I'm curious. Twas blatant racism in that last post...
Yes, it was racism, but c'mon. Look at the circumstances.
Here's a 17 year old kid who obviously believes very strongly in his religion. And he's trying to argue with basically the entire forum about it, whilst obviously not armed very well to do so. He has some of the biggest names of the forum telling him how wrong he is and attacking him from all sides, including several mods. Meanwhile, he's trying to keep up with the 5-7 different people who are doing so, and has been trying to keep up nearly all day long. At some point, you know he gets frustrated, and considering the vast amount of posting he has done in the thread (his last post, which was deleted, was his 100th post in the thread) after all while not only does he get frustrated, he gets tired of arguing about something he obviously isn't well equipped to argue about. But, it's something he believes very deeply in and doesn't want to let it go.
Finally, as far as his racism statement goes, yes it was racism. But it wasn't catastrophic racism. I've seen far worse statements regarding Muslims. Should he have said it? No. Should he be infracted for it? Certainly. Temp ban, maybe Prison. Fine. But, considering he was getting attacked on all sides for HIS opinion, I'd say his comment was fairly tame in relation to what he COULD have posted. In all honesty, I would bet dollars to donuts he wouldn't even consider that statement to be racist. After all, it is VERY highly possible he was referring to the Muslim religion itself, and not specific people, at which point it's not racist as much as it is an argument against another religion...which is what this whole thread turned into.
So, while he should certainly be punished for it, I don't think a permanent ban would the appropriate response. I think he got caught up in the intense debate about something he cares very deeply about, and just made a stupid mistake. I would even go so far as to argue there have been worse things said on these forums, regarding race, than what he said.
So, that's why I would say that a permanent ban wouldn't be appropriate. Give him his week ban, put him in the Prison for a while, and then if he shows reform, let him back amongst the general population.
