The rising polarization of our beliefs

wv wrote:

Bnw is the outlier here. He’s the only Trump supporter he’s the only Pat Buchannon supporter. So, he’s always gonna be…oh….kinda ‘ganged up on’ around here. Same goes for Waterfield, probly. So, knowing that, I think it would be cool if the majority-leftists would give’em both a break.

I can’t speak for waterfield but I do not want to be treated differently. I understand why you suggest it and I know your intentions are good. Posters shouldn’t hold back because they disagree. I think that would be more damaging in the long run.

(Btw, did you ever look into Roan Mtn. State Park?)

bnw wrote:

I can’t speak for waterfield but I do not want to be treated differently. I understand why you suggest it and I know your intentions are good. Posters shouldn’t hold back because they disagree. I think that would be more damaging in the long run.

Well, all people have to treat each other differently and not just say what they feel, because by rule the public forum has to be civil. That is, we can’t just let er rip.

That’s the price of allowing political discussion on the public house forum.

So far I have taken that to mean restraint on antagonistic language. Which btw has led to diverse interventions. So someone got called on trashing the NRA with antagonistic language, and Trump too. It’s not just personal attacks.

So I guess it means, hold back on SOME language, and don’t attack posters, but no restraint on ideas.

The rules say this:

If a mod asks posters to move on from a volatile exchange, please do so without comment.

The same rules apply to The Public House board. Controversial topics are welcome on that board, but avoid name-calling, insults, and derisive language. Act like a respected debate partner, not like an argumentative board warrior.

Notice that one comment–“but avoid name-calling, insults, and derisive language”–is not restricted to personal attacks. It applies to all exchanges, even when another poster is not being directly attacked. We will all get edgy now and then, but also now and then there will probably have to be an intervention. But on the old version of the public house forum, years ago, it was nothing but a snarl of attack posts, and that clearly did not work. (I did it too, back then.)

Let a thousand flowers bloom. But not poisonous, man-eating ones from hell.

I like something in the garden that “takes care of” the pests, and/or trespassers.

bnw wrote:

Billy_T wrote:

Is it okay to say bad stuff about that huge plant in the middle? I mean, it really, really needs to see a dentist. And I bet it needs a ton of mouthwash. Costco always has that on sale. You know, the family size pack with a hundred bottles the size of a keg?

Costco aka China OverSeas Trade COmpany

So much for sourcing the local economy.

bnw,

It was a joke, okay? Beyond that, I’m in favor of getting rid the system that destroys jobs as a matter of logic: capitalism. The internal logic of capitalism seeks job destruction, naturally, eternally, because it always seeks new ways to maximize profits. And that means reducing costs to the degree possible. And that means labor costs, primarily. And that means slashing wages, automating jobs out of existence, shipping them to cheaper and cheaper locations, and forever seeking to get more production out of fewer and fewer workers.

It’s baked in.

I want us to go back to the future and change all of that. I want us to exterminate the profit motive, which always kills jobs and drives down wages, and take away all incentives to slash wages, jobs and outsourcing. All of them. Wipe out these incentives by banishing the capitalist system altogether. And we replace it from the ground up, and change the funding stream from sales to publicly held banks instead . . . so we no longer have to be dependent upon the good will of a few capitalists, whose every incentive is to NOT pay us and to kill our jobs. We all become co-owners.

No employees. No employers. No bosses. No slaves. We self-govern, at work and in the community. We work together, cooperatively. Not competitively. Competition, which is baked into the capitalist system, invariably leads to massive loss of jobs, obscenely suppressed wages and “innovation” in the service of all of that.

Yes, this is about jobs. And the capitalist system was designed to kill them to the degree possible.

I like something in the garden that “takes care of” the pests, and/or trespassers.

I can understand that. Instead of “get off my lawn!!” It’s, “Hey, duya wanna see my garden?” Bwahahahaha!!

ZN, you ignorant slut…

Does that count as humor, or personal attack? See, if I put my mind to it, I could come up with some very humorous personal attacks. Not that I want to or am going to, but just saying, it takes a village to raise an idiot.

Driving to Phippsburg, ME tomorrow for the family vacation. No Internet access (at least, that’s what I told my boss). Going to try and stay off the Internet and just enjoy my time with my family.

Do try and get along…

TSRF wrote:

Driving to Phippsburg, ME tomorrow for the family vacation. No Internet access (at least, that’s what I told my boss). Going to try and stay off the Internet and just enjoy my time with my family.

Do try and get along…

==========================

…’going to…stay off the inter-net’….What is this “off the Internet” reality you believe in? The internet is the known-universe. It is the appropriate reality-tunnel to adopt. What place are you from, stranger?

w
v

TSRF wrote:

There is nothing free about Freeport…

That;s a few minutes up the road from me.

Enjoy. Freeport in July is crowd-dedd.

TSRF wrote:

ZN, I hope you don’t think it is weird that I come up to Maine but never reach out to meet you. It is the one week my family gets to get away.

No worries, I got that. Meaning, I got that it was a family thing. Don’t worry about me. I wasn’t hinting about Freeport—I was just having fun with ya (joking about your woman folk wanting to go to Freeport in July. That was meant as mild friendly sympathetic teasing).

.

Ozoneranger wrote:

You know, politics and religion are not conducive to polite society.

Wait, we don’t live in a polite society anymore. Intolerant hugs and cretins from both sides dominate the floor.

So, the question begs…Are you ready for some football?

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Ready for football? Oh yeah. Though I have no idea what the won/lost record is gonna look like this year. Goff is a rookie-mystery.

Btw, I assume that was a typo “Intolerant hugs”. But i liked it. I like that sentence:

“Intolerant hugs,
and Cretins, from both sides,
dominate the floor.”

There’s just something weird and salvadore-dali-ish about
the image that sentence creates in my brain.
I would have liked to have seen a Dali painting of the US Congress.
Or maybe Bosch.

w
v