The Politics Around Me
Internet discussions are an interesting phenomenon. One needs to be thick-skinned and attentive when participating. I have been involved in a handful of flame wars. The best was when my mother another user provided me a post of the “opponent” that had been posted elsewhere. This was way back in the RIME days. That post pretty much made the guy scurry with his tail between his legs demonstrating once again that one needs to be consistent if he is going to do battle.
Anyhow, just now I dropped membership to a discussion group I have been involved with for several years. I rarely posted to the group, but enjoyed a lot of the discussion.
What caused me to leave? No, there was no flame war. Rather, for a group that is supposed to discuss the history of an area, the bad taste of the current thread about politics was too much.
I run into this from time to time. My issues with Philliesphans.com was really over similar concerns. A once great discussion board mutated as the political discourse rose. And with such a liberal bent to the politics, it is just an unreadable board. I have been keeping closer tabs on that board since that linked post. While there was more baseball discussion during the season, it did not keep the politics at bay. Today, I can see 27 threads in my browser (hey, I now have a 17″ monitor on the laptop). Scrolling to not see the announcement threads, I find: 18 labelled off-topic threads, three others that should be labelled OT, a three-year old thread resurrected that discussed getting the now deceased Ken Caminitti as a bench player, two lengthy, but ridiculous threads about Nomar and Manny being traded to the Phils, a thread picking on former GM Ed Wade’s new position with the Padres, a thread about Abreu’s mood, and an off-season transaction thread. Some of the topics of the political threads: Impeach Bush, Add more lies to Pinocchio Administration, and Abram-off’s conservative octopus tentacles. So, needless to say, I do not participate there, either.
Back to the group I left today . . . I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by the liberal attitude. One poster said it since children cannot enter into contracts, it should be illegal to make them say the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, this is what constitutes history. I had drafted a response, but deleted it and just left the group.
It occurs to me there is a lot of outrage when conservatives mention they would like to see a creche in public. There are calls that all we ever do is try to impose our values on others. Yet, the pervasiveness of the liberal mindeset is everywhere. Another board I read has a current thread where someone stated, just about anything Bush signs is a bad idea. And what this has to do with the Pine Barrens, I haven’t quite figured.
It would be like me commenting about Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, and Hillary Clinton in the post about geocoins I posted last evening. The two are separate.
Also blogged on this date . . .
- Locks of Love - 2008
- Nano Hazard - 2008
- MLB Frustration - 2007