OMG Politics, I'm over it already.

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GDSmithTX said:
It's nothing but a young, inexperienced loudmouth with "views" that are self-contradictory because he's just parroting things he's heard and hasn't actually thought about.
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This sentence describes most of social media at this point. I know my feed has it's fair share of people from both sides racing to be the first to share some bit of news (ranging from highly spun to downright made up) that makes the other side look bad. Continuously and vigorously driving the wedge deeper between people.

I am more concerned about that than I am about who won or would have won the election. I mean, there have always been people on the far ends of the conservative/liberal continuum but the people closer to the middle have always been able to coexist despite some basic political differences. But the trend now is to lump everyone on each side together. So everyone who supports the current president is a Nazi and everyone on the other side is a snowflake. So even the moderates are dragged in and feel like they need to fight back. It's no longer the crazy people on either end, it's all or nothing.

Example, I have a guy on Facebook who seems to only be able to post examples of atrocities carried out by Muslims. All day, every day. Another who has vowed to oppose every single thing Republican, and he does, all day, every day. Each likely believe they are standing for what they believe but are they really? Does it really make sense to strongly oppose everything from the other side, simply because it is from the other side. If this is how we are going to act as citizens, there is no resolution. This scenario ends badly. No one really wins this one.

And this thread is an example. There are some really well thought out posts with solid information but there is also a lot of hysteria based on partial facts, rhetoric, or just the desire to be right even at the expense of our society. Most everyone here is on the same team so maybe it is an opportunity to vent or maybe it is fueling flames. We tend to blame the media, and I believe that is where it begins but at some point we have to step back and realize we are getting played. The "media" puts out bad information which outrages us depending on our team and we spew vitriol because what? We want to be right? It's so difficult to tell without extensive research what is accurate and what isn't coming from the media but it's also hard to tell what is legitimate issues worth protesting and what is spoiled brat.

Look at the Berkley thing for an example. I haven't seen a lot on it yet but from what I can tell, a gay, British/Greek (immigrant) guy was asked to speak at a liberal university but couldn't because students exercised their right to free expression to keep him from his right of free speech by using violence and destruction. I don't care what side you are on this doesn't make sense. Nor does the destruction of mosque's we have seen or whatever example you want to compare it to.

Seriously, doing everything you can to try to run Trump out of office from your keyboard doesn't make the country or the world a better place to live. Nor does ranting about snowflakes. Nor does blocking traffic or wearing a vagina on your head. The way I see it, politics and media have pitted us all against each other for their benefit. When are we collectively going to stand back and see that? When are we going to stop feeding into it and start really looking for solutions? We see what extremism does to the rest of the world, why can't we see we are going down that path? Who is willing to give a little and understand it doesn't mean they are losing?

This thread always gives me high blood pressure and I should probably leave you to it. And I know there are several here who are not as I have described, but for those who grab every story that supports your position and run with it regardless of it's merit I'd suggest that maybe there is a better way. I can tell you for sure that it causes even a middle of the road guy like me to dig in my heels more. And it causes the more staunch conservatives to hate your side more. And it obviously goes both ways. Anyway, I guess I woke up really concerned about the direction we are going and I don't know how we are going to unite people for a common solution.
 
Chad said:
We won't be united in my lifetime, I doubt even my kids. Fox News and conservative radio have killed any common sense in this country.

And I welcome anyone from a red state that doesn't want what the right is pushing to my Blue States of America. Unlike the red states, we don't want a wall and will open our borders to those seeking shelter. :grin:
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I'm confused. You seem to thing the sooner we separate into states divided by our political beliefs but also want to let everyone in. The party of inclusion only wants to live where other people think like them but will open their borders? What if those seeking shelter have different views? If there is a sarcasm smiley it should go here because you know I respect your generally well thought out views but thought this was worth a poke.
 
Johnny N. said:
I'm confused. You seem to thing the sooner we separate into states divided by our political beliefs but also want to let everyone in. The party of inclusion only wants to live where other people think like them but will open their borders? What if those seeking shelter have different views? If there is a sarcasm smiley it should go here because you know I respect your generally well thought out views but thought this was worth a poke.
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See, my views aren't exclusive. If you want to be a Muslim, good for you. If you want to be a Christian, more power to you. If you want an abortion, go get one, if you are against abortion, don't get one. You wanna smoke a joint, fine by me, you don't, then don't. If you are a dude and love another dude and want to get married, throw me an invite, I'm sure it will be a blast, If you are a dude and are against gay marriage, don't marry another dude. My biggest problem with the right, is if you aren't in line with their views, fuck you, they are going to make a law so you have to be. Live and let live as long as you aren't hurting anyone, you're fine.
 
Johnny N. said:
This sentence describes most of social media at this point. I know my feed has it's fair share of people from both sides racing to be the first to share some bit of news (ranging from highly spun to downright made up) that makes the other side look bad. Continuously and vigorously driving the wedge deeper between people.

I am more concerned about that than I am about who won or would have won the election. I mean, there have always been people on the far ends of the conservative/liberal continuum but the people closer to the middle have always been able to coexist despite some basic political differences. But the trend now is to lump everyone on each side together. So everyone who supports the current president is a Nazi and everyone on the other side is a snowflake. So even the moderates are dragged in and feel like they need to fight back. It's no longer the crazy people on either end, it's all or nothing.

Example, I have a guy on Facebook who seems to only be able to post examples of atrocities carried out by Muslims. All day, every day. Another who has vowed to oppose every single thing Republican, and he does, all day, every day. Each likely believe they are standing for what they believe but are they really? Does it really make sense to strongly oppose everything from the other side, simply because it is from the other side. If this is how we are going to act as citizens, there is no resolution. This scenario ends badly. No one really wins this one.

And this thread is an example. There are some really well thought out posts with solid information but there is also a lot of hysteria based on partial facts, rhetoric, or just the desire to be right even at the expense of our society. Most everyone here is on the same team so maybe it is an opportunity to vent or maybe it is fueling flames. We tend to blame the media, and I believe that is where it begins but at some point we have to step back and realize we are getting played. The "media" puts out bad information which outrages us depending on our team and we spew vitriol because what? We want to be right? It's so difficult to tell without extensive research what is accurate and what isn't coming from the media but it's also hard to tell what is legitimate issues worth protesting and what is spoiled brat.

Look at the Berkley thing for an example. I haven't seen a lot on it yet but from what I can tell, a gay, British/Greek (immigrant) guy was asked to speak at a liberal university but couldn't because students exercised their right to free expression to keep him from his right of free speech by using violence and destruction. I don't care what side you are on this doesn't make sense. Nor does the destruction of mosque's we have seen or whatever example you want to compare it to.

Seriously, doing everything you can to try to run Trump out of office from your keyboard doesn't make the country or the world a better place to live. Nor does ranting about snowflakes. Nor does blocking traffic or wearing a vagina on your head. The way I see it, politics and media have pitted us all against each other for their benefit. When are we collectively going to stand back and see that? When are we going to stop feeding into it and start really looking for solutions? We see what extremism does to the rest of the world, why can't we see we are going down that path? Who is willing to give a little and understand it doesn't mean they are losing?

This thread always gives me high blood pressure and I should probably leave you to it. And I know there are several here who are not as I have described, but for those who grab every story that supports your position and run with it regardless of it's merit I'd suggest that maybe there is a better way. I can tell you for sure that it causes even a middle of the road guy like me to dig in my heels more. And it causes the more staunch conservatives to hate your side more. And it obviously goes both ways. Anyway, I guess I woke up really concerned about the direction we are going and I don't know how we are going to unite people for a common solution.
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Milo is a professional provocateur and troll. He's got all sorts of unsavory connections to not very good/nice/smart people. He's the college speaking circuit equivalent of Fred Phelps. He goes places and says terrible things as kind of a dare for people to freak out so he can point and snicker.

He's no victim. He's a shithead and the alt-right's pet dandy.
 
Just ducking in to say that Milo Yiawhatsis is a white nationalist, Nazi super-troll. If the kids at Berkley wanna break a little glass to keep that garbage off their campus, so be it. A week from now everything will be cleaned up and the higher learning will continue.
 
Johnny N. said:
This sentence describes most of social media at this point. I know my feed has it's fair share of people from both sides racing to be the first to share some bit of news (ranging from highly spun to downright made up) that makes the other side look bad. Continuously and vigorously driving the wedge deeper between people.

I am more concerned about that than I am about who won or would have won the election. I mean, there have always been people on the far ends of the conservative/liberal continuum but the people closer to the middle have always been able to coexist despite some basic political differences. But the trend now is to lump everyone on each side together. So everyone who supports the current president is a Nazi and everyone on the other side is a snowflake. So even the moderates are dragged in and feel like they need to fight back. It's no longer the crazy people on either end, it's all or nothing.

Example, I have a guy on Facebook who seems to only be able to post examples of atrocities carried out by Muslims. All day, every day. Another who has vowed to oppose every single thing Republican, and he does, all day, every day. Each likely believe they are standing for what they believe but are they really? Does it really make sense to strongly oppose everything from the other side, simply because it is from the other side. If this is how we are going to act as citizens, there is no resolution. This scenario ends badly. No one really wins this one.

And this thread is an example. There are some really well thought out posts with solid information but there is also a lot of hysteria based on partial facts, rhetoric, or just the desire to be right even at the expense of our society. Most everyone here is on the same team so maybe it is an opportunity to vent or maybe it is fueling flames. We tend to blame the media, and I believe that is where it begins but at some point we have to step back and realize we are getting played. The "media" puts out bad information which outrages us depending on our team and we spew vitriol because what? We want to be right? It's so difficult to tell without extensive research what is accurate and what isn't coming from the media but it's also hard to tell what is legitimate issues worth protesting and what is spoiled brat.

Look at the Berkley thing for an example. I haven't seen a lot on it yet but from what I can tell, a gay, British/Greek (immigrant) guy was asked to speak at a liberal university but couldn't because students exercised their right to free expression to keep him from his right of free speech by using violence and destruction. I don't care what side you are on this doesn't make sense. Nor does the destruction of mosque's we have seen or whatever example you want to compare it to.

Seriously, doing everything you can to try to run Trump out of office from your keyboard doesn't make the country or the world a better place to live. Nor does ranting about snowflakes. Nor does blocking traffic or wearing a vagina on your head. The way I see it, politics and media have pitted us all against each other for their benefit. When are we collectively going to stand back and see that? When are we going to stop feeding into it and start really looking for solutions? We see what extremism does to the rest of the world, why can't we see we are going down that path? Who is willing to give a little and understand it doesn't mean they are losing?

This thread always gives me high blood pressure and I should probably leave you to it. And I know there are several here who are not as I have described, but for those who grab every story that supports your position and run with it regardless of it's merit I'd suggest that maybe there is a better way. I can tell you for sure that it causes even a middle of the road guy like me to dig in my heels more. And it causes the more staunch conservatives to hate your side more. And it obviously goes both ways. Anyway, I guess I woke up really concerned about the direction we are going and I don't know how we are going to unite people for a common solution.
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There is some truth to what you are saying, but my issues with Trump have no media involvement. It comes from his mouth, his Twitter, his executive orders and watching the testimony of his cabinet picks.
 
jp_nyc said:
Some liberal activists are now trying to build momentum for a general strike. On the Friday before president’s day. Because nothing says commitment like a one-day strike that turns into a four-day weekend.
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Is that like calling in a bomb threat to your school the morning of test day?
 
Johnny N. said:
I'm confused. You seem to thing the sooner we separate into states divided by our political beliefs but also want to let everyone in. The party of inclusion only wants to live where other people think like them but will open their borders? What if those seeking shelter have different views? If there is a sarcasm smiley it should go here because you know I respect your generally well thought out views but thought this was worth a poke.
Click to expand...

You conflate "beliefs" with forcing your beliefs on others. It isn't a contradiction to say we want a society that accepts everyone regardless of beliefs, but on the other hand insists that those beliefs aren't forced on others. Everyone has a right to travel the path that best leads to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness". No one has the right to close other paths because it is different than their own.
 
Johnny N. said:
Look at the Berkley thing for an example. I haven't seen a lot on it yet but from what I can tell, a gay, British/Greek (immigrant) guy was asked to speak at a liberal university but couldn't because students exercised their right to free expression to keep him from his right of free speech by using violence and destruction. I don't care what side you are on this doesn't make sense. Nor does the destruction of mosque's we have seen or whatever example you want to compare it to.
Click to expand...

If we're going to take a middle of the road POV, let's get a few things out of the way.
For one thing you're failing to acknowledge that this gay, British/Greek (immigrant) is the same person who has been banned by twitter for racist & misogynistic attacks, outspoken harsh critic of homosexuality/rights & happens to be the senior editor of the, to put it mildly, far right Breitbart who's been pretty instrumental in defining the alt-right movement and this speaking tour has been a continuation of much of that ideology. Important context because many see this as hate speech & not just free speech....hence the protests.

A second important thing to acknowledge is that while the crowd was likely mostly students what has often been happening at these protests is that small groups of people use these protests as cover to commit violence and that's their sole motive for being there. This is something that has been happening in the US and Europe. These are public protests that anyone can attend & are often planned on social media for all to see. Do other normally peaceful protesters take part or incite violence & destruction? entirely possible....welcome to the mob mentality.

Should this gay, British/Greek (immigrant)'s possibly hate speech be respected or protected by the protesters? IDK if I'd go that far.
Either way it is the ultimate troll.
 
I stay out of this thread for many reasons, but I have to say a few things.

Those lamenting the fact that "liberals" are doing everything they can to remove trump from office seem to have quickly forgotten the 8 years of Obama trying to lead against an obstructionist Congress and the millions paranoid morons sporting "Obama is not my president" bumper stickers and stocking up on ammo to fend off the Gestapo coming to take their guns and put them in FEMA camps.

Obama got labeled a "dictator" for signing the fewest executive orders of any modern president. Trump is a man of action for being on pace to write more of them than any 10 presidents combined.

What's good for the goose...

The hypocrisy of the Right is astounding to me. I read a post on FB that read "Trump is YOUR president, like it or not".

Really now?

Obama wasn't "yours", but Trump has to be mine? I don't think so. Homie don't play dat.
 
Lerxst said:
If we're going to take a middle of the road POV, let's get a few things out of the way.
For one thing you're failing to acknowledge that this gay, British/Greek (immigrant) is the same person who has been banned by twitter for racist & misogynistic attacks, outspoken harsh critic of homosexuality/rights & happens to be the senior editor of the, to put it mildly, far right Breitbart who's been pretty instrumental in defining the alt-right movement and this speaking tour has been a continuation of much of that ideology. Important context because many see this as hate speech & not just free speech....hence the protests.

A second important thing to acknowledge is that while the crowd was likely mostly students what has often been happening at these protests is that small groups of people use these protests as cover to commit violence and that's their sole motive for being there. This is something that has been happening in the US and Europe. These are public protests that anyone can attend & are often planned on social media for all to see. Do other normally peaceful protesters take part or incite violence & destruction? entirely possible....welcome to the mob mentality.

Should this gay, British/Greek (immigrant)'s possibly hate speech be respected or protected by the protesters? IDK if I'd go that far.
Either way it is the ultimate troll.
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Yeah, Milo's a fuck, but the violence isn't justified either.

Still, we now have this incredible quote, "The fuel started pouring out and they set it on fire. It got really hot." :lol:
 
Help!I'maRock! said:
Yeah, Milo's a fuck, but the violence isn't justified either.

Still, we now have this incredible quote, "The fuel started pouring out and they set it on fire. It got really hot." :lol:
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I'm not saying the violence was justified in any way.
I think that attributing it to the entire group of protesters is a way to de-legitimize their motive for protesting or what they are standing for.
 
Lerxst said:
I'm not saying the violence was justified in any way.
I think that attributing it to the entire group of protesters is a way to de-legitimize their motive for protesting or what they are standing for.
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I wasn't saying you were. Just summing up, really. And I also agree with you about de-legitimization. But that's how it happens. Demonize your opponent.
 
I'm gonna just leave this here...

Americans really--based on their history--have no business saying that violence ain't justified when it comes to politics.

It's what we do. This nation was kickstarted by organized destruction of property. We're unique among "civilized" Western nations in that we wouldn't give up slavery until we murdered the fuck out of each other.

If a couple Starbuckses get fucked up, that's the price of liberty -- Thomas Jefferson
 
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