Appeal Against Unreasonable & Unjustified Warning

mathepac

I think the quickest way to post this is to show the pms between the mod and myself.

My main point is that the term "OAP" is ageist. The mod disputes this and says my term "elderly" is agesit and, as the pot in his eyes, I cannot call the kettle black.

I then list references from professional organisations, public and private, showing that far from being ageist, "elderly" is the professional and correct term to refer to the senior sections of our society.

The mod, with no justifiable reason, examples or references, rejects my contention and challenges me to post in DRP.

There is no reason given for not lifting the undeserved and improper warning and mid-stream in the pm interactions the mod switches horses and gives a different reason for issuing the warning. This alone is reason enough to lift the warning and reprimand the mod, that and the failure by the mod to cite any authority for his position that "OAP" is equivalent to "elderly".

The mod comments on the HSE's use of "elderly", but dismisses the use of the term by other linked organisations. No links were quoted showing "OAP" used in similar contexts.

I also complained that this and other similar threads have a definite ageist and anti-elderly bias, IMO of course, which I think is still grounds enough to post in it.

Last pm starts in italics.

Thanks, mathepac

" L

No surprises there then. You missed / have chosen to ignore the bits about private healthcare providers and healthcare job ads in my PM and have obviously missed / ignored the additional research links in the on-thread post. Not one of the links I provided uses the repulsive ageist term OAP and all feature the term(s) only you and your boards.ie cronies have chosen to classify as ageist, "elderly / the elderly".

I've seen attempts by moderators here to defend the indefensible but this one takes the biscuit.

In the thread I have never denied that elderly citizens receive benefits that younger people don't. In fact I advised one poster to check out his grandmother's entitlements. What I find ageist and objectionable is the protest / denial of older citizens rights to these small benefits and the lying attempts to inflate their real values and the repeated claims and defence of the statement that older citizens pay a different rate of tax.

I'll be making a DRP entry soon."

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scofflaw
Hi mathepac,

I note the points about the HSE's viewpoint on the use of OAP with interest, but don't find them compelling, because this is not the HSE and nobody has agreed to abide by any such rules. As such, someone using OAP is not necessarily intending ageism or being ageist.

Nor do I see the ageism you see in other posters' replies. That the elderly are in receipt of money and tax exemptions not given to younger people is a matter of fact, and not, as you appear to believe, some kind of popular prejudice.

As such, no, I won't be rescinding the warning unless required to do so by a DRP decision, which you of course are entitled to request. I'm entirely happy to defend my position that your posts amounted to an attempt to silence your opponents, and consider that I have already given you the benefit of the doubt as to whether you were genuinely offended but uncivil rather than merely tactical.

moderately,
Scofflaw

Quote:
Originally Posted by mathepac
Thanks for the answer.

Your perspective is interesting but flawed in that it fails to recognise the enormous gap between the agesist term "OAP" and the term I used, "the elderly / elderly". A tiny bit of research would have shown you the following:

The HSE, may we be ever protected from it, has a big chunk of its web-site dedicated to Elderly links. This organisation, chartered by our Minister for Health and Children to cordinate and oversee care for our older citizens, uses the PC, accurate, clinical and sympathetic term "the elderly". It does not use the ageist term "OAP" or "old age pensioner" in any of its published materials that I have seen. I speak as a former Health Board / HSE employee and contractor who had clients from time-to-time in residential / out-patient Elderly Care.

In the voluntary and private sectors, several organisation boast publicly about the excellence of their "elderly care" / "care for the elderly". These organisations include :

http://www.rhshomeservices.ie/servic...he-elderly.php

http://www.friendsoftheelderly.ie

http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=8418

You will note that not one of them uses the ageist term "OAP"

The term "elderly" appears in healthcare job descriptions and healthcare job ads, the ageist term "OAP" doesn't.

http://www.irishjobs.ie/Elderly-Care-Jobs

Apart from the ageist term "OAP" used in some of the posts in the thread, there's an underlying current stating outright at times that the elderly (not an ageist term as I have proven above) are less entitled to money or benefits than 30 year olds or students. I formed the impression that one of the more vocal / rabid posters was working up to proposing eliminating the elderly to make room for younger citizens.

Based on the above I want the warning rescinded ASAP with an apology.

thanks, mathepac
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scofflaw
Hi mathepac,

the card was fundamentally because you accused people of ageism while repeatedly referring to "the elderly" yourself.

I'm not sure why you feel that you can be the judge of whether "OAP" is offensive while "the elderly" is not, but the distinction is not valid.

You may well genuinely feel that other people were being ageist, and feel that that justifies your various descriptions of their posts as 'disgusting' and so on, but I don't consider either your interpretation or your justification valid.

Were I to feel that your use of elderly was a tactical ploy aimed at casting the couple as particularly deserving of sympathy, and your attacks on other posters for using OAP instead was also a tactical ploy, then I would probably have considered a short ban or at least a red card and the threat of a ban.

I hope that clarifies things for you.

moderately,
Scofflaw

Quote:
Originally Posted by mathepac
Scofflaw,

Help me here. I am perplexed.

My post consists of my opinion about the language / terms used by the poster to describe older members of our society, terms which IMO are meant to be offensive i.e. trolling. The best anyone can say about the term "OAP" is that it is non-PC.

The other parts of my post consists of request for the poster to supply substantiating information for his allegations of additional "tax credits" and "lower tax rates" being allocated to older members of our society.

So which exact words or parts of my post are the precise ones that the automated moderation system has difficulty with?

I await your comments more in hope than in expectation of fairness and having the warning lifted.

Thanks, mathepac.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Scofflaw
Dear mathepac,

You have been warned for being uncivil.

Typically, this means that you are posting in a needlessly aggressive or confrontational manner being disruptive on the forum or causing stress for the other members. We don't want that here.

For more information please refer to the Boards.ie FAQ.



Scofflaw

Your post: Quote:
Originally Posted by mathepac
Quote:
Originally Posted by hfallada
Since when is a person age a good reason for tax evasion? ...

Tax evasion? You seem to be on a different page to other posters
Quote:
Originally Posted by hfallada
... OAPs have a lot of tax credits that young people don't have. ...

I object strongly to your use of the term OAP. It gives your post a strongly ageist slant IMHO and might lead people to conclude you were posting from an ageist perspective.

Maybe you could give us a few examples of these "tax credits" from the Revenue web-site
Quote:
Originally Posted by hfallada
... They pay no prsi, they have oap tax credits. ...

Whether they pay PRSI, USC or other deductions is dependent on the amount of their income, which you can't possibly know. Again maybe you could give us a few examples of these "oap tax credits" as your repulsively ageist language terms them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hfallada
... It doesn't make a sense an OAP pays a lower rate of tax than a recent college graduate or a household with young families.

Whatever tax they pay is dependent on the amount of their income, which you can't possibly know. Maybe you could show us from the Revenue web-site where an "OAP", to use your own disgusting ageist term, pays a different rate of tax to other citizens.

Ickle Magoo

mathepac,

Having spent half an hour of my life that I'll never get back reviewing this DRP - I'll be short and sweet here.

I would view anyone describing the use of the term OAP as "repulsively ageist language" to be either trolling or incapable of holding rational discourse. Given your impressive record I'm leaning towards the former. Since it was your first misdemeanour in the Irish Economy forum, you were given a warning - I think it justified, if not lenient.

Please confirm if you wish an admin to review.

mathepac

Admin review please, without the unprofessional and unhelpful smart-mouth comments. This is exactly why I complain about mods here. Short and sweet would have been my preference. Promises, promises.

BuffyBot

Actually, you need to take some time out. Your persistant, disruptive activities have to come to an end. You're a timesink, pure and simple. No one who volunteers needs your general attitude and ongoing badgering.