Sean B. writes: Do you really not know the answer? Ok, I will answer your question honestly, and accurately: Many people used to say and write "I hate the fucking Jews. Kill the Jews". Then some people did kill Jews. Many people used to say and write "I hate the fucking niggers. Kill the niggers". Then some people did kill blacks. Many people used to say and write "I hate the fucking queers. Kill the quuers". Then some people did kill homosexuals. Just read the newspapers, and you will see stories of homosexuals being beaten, assaulted, and even murdered, all the time. The same is true for Jews; attacks on Jews all across the world are on the rise. Synagogues are being burned, Jews are being beaten in the streets, houses are being covered in Nazi swastikas, etc. This is not theoretical; this is real. (Even in my hometown a synagogue was torched.) In the real world, repeated hateful words often lead to violent actions. Anyone who claims otherwise is a poor liar. The way that Wheeler is attacking SLR is a violation of SLR's civil rights, and is anti-Semitic in of itself. The way that Ray is pushing JewWatch neo-Nazi arguments to slander all Jews is also wrong. Both Wheeler's and Ray's exact arguments, common on Nazi websites, have as their goal the advocacy of discrimination towards Jews. The question is this: Should we allow Wikipedia to deviate from its original goal (working on a factual, NPOV encyclopedia)? Should we allow Wikipedia to become a safe haven for racist hatespeech? In the past, such speech was not tolerated at all, and was reason enough for a ban. Back when Jimbo and Larry were mostly in charge, hatespeech was off limits. But in the last year hatespeech seems to have become acceptable, and those who use it have been rewarded, while victims of it are attacked. This is a sad turn of events, and will cause Wikipedia's repuation to suffer terribly. Already many academics I know view Wikipedia as hopeless; but if this phenomenon spreads its reputation will be hopelessly tarnished. It doesn't matter if the hatespeech is towards Jews, blacks, homosexuals, Muslims, or anyone else. It has no place in an encyclopedia project, let alone in a society where we claim to respect human life. Robert __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail