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I appreciate all the replies so far. I know the majority of those I disagree with here are good people and this forum is a venting spot where people can express themselves in an environment where they may otherwise not.
I'm mostly interested in how many out there have experienced significant opposition from people close to them due to this election. Have any of those interactions forced you to look at things in a different light? Has your interaction changed their viewpoints in any way?
I've found that most I've talked to are dead set in their opinions and are unflinching in their viewpoints of how things are and where they see things going.
To a degree.....the "facade" of modern society and niceties is pulled back with anonymity of an online forum with screen names and no pictures. People are free to say whatever they want without being held accountable for the most part.
Watch anything on NatGeo, Discovery, Science, AHC or similar channels where they simulate "would be" scenarios when society basically falls, temporarily or permanently, and people go primitive....wide-scale terrorist attacks, famine, pandemics, asteroid hits, electric grid going down.......almost any analysis of these scenarios involves the basic rules of "society" falling quick with people fighting and killing each other over resources that become more and more scarce. Small scale to large scale anarchy basically.
An anonymous forum is essentially anarchy, and it shows the ugliest side of most people...especially when politics are discussed.
I have friends, coworkers, and family members all over the political spectrum. When topics come up that we disagree on, there's usually a quick one or two back and forths and then someone changes the subject because we value that person for who they are more than our own ideological beliefs (for the most part).....not the case for strangers who you'll probably never meet with no face or real persona.
I've also noticed that for me personally....I tend to always go "devil's advocate" side. When the atmosphere is leaning heavily conservative....I'll find myself feeling more and more "liberal"....when the atmosphere is leaning heavily liberal...I'll find myself feeling more and more "conservative"....the first and latter are especially true in social and fiscal issues respectively.
Most posters just come here to fight and throw out insults.
I know it calls itself a "political forum" but there's almost no discussion occurring here. And almost never is a well thought out argument posted. If one is, it's immediately dismissed by the partisans on the other side.
Come here to have fun.
Don't expect a mature exchange of ideas.
In that respect, it's just like national politics.
You know why that is? That's because nobody changes his mind. The people who resort to one-liners have probably posted page long opinion pieces but then realized it doesn't matter what you argue. People put on their team jerseys and are cheering their side. My brother has zero interest in politics or policy. Doesn't know the first thing about trade, taxes, immigration or anything else, but he is going with Hillary because Trump can't finish a sentence or his vocabulary is about 50 words. How do you argue with a guy like him?
To me, the value in posting quality thoughts has nothing to do with the likelihood of convincing a person otherwise. I see no value at all in posting one-line zingers that dodge the salient points in the post I'm responding to, and if I'm going to spend my time on this forum at all, I may as well do so in a way that actually contributes something intelligent to the forum.
To me, this forum doesn't represent an unfiltered view of human thought. It has simply convinced me that there are a lot of stupid people on this forum. I mean that quite literally. If you were to give every regular poster on this forum an IQ test, I think it would average out to be less than 100. I can't explain this forum any other way. It isn't simply that posts are offensive or unpopular. It is that they show very little intelligent thought.
To me, the value in posting quality thoughts has nothing to do with the likelihood of convincing a person otherwise. I see no value at all in posting one-line zingers that dodge the salient points in the post I'm responding to, and if I'm going to spend my time on this forum at all, I may as well do so in a way that actually contributes something intelligent to the forum.
I truly enjoy reading many of the thought out points from both sides. I've learned so much about many things in my time here. Some may be painful to read, but they are still appreciated. I would say over 80% of my time on this forum (and CD in general) is spent reading others posts and getting an idea of how others view things.
For instance, a few days ago, I started a thread similar to this one. I said that too many people from both sides were spending time being critical of the entire other side without actually engaging any issues. I gave an example of the kind of comment liberals might say about conservatives, and vice versa. Two posters on here literally quoted one of my example comments -- things I said people shouldn't say -- and tried to argue that I was actually making those claims. That is an example of either complete dishonesty or a poor level of reading comprehension. That sort of thing happens all the time on this forum.
Yes , we remember it well .....
You started a thread in which you misled everyone with a personally modified version of a dictionary definition. On further review, we saw you were indeed disingenuous, albeit a little crafty too.
It was funny and surely you wondered how long it would go without being detected.
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