Should encouraging people to report a Fluther user to the secret police be acceptable behaviour on Fluther?

Recently, a long-time member of Fluther quit and deleted his account out of fear for his family. Other Fluther users had posted a link to the website of the secret police and encouraged others to report this user, ostensibly for making threats against the president of the United States.

These postings were completely acceptable to the administration of Fluther.

My posting, expressing my outrage and questioning whether those responsible have some form of mental illness which makes them incapable of understanding the repercussions of their actions, was censored by those same Fluther administrators.

I understand that there are users here who, for various psychological reasons, are incapable of empathy or of grasping the most rudimentary personal responsibility. This question is not addressed to them. I address this question to the other users of Fluther who may not be aware that it is extremely dangerous to point the machinery of the State’s security apparatus at someone. That it is not a joke, not funny, not even slightly acceptable in any kind of civilized discourse. It is the sort of vicious thuggery that one saw in Nazi Germany, where people were forced to constantly be wary of what they discussed, and with whom, lest they be turned in to the Gestapo.

There are those of you who will think my comparison to Nazi Germany is a gross exaggeration. Those people have never received the infamous knock in the night or seen their friends whisked away in unmarked black panel vans like I have, and like others here have. I know many of you won’t believe me, but if you are an activist, or you have military training in the use of weapons, or – god help you – both, the State takes anonymous reports about you very, very seriously. The very least such a person can expect is a visit from some very serious men in dark suits, often at the place of employment as a means to instill fear. In Nazi Germany, the Gestapo allowed themselves to be used as a tool; it was made known that if an anonymous complaint was made, the target would simply disappear. Bolsheviks, anarchists, labour activists, leftists, liberals, socialists, and social democrats all began using this as a weapon to attack each other, decimating their own ranks in the process.

You must remember that there are real living human beings on the other side of your monitor, and you can do monumental and unfixable harm to them, their friends, the associates, and their families by using the State security apparatus as a way to win an argument here.

I’m not interested in hearing why posting links to the secret police and encouraging people to report someone is a big joke and I should STFU and stop whining. If that’s your opinion, rest assured that I will not respond to you, and I do not care to have any kind of exchange with you. I would be interested in hearing from Fluther administrators as to why they believe encouraging people to snitch another Fluther user out to the secret police is an acceptable activity here.

(Please note: I have deliberately not identified the thread where this took place, nor the people involved. I have done this so as not to give the Fluther administration any excuse for censoring this. Please do not link to the question, nor identify the people to whom you believe this posting may refer.)