionary or extremely foolish. We shall see if this is democracy or lynch mob in action 🙂
If you want an honest opinion, this is a group for you. If you want just adoration, you might get your fingers burned. This is a bullshit free zone, be warned 🙂