OPEN LETTER TO MUSCOOP MANAGEMENT - ELIMINATE THE POLITICS

[GooooMarquette]

This place is a hot mess for the most part. Incredibly intolerant and ready to call you a racist when your opinion does not line up.

Thank God for the [redacted so that it can only be seen by those with proper clearance].

FIFY

[brewcity77]

How do we determine what is politics?

Is it politics when Marquette's coach speaks out in favor of Black Lives Matter? Is it political to believe that black people should have the right to exist?

Is it politics when Marquette starting center Theo John says "We are about change. If you can't support us here. I ask you Please don't support us on the court."

Is it politics when a global pandemic kills more people in this country than any other country in the world and is leading to massive changes in how recruiting and the game itself are handled?

Is it politics when Dwayne Killings starts an assistant coaches organization to educate their student-athletes on voting?

Is this about politics, or just YOUR politics? When Wojo or Theo make statements, that is about Marquette basketball as much as it is politics. When a pandemic impacts how the sport itself is handled, that is about Marquette basketball as much as politics. When Big East assistants take the lead on education, scholarships, and how the programs in the league present themselves, that is about Marquette basketball as much as politics.

I appreciate how the moderators try to lessen the connections between sports and politics, but the simple reality is sports ARE political and always have been. Whether we are talking about Jim Thorpe, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the Miracle on Ice, Pat Tillman, Lebron James, or Colin Kaepernick, the two things are inextricably linked in American history. And that holds if it's Theo John, Koby McEwen, Steve Wojciechowski, or Dwayne Killings.

It feels like the issue is less politics and more that the politics embraced by Marquette at this moment don't match your own and you are uncomfortable with that.

[Jables1604]

To the owner operators of MUSCOOP


We come to you as a group of 11 long time posters begging you to clean up this site.  MUSCOOP has become unreadable despite messages from us to stop the constant politics that your site says no politics are allowed.  Politics appear to be encouraged.  We do not pretend to suggest your job is easy, but the last few months and especially the last few weeks have been the worst we have seen here and it is still June.  What happens here in October and November?  The same posters continue to violate your terms and pollute this board with their politics.  If you want to talk about politics, go to a political website or be consistent and tell us this in now a political site because the pinned message that says THIS IS A POLITICAL FREE ZONE is false advertising. 

It is ultimately your call and your site, but you are in danger of losing some valuable Marquette fans if they have not already left.  Please, for the final time, clean this site up and back up your cloains of a political free zone.



Who we are:
Dentists, lawyers, teachers, business people, law enforcement, IT, retired
Over 50,000 posts and 60 combined years of membership at MUSCOOP
Democrat, Republican, Independent.  Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian
From all parts of the United States
Marquette basketball fans


We have chosen to use a VPN to make this comment for one reason.  The attacks from one poster to another here has notched up to an unprecedented level.  Personal attacks.  None of the 11 of deserve to be attacked personally for asking you to enforce what your stated POLITICS FREE ZONE, but we know we will because of the nature of the membership here.  If the politics continue, you will notice the drop off and we will slip off into the night quietly to another site, or even create one of our own.

Snowflakes.

[avid1010]

How do we determine what is politics?

Is it politics when Marquette's coach speaks out in favor of Black Lives Matter? Is it political to believe that black people should have the right to exist?

Is it politics when Marquette starting center Theo John says "We are about change. If you can't support us here. I ask you Please don't support us on the court."

Is it politics when a global pandemic kills more people in this country than any other country in the world and is leading to massive changes in how recruiting and the game itself are handled?

Is it politics when Dwayne Killings starts an assistant coaches organization to educate their student-athletes on voting?

Is this about politics, or just YOUR politics? When Wojo or Theo make statements, that is about Marquette basketball as much as it is politics. When a pandemic impacts how the sport itself is handled, that is about Marquette basketball as much as politics. When Big East assistants take the lead on education, scholarships, and how the programs in the league present themselves, that is about Marquette basketball as much as politics.

I appreciate how the moderators try to lessen the connections between sports and politics, but the simple reality is sports ARE political and always have been. Whether we are talking about Jim Thorpe, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, the Miracle on Ice, Pat Tillman, Lebron James, or Colin Kaepernick, the two things are inextricably linked in American history. And that holds if it's Theo John, Koby McEwen, Steve Wojciechowski, or Dwayne Killings.

It feels like the issue is less politics and more that the politics embraced by Marquette at this moment don't match your own and you are uncomfortable with that.

Hey, Brew....shut up and dribble.   

[Uncle Rico]

Sports are inherently political, whether we want them to be or not.  I’ve said this in other threads, African-American athletes are beginning to understand their power.  Times are a-changing.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Who plundered their country more for personal profit Hillary Clinton or Ivan the Terrible??

[avid1010]

Sports are inherently political, whether we want them to be or not.  I’ve said this in other threads, African-American athletes are beginning to understand their power.  Times are a-changing.

Agreed...and the response has always been to shut them up.  Ali in jail, Kap out of the NFL, etc... 

The problem is you can't talk racism without talking politics.  Just this morning Trump tweets out a video with an old white guy decked out in Trump gear yelling "white power" and then deletes the tweet.  Is it relevant to the discussion Wojo, staff and players started about BLM?  Is it relevant to MU Jesuit beliefs?  Is it relevant to the multiple emails I've received from MU leadership?  Or we could just not talk about it...

[avid1010]

Who plundered their country more for personal profit Hillary Clinton or Ivan the Terrible??

Hillary is not an ethical person...and I voted for her knowing and admitting so.  Did she say things against BLM...a group our players and coaches are asking us to support? 

[avid1010]

Who plundered their country more for personal profit Hillary Clinton or Ivan the Terrible??

And because this is fun.  Hillary or Trump (Russia, China, etc.)?  Hillary or Andrew Jackson (Trail of tears)?  Hillary or Robert E. Lee (slavery)? 

[Lennys Tap]

How do we determine what is politics?

Is it politics when Marquette's coach speaks out in favor of Black Lives Matter? YES. Is it political to believe that black people should have the right to exist? NO.

Is it politics when Marquette starting center Theo John says "We are about change. If you can't support us here. I ask you Please don't support us on the court." YES.

Is it politics when a global pandemic kills more people in this country than any other country in the world and is leading to massive changes in how recruiting and the game itself are handled? NO.

Is it politics when Dwayne Killings starts an assistant coaches organization to educate their student-athletes on voting? YES.

Pretty obvious, no?

[Galway Eagle]

Can we take a moment to appreciate these 11 posters demanding that the 3 (4?) mods spend more of their personal time moderating this free board  so that they can make it to their liking?

I mean if it was a paid subscription or something sure

[wadesworld]

So would we be allowed to speak out about social injustice (kind of a MU/Jesuit thing)...especially related to our team and coaches?

They believe only communists and Marxists speak out about those subjects. 

[brewcity77]

Pretty obvious, no?

Apparently not, because I would say none of those are political. Certainly not in a party sense.

Supporting the BLM movement & believing black people have a right to exist is not political. Theo saying that supporting him as a human being & as a basketball player cannot be separated is not political. A pandemic changing the game is not political. Dwayne Killings encouraging his student athletes to engage in their civic duty is not political.

These are all humanist and civic issues, not political ones.

[duanewade]

It’s impossible to police hard core liberals as they don’t know how to stop or compartmentalize anything.  They have a brain disease and actually believe 50 years of the same policy failures that lower the bar while bankrupting cities and states are always the fault of someone else... and of course due to racism, sexism, or whatever new ism they come up with.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

It's pretty easy to avoid politics on Scoop IMHO. I haven't gone on the COVID board since the week it was created. I only look at a select few threads in the Superbar. I read most everything on the Hanging at the Al board and while there is a comment here or a comment there, most threads either stay politics free or are quickly locked and/or moved. And the ones that do get political are usually about a topic that is both political and about MU basketball.

I sometimes wade into quasi political threads when its a topic that interests me. Most of the time I simply avoid those threads. Sometimes I choose to read them but don't respond because I'm not interested in getting into it with a bunch of internet randos. It's not like these threads are hiding. You can usually tell from the title or the first post what it is about. I think the bigger issue is that some people don't have the willpower to not read these threads or to respond to them even when they don't want politics on Scoop.

I think the mods do a fine job here. They clearly would rather under-moderate than over-moderate which is the right way to go IMO. The most important thing is that they take on those who commit personal attacks which I think they've done well.

[Lennys Tap]

Apparently not, because I would say none of those are political. Certainly not in a party sense.

Supporting the BLM movement & believing black people have a right to exist is not political. Theo saying that supporting him as a human being & as a basketball player cannot be separated is not political. A pandemic changing the game is not political. Dwayne Killings encouraging his student athletes to engage in their civic duty is not political.

These are all humanist and civic issues, not political ones.

Well if you can’t see the difference between supporting a movement that is overtly and aggressively political and believing that “black people have the right to exist” any conversation would be pointless.

[tower912]

I do enjoy a good 'parler' trick.   

[Shooter McGavin]

Hopefully Covid allows CBB to be played this year.  That will help remove the political angle from the board a bit.   A winning team that can go far in the tournament will help even more. 

We all need something in common to rally around.  Everyone is agitated right now about real life problems and issues.  This board and MU basketball is supposed to be a respite from this.  Unfortunately that respite may not actually happen this year.  If it leads to the moderators saying the hell with this political BS and shutting down the site that would be a shame.  But I would understand.

Hopefully the season starts, the team wins a boat load of games and we are all one big happy family again.   Fingers crossed.

[MUCam]

The passive aggressive, thinly veiled threat of “leaving or starting our own board,” was all I needed to disregard the rest of the sanctimonious hogwash — even those parts that were based on truths with which I agree — from this anonymous elite group of 11.

Rubbish.

[withoutbias]

It’s impossible to police hard core liberals as they don’t know how to stop or compartmentalize anything.  They have a brain disease and actually believe 50 years of the same policy failures that lower the bar while bankrupting cities and states are always the fault of someone else... and of course due to racism, sexism, or whatever new ism they come up with.

Oh the irony of a Trump supporter talking about “libs” claiming everything that goes wrong is always someone else’s fault. Thank you for the laugh.

I think what we’ve learned from this thread is that if the meat eating lovers leave the thread nobody left behind will miss them. Adios, amigos.

[vogue65]

It’s impossible to police hard core liberals as they don’t know how to stop or compartmentalize anything.  They have a brain disease and actually believe 50 years of the same policy failures that lower the bar while bankrupting cities and states are always the fault of someone else... and of course due to racism, sexism, or whatever new ism they come up with.

This is the kind of agressive, insulting, hateful talk that is the problem.  It is uncivilized, angry, and politically immature.  Using "hard core", "brain disease", or name calling, and character assisination, is not advancing any discussion.  Emotions over intellect is the problem, not nonsecterian political dialog.   

It is more the tone of some postings that needs correcting.  I have no solution to the problem.  I find most posters to be very sincere and level headed, even those I disagree with on a particular topic. 

Then we have the zealots, I suppose they will always be with us.

Unfortunatly, some people are incapable of civil conversation, it is what it is.  Politics is a dirty business.

[vogue65]

You could just eliminate the Superbar.
Hangin' is informative, educational and makes a contribution, the Superbar can become mud wrestling.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Smart money would be on gr8one, but it was the Muggsy, probably one of the worst posters the internet has ever seen.

He’s the neurotic poster who starts like a dozen topics a day right?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

You could just eliminate the Superbar.
Hangin' is informative, educational and makes a contribution, the Superbar can become mud wrestling.

Says the guy who started an all caps off topic post earlier this week.

[jesmu84]

It's pretty easy to avoid politics on Scoop IMHO. I haven't gone on the COVID board since the week it was created. I only look at a select few threads in the Superbar. I read most everything on the Hanging at the Al board and while there is a comment here or a comment there, most threads either stay politics free or are quickly locked and/or moved. And the ones that do get political are usually about a topic that is both political and about MU basketball.

I sometimes wade into quasi political threads when its a topic that interests me. Most of the time I simply avoid those threads. Sometimes I choose to read them but don't respond because I'm not interested in getting into it with a bunch of internet randos. It's not like these threads are hiding. You can usually tell from the title or the first post what it is about. I think the bigger issue is that some people don't have the willpower to not read these threads or to respond to them even when they don't want politics on Scoop.

I think the mods do a fine job here. They clearly would rather under-moderate than over-moderate which is the right way to go IMO. The most important thing is that they take on those who commit personal attacks which I think they've done well.

Well said, TAMU