Should the "Are the swiss racist?" thread be closed?

Yokine · #1 27.02.2008, 17:21

English Forum's most famous, replied and read thread "Are the swiss racist?" is soon to reach 2000 replies. Do you think it has outlived its welcome and be closed, retired, euthanised etc? Or do you think it has much more to give, 18 months and 1943 replies have only scratched the surface?

gooner · #2 27.02.2008, 17:24

	Quote:	Yokine
	English Forum's most famous, replied and read thread "Are the swiss racist?" is soon to reach 2000 replies. Do you think it has outlived its welcome and be closed, retired, euthanised etc? Or do you think it has much more to give, 18 months and 1943 replies have only scratched the surface?

This has been debated. Is it case of better the devil you know? If we close it, someone will open a new one, and so we go round and round. If we close it and ban discussions on racism, that would most certainly be rule of the draconian variety.

So we know where it is, we know who tends to crawl and slop about in the quagmire morass of trite that it is.

rhythmical remedy · #3 27.02.2008, 17:29

I think it should be kept open but the title changed to "Racism".

#4 27.02.2008, 17:31

	Quote:	rhythmical remedy
	I think it should be kept open but the title changed to "Racism".

I'll second changing the title.

Sutter · #5 27.02.2008, 17:32

	Quote:	Nev
	I'll second changing the title.

Me too good idea R R

#6 27.02.2008, 17:37

Its the most popular thread on the forum, and that thread alone attracts a lot of people to ef...whether that is a good thing or not is another issue...

I've stop reading it as it goes round in circles. You can summarise it into two points :

1. "People in Switzerland are racist <insert experience here>"
2. "there are racist people everywhere not just here and they are a minority."

dave

AbFab · #7 27.02.2008, 18:01

	Quote:	rhythmical remedy
	I think it should be kept open but the title changed to "Racism".

Why? It's too long to read as a specifically Swiss related thread. As "racism" it has no link to Switzerland and so will be totally off topic for EF and likely to attract endless pages of gripes and fill bandwidth and database with essentially unwanted material...

Lob · #8 27.02.2008, 18:04

This is a forum about Switzerland - in particular, foreigners in Switzerland.

Should the thread be closed? Nope. Should any content not explicitly related to the thread, bordering on bickering and personal insult and so-on be deleted? Yes.

To be honest, I shudder when I see it bumped. But closing it for me gives a negative sign to all.

Woodsie · #9 27.02.2008, 18:09

	Quote:	Lob
	This is a forum about Switzerland - in particular, foreigners in Switzerland. Should the thread be closed? Nope. Should any content not explicitly related to the thread, bordering on bickering and personal insult and so-on be deleted? Yes. To be honest, I shudder when I see it bumped. But closing it for me gives a negative sign to all.

But who in their right mind wants to go through all 2000 posts and tidy it up?

Lob · #10 27.02.2008, 18:11

	Quote:	Woodsie
	But who in their right mind wants to go through all 2000 posts and tidy it up?

Believe me, we've all tried. But recently, if it has not been exactly on-topic, it's been chopped.

#11 27.02.2008, 18:12

Why bother ? This is a forum not an reference database. This question has arisen several times recently. If someone wants to organise the data then I presume they have a lot of time and motivation (commercial I suspect) to do it....

dave

	Quote:	Woodsie
	But who in their right mind wants to go through all 2000 posts and tidy it up?

rhythmical remedy · #12 27.02.2008, 18:14

	Quote:	AbFab
	Why? It's too long to read as a specifically Swiss related thread. As "racism" it has no link to Switzerland and so will be totally off topic for EF and likely to attract endless pages of gripes and fill bandwidth and database with essentially unwanted material...

Racism is racism. Things discussed on that thread are not purely specific to Switzerland even though the original title was. Some deep discussion took place on that thread. There are 20%+ foreigners in Switzerland from all over the world. As I have said before Racism in Switzerland cannot be discussed inside a sealed container. We live in a global world so there will be crossover and Swiss racism will definitely be compared with racism in other countries. I personally don't care if the thread gets deleted or closed. A question was asked on this thread and I just gave my opinion

Woodsie · #13 27.02.2008, 18:16

Now we just need to work on getting this thread as out of control and off topic as the thread it is trying to close.

Anybody who is trying to get the thread closed is a good for nothing bunny rabbit hater!!!!!

Javo · #14 27.02.2008, 18:20

I think it should be archived and a new thread should be allowed to be started.

the fact that there are so many replies to it, obvious indicates the importance of RACISM in Switzerland. As much as it is negative, the worst thing is the people that ignore it !!! Rather it should be used as a tool to understand racism and views on it, to better understand how to fix the problem...

J_T · #15 27.02.2008, 18:29

...ummm, I think most of the thread is about racism and ocassionally gets around to Switzerland, but then misses and therefore goes on.

Lob · #16 27.02.2008, 18:35

	Quote:	J_T
	...ummm, I think most of the thread is about racism and ocassionally gets around to Switzerland, but then misses and therefore goes on.

the problem is that there is a core number of posters who solely post on that thread and have subscription enabled so that when something is posted, they appear and have to post.

Closing it and making a new one will.....by some miracle.....mean that nobody reads the old one (not that they read it now but they realise it is long in the tooth) and we'll see the same old, same old.

To be honest, it goes on because every mod will cringe when they see a new reply. I challenge anyone to deny that!

rhythmical remedy · #17 27.02.2008, 18:57

You know what is really sad???? That we all are having a meaningless debate online about whether a thread should be closed or not when we should be having fun with our loved ones and getting on with important things in life.

So I am out. Hope you guys come to the right conclusion as the future of planet Earth depends on this thread

I am out with my wife to bust some moves and do less important things

J_T · #18 27.02.2008, 19:08

I've lived in Switzerland for a long time and would say that perhaps the Swiss have their own configuration of prejudices, as every nation and ethnic group do, questioning whether they are racist as a nation per se is both improper and an insult. If the Swiss were racists, you'd find the thread full of rabid, frothing at the mouth indignation and violent threats, as you might see in some other nation(s) we won't mention. Seeing as that is not the case, I'd say at most you could call the Swiss prejudiced at times and in their own way, but relatively tolerant, even if sometimes grim lipped.

That said, I think having that thread with it's title continuing to bobble back to the surface time and again is an affront to our hosts and Swiss friends, wives, girl friends, families, employers, etc., and certainly unfair. If people want to vent some pet peeve, then let them do it in their own personal thread for which they take responsiblility and keep it specific, but not hold some self-righteous World Court as if they were entitled to judgement, retribution and damages, especially where the Swiss are not fairly represented. 2 centavos.

jacek · #19 27.02.2008, 19:33

If you think there's a probelm which myself personally witnessed (but not suffered any predicament whatsoever)... but there might still be some people for whom it serves as a source of any advise and information and perhaps it's worthwhile as with any link to add (whomever might be concerned)... Also think about it from perspective of time... how did the problem looked like years ago and to what extent it still transpires through the sociate nowadays... yes some people might have integrated or assimilated with the sociaty as they have lived here for many years... but there might be also newcomers from different ethnic groups for whom it might serve as guideline ... what one might experience when moving to Suisse

jacek · #20 27.02.2008, 19:45

it shouldnt be taken as accusation of any society... in this case Swiss... title is a little bit mind boggling and not diplomatic... but yes if there is a problem let the people speak on this forum for themselves (or if there isnt a problem might as well)... the fact that there was such link opened with debate going on... in my opinion it speaks for itself... otherwise why bother?