timvp
08-10-2007, 11:50 AM
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our forum.
Five score years ago, some great Spurs fans, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, helped create this forum. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to hundreds of Spurs fans who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice at the hands of the other forum. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the captivity at the hands of those who were not worthy of our time.
But five years later, the SpursTalk.com poster is no longer free. Five years later, the life of the poster is still sadly crippled by the lack of common decency rampant in these parts. Five years later, the posters live on a lonely island of personal attacks in a vast ocean of vulgarity. Five years later, the poster is languished in the corners of the forum hiding his or her true identity as to not be insulted by someone who they have never met. So I have come here today to change this shameful condition.
In a sense I've come to cash a check. When the architects of our founding mothers and fathers wrote the magnificent words of the Revolution and the Declaration of Freedom, they were signing a promissory note to which every poster was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, fat men and well as ugly men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the right to common courtesy.
It is obvious today that the forum has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as the lack of decency is concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, the forum has given the posters a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But I refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. I refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this this forum. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind the forum of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of private messaging or to take the tranquilizing drug of an unplugged internet.
Now is the time to make real the promises of decency and respect. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of vulgarity to the sunlit path of justice for all posters. Now is the time to lift our forum from the quicksands of uncalled for personal attacks to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of SpursTalk.com's posters.
It would be fatal for the forum to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the posters' legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Two thousand and seven is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that I needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the forum returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in the forum until posters are granted his and her rights to common decency. The whirlwinds of justice will continue to shake the foundations of our forum until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our movement to degenerate into mass bannings. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting unnecessary vulgarity with a path to enlightenment.
The new defensiveness which has engulfed our community must not lead us to a distrust of all trolls, for many of our trolls, as evidenced by their agreement in my stance, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of the rights to common decency, "When will you be satisfied?"
We can never be satisfied as long as the Spurs fan is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of unnecessary personal insults.
We can never be satisfied as long as our fingers, heavy with the fatigue of posting, are used to wipe away tears brought on by an unnecessary insult.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Spurs fan's basic mobility is from a mild insult to a deeper cutting one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our fellow posters are stripped of their dignity and robbed of their ability to post personal information without the fear of forthcoming unnecessary and viscous personal insults.
We cannot be satisfied as long as a poster in the club cannot post a plea for help and a poster in the Spurs forum believes he can't go to a GTG because of the personal attacks which will follow the posting of the pictures.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from being banned elsewhere. Some of you have come from forums where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of moderator brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. However, the freedom in which you were granted on this forum does not give you carte blanche to act however it is you wish to act.
Go back to the Spurs forum, go back to the Club, go back to the Political Forum, go back to NBA Forum, go back to the College Sports Forum, go back to the forums of the other teams who have places to discuss their team here, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this forum will rise up and live out the true meaning of the American creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all posters are created equal."
I have a dream that one day in a thread in the Club the sons of former indecent posters and the sons of former wrongly insulted posters will be able to post together as one brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the Troll forum, a forum sweltering with uncalled for vulgarity, sweltering with the heat of personal insults, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and trolling.
I have a dream that all the posters of SpursTalk.com will one day live in a forum where they will not be judged by their GTG pic but by the content of their posts.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in the Political forum, with its vicious extremists, that one day right down in the Political forum, little Republican boys and Republican girls will be able to join hands with little Democratic boys and Democratic sisters.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every thread shall be cleansed, every insult and needless vulgarity-ridden posts shall be no more, the rough threads will remain humane, and the bashfests will be made civilized, and the glory of the freedom shall be revealed, and all posters shall see it together.
This is my hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the forum with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our forum into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to post together, to laugh together, to mourn together, to celebrate together, to stand up and cheer together, knowing that we will be free from personal insults on the forum in which we all built.
This will be the day when all of the posters on the forum will be able to type with new meaning, "My forum 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, on thee I post. Land where my inhibitions died, land of the Spurs' pride, from every thread inside, let freedom ring."
And if SpursTalk is to be a great forum, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the powerful laptops of the knowledgeable posters in the Spurs forum. Let freedom ring from the mighty computers of Argentina. Let freedom ring from France and fans of basketball all around the globe.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped mountains of Slovenia. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of whichever poster wishes to post her picture. But not only that; let freedom ring from the trolls in the Troll forum. Let freedom ring from those who inhabit this forum I post this message.
Let freedom ring from every sentence in this fine message board. From every emoticon, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every thread and every post, from every argument and every celebration, we will be able to speed up that day when all of SpursTalk.com's posters, fat men and ugly men, super models and millionaires, virgins and playas, will be able to join hands and sing: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank timvp Almighty, we are free at last!"
Five score years ago, some great Spurs fans, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, helped create this forum. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to hundreds of Spurs fans who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice at the hands of the other forum. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the captivity at the hands of those who were not worthy of our time.
But five years later, the SpursTalk.com poster is no longer free. Five years later, the life of the poster is still sadly crippled by the lack of common decency rampant in these parts. Five years later, the posters live on a lonely island of personal attacks in a vast ocean of vulgarity. Five years later, the poster is languished in the corners of the forum hiding his or her true identity as to not be insulted by someone who they have never met. So I have come here today to change this shameful condition.
In a sense I've come to cash a check. When the architects of our founding mothers and fathers wrote the magnificent words of the Revolution and the Declaration of Freedom, they were signing a promissory note to which every poster was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes, fat men and well as ugly men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the right to common courtesy.
It is obvious today that the forum has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as the lack of decency is concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, the forum has given the posters a bad check; a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But I refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. I refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this this forum. So we have come to cash this check- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind the forum of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of private messaging or to take the tranquilizing drug of an unplugged internet.
Now is the time to make real the promises of decency and respect. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of vulgarity to the sunlit path of justice for all posters. Now is the time to lift our forum from the quicksands of uncalled for personal attacks to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of SpursTalk.com's posters.
It would be fatal for the forum to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the posters' legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Two thousand and seven is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that I needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the forum returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in the forum until posters are granted his and her rights to common decency. The whirlwinds of justice will continue to shake the foundations of our forum until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our movement to degenerate into mass bannings. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting unnecessary vulgarity with a path to enlightenment.
The new defensiveness which has engulfed our community must not lead us to a distrust of all trolls, for many of our trolls, as evidenced by their agreement in my stance, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of the rights to common decency, "When will you be satisfied?"
We can never be satisfied as long as the Spurs fan is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of unnecessary personal insults.
We can never be satisfied as long as our fingers, heavy with the fatigue of posting, are used to wipe away tears brought on by an unnecessary insult.
We cannot be satisfied as long as the Spurs fan's basic mobility is from a mild insult to a deeper cutting one.
We can never be satisfied as long as our fellow posters are stripped of their dignity and robbed of their ability to post personal information without the fear of forthcoming unnecessary and viscous personal insults.
We cannot be satisfied as long as a poster in the club cannot post a plea for help and a poster in the Spurs forum believes he can't go to a GTG because of the personal attacks which will follow the posting of the pictures.
No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from being banned elsewhere. Some of you have come from forums where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of moderator brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. However, the freedom in which you were granted on this forum does not give you carte blanche to act however it is you wish to act.
Go back to the Spurs forum, go back to the Club, go back to the Political Forum, go back to NBA Forum, go back to the College Sports Forum, go back to the forums of the other teams who have places to discuss their team here, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this forum will rise up and live out the true meaning of the American creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all posters are created equal."
I have a dream that one day in a thread in the Club the sons of former indecent posters and the sons of former wrongly insulted posters will be able to post together as one brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the Troll forum, a forum sweltering with uncalled for vulgarity, sweltering with the heat of personal insults, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and trolling.
I have a dream that all the posters of SpursTalk.com will one day live in a forum where they will not be judged by their GTG pic but by the content of their posts.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day down in the Political forum, with its vicious extremists, that one day right down in the Political forum, little Republican boys and Republican girls will be able to join hands with little Democratic boys and Democratic sisters.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every thread shall be cleansed, every insult and needless vulgarity-ridden posts shall be no more, the rough threads will remain humane, and the bashfests will be made civilized, and the glory of the freedom shall be revealed, and all posters shall see it together.
This is my hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the forum with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our forum into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.
With this faith we will be able to post together, to laugh together, to mourn together, to celebrate together, to stand up and cheer together, knowing that we will be free from personal insults on the forum in which we all built.
This will be the day when all of the posters on the forum will be able to type with new meaning, "My forum 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, on thee I post. Land where my inhibitions died, land of the Spurs' pride, from every thread inside, let freedom ring."
And if SpursTalk is to be a great forum, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the powerful laptops of the knowledgeable posters in the Spurs forum. Let freedom ring from the mighty computers of Argentina. Let freedom ring from France and fans of basketball all around the globe.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped mountains of Slovenia. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of whichever poster wishes to post her picture. But not only that; let freedom ring from the trolls in the Troll forum. Let freedom ring from those who inhabit this forum I post this message.
Let freedom ring from every sentence in this fine message board. From every emoticon, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every thread and every post, from every argument and every celebration, we will be able to speed up that day when all of SpursTalk.com's posters, fat men and ugly men, super models and millionaires, virgins and playas, will be able to join hands and sing: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank timvp Almighty, we are free at last!"