I recently found myself getting extremely offended by the large amount of Stalin worshippers posting in a Frontroom thread. It offended me because men are known and judged by either their actions, their circustance, or their looks. (In Stalins case it certainly could not be the last two) When someone praises someone like Stalin, they praise his actions: The liquidation and torture of millions of people in small amount of time, the deprivation of basic human rate of hundreds of millions over the years, the abject disregard for human worth and exploitation of Eastern Europe. Praising such deeds (either directly or indirectly) is extremely offensive to anyone who DOES value life, and all the more so to someone who may have lost a relative to said butchery. I made the analogy to praising Hitler in the Frontroom thread. How do you think a second generation Slav, Jew, or any other victim of Hitler's tyrrany on this forum would feel about someone praising Hitler? Esp if a relative of theirs was killed by Nazis?
I know people have the freedom of speech, and I am a complete supporter of said freedom. There are things though that most people agree should not be tangled into everyday discussion, and we have a Backroom for them. Politics are among them. I think that the praising of butchers should be classified as Backroom material, and not allowed in the Frontroom. I am not talking about Ancient butchers of course, but the attrocities of recent dicators such as Stalin and Hitler are still very near to most peoples' hearts and is quite a sensitive issue.

Vuk