"It's so sad your hatred of DT has blinded you so that no matter what he does good or bad you hate him. But it's understandable that when 90 percent of news coverage vilifies him then truth be damned. "Once again, I'm wasting time on here because when people are filled with so much hate truth ceases to exist." ___________________ This recent quote was copied and pasted from a current contentious thread (aren't they all?) and I'm not going to give credit or assign blame, only cite it to illustrate how charges of hate are so freely and carelessly assigned by partisans unwilling to see it as a self blind projection of their own hatred. I've been reading and posting on this forum for 23 years and the increased level of animosity evident in the escalating number of hostile angry attacks in the last decade shows no sign of abatement. The hostilities displayed on Too Hot are but the minuscule tip of the iceberg, an indication of a national problem. If it continues we will destroy the democratic republic our courageous founding fathers worked so diligently to establish. Our grandfathers nearly did so 150 years ago in a tragic and contentious War that should have taught us something, but many of us have not learned what the fears and hatreds of that era wrought. Do we really want to do this again? Truth is not defined as what we want to believe. Simply stated, "Truth is that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality." Truth is not a false or inaccurate statement repeated so many times people begin to believe it to be true. In the wired world of today with the many lies and distortions being irresponsible disseminated over the Internet by credulous or dishonest people with self serving agendas, the close minded will latch onto whatever "truth" supports what they want to believe, achieve, or gain. Driven by fears or resentment; angry, discouraged, or frustrated with their circumstances, the state of world, or any number of things contributing to their uneasy disposition, these people assign blame to those others they fear, those who are different, those who draw the projected hate they are reluctant or unable to self righteously or self protectively recognize or acknowledge within themselves. It's much easier to assign the hatred to people an angry accuser views as responsible for instigating the circumstances or events causing the fear and anger that increasingly generates hostility. In this hostile climate the charge of hate must be recognized and owned by all partisans who make the accusatory charges if there is ever to be a cessation of hostilities. If there is not the hostilities will only ratchet up leaving our future uncertain, on a most certain path of destruction. Is this the legacy we want to leave for future generations? We have little time to make it right. When I started posting on this forum I was emerging from a deep depression and reading posts online encouraged and enabled me to broaden self limited horizons. It renewed an interest in politics that had been diminished by schemes and events observed in the political climate of the 90's. Full of topics controversial enough to engage spirited and knowledgeable people, the forum widened my self imposed limited horizons. Even now, 20 something years later, it is a go to source for what is current in the political scene. I appreciate what I have learned from and on this forum and the people I have interacted with in that time. Though I am greatly concerned by the national state of affairs, and have differing points of view from many of you, I genuinely like every one of you. I may not like or agree with your political orientation or views, but I bear no hatred for any of you and care what happens in the lives of all of us. I encourage those of you who think you see hate in others to consider an alternative source of that hate. If you are truly concerned with the state of the nation and its trajectory into an uncertain future, I urge all of you to examine your part in generating the hate that fuels the deepening slide. Find points of agreement to start constructive conversations leading to workable, acceptable compromises. The middle must be strengthened if the nation is to withstand the untenable demands of the extremists. Socrates is recorded saying a great truth, "The unexamined life is not worth living." My prayer for each of you is to consider those weighty words and act upon them. Whether you are a poster who routinely insults members of the 'other' side, or a moderator who takes pot shots at the 'other' side, I urge you to take upon yourself a brutally honest self appraisal. Having read numerous spurious accusations and observed some underhanded actions performed by people posting on this forum, I can't take much more of it. It's past time for me to start enjoying what's left of a shrinking lifetime rather than spending it reading troublesome posts from angry vexatious people with questionable motives. I will likely cease reading and posting after the election. Please, bury the hatchet before we reach the point of burying it or a bullet in another's skull.
Only one candidate has been shot and has had to have the Secret Service shoot at assailants twice. And we still gotta "put him in the bullseye", "lock him up", call him "Hitler, a fascist, a dictator, a fascist dictator" and call all of his supporters "garbage." We have to persecute his ring and the man himself with indictments, prison time and the threat of prosecution. The left took us here and now you want to complain it's getting a little too hot? Well, truth be told, I don't like it much either, but this is what happens. Power and money corrupt. The USA is the hottest thing on the planet and has been for some time, but it will eventually implode. Like all other empires before it. I hope I am wrong.
No, you are likely right, though I hope not. But it's rhetoric like this - your own rhetoric - "The left took us here and now you want to complain it's getting a little too hot?" that's brought us to this point. When one side has pushed, the offended side has pushed back to reset or regain what ground or position they feared lost. And you have the outrageous audacity to label my post "violent rhetoric from the left." You and others on the right view anyone who takes a position even slightly to the left of your own as a leftist. I'm as moderate / politically middle of the road as you will find on this forum. Your comment was offensive to me.
You are. "The left" did not riot on Jan 6; did not threaten my coworkers during Covid; did not force you to follow a failed and flawed leader. Lacuna wrote a heartfelt and personal post. You had to be the first one to come here and dunk on that. I almost feel sorry for you. Almost.
Obviously, my cynicism flew way above your head. I'll try to adjust the altitude lower for next time.
Messageboards are a reflection of society. 50+ years of lowered expectations and permissiveness have gotten us here. Social media sped up the decline.
Extreme polarization and demagoguery are a bad combination. The good news is that the polarization should start receding soon. Hopefully, the worst of the demagoguery goes with it.
You made a great post, and I focus on a part of it to illustrate a challenge I have, with that part in particular. We've recently had a national politician tell a litany of outright lies in the very immediate days following a deadly and horrible national disaster. This impeded aid efforts, very nearly incited his followers to violence, and was done solely for political gain or gamesmanship. And we have a near half of our voting (or at least posting here) block unwilling to acknowledge that that even happened. Similarly, the same politician attacked our democracy by violating the electoral process and peaceful transfer of power by trying to deny the results of an election. And again, a near half of our voting (or at least posting here) block are unwilling to acknowledge that that even happened. As is (at least most of) the political leadership of an entire political party. Obviously, I could post many more similar examples. This is outright denial of reality, as well as conduct we ought to be able to agree is entirely unacceptable. Denial of facts. This is not, for example, disagreeing on the effects or projections of policies or proposals. This is a shocking paradigm of dishonesty never seen on a national political scale in our country. So back to my original point; I'm challenged to see how open and honest conversation can occur (or resume) when there is such a conscious, willful and knowing denial of what the actual facts of current events are.
Is it, though? I suspect that if you picked 5 random posters from the left and 5 random posters from the right and put them in a room together to discuss politics (assuming they didn't already know each other), the discussions would be much more civil (at least until they knew who each other was!). Social media and message boards tend to serve to amplify extreme viewpoints. I would be surprised if many of the folks on here talk to their neighbors this way when discussing opposing political viewpoints. I find this to be an incredible getaway from the folks I normally talk about things with, and that encompasses pretty extreme views on both sides. The same goes for discussions about football for that matter; the views on the message boards (especially the Insider board) in no way resemble the general sentiment about GATOR football from the variety of folks that I encounter. It's worth considering that a lot of folks come here for entertainment and gotchas, but do not appear to have a genuine intention of understanding others let alone wanting them to understand how they think. With that in mind, it's hard to take much of the extreme viewpoints seriously no matter which side they may fall on or who delivers them. Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
Socrates? I wonder how he was seen by his people and the courts in his time? Lol... Just kidding, I don't think he was quite understood in his time. A man out of time... at least Aristotle liked him, and came to his defense.
Likely it will go back into the private conversations. It is better out in the open for all to see and admonish.
The example the OP chose to pick is unsurprising. Maybe this is a genuine critique on polarization, division, and projection. Maybe it’s an attempt to act “holier than thou” towards the other side while ignoring the same spiteful polarizing rhetoric from the left. I guess it depends on how much you want to give the OP the benefit of the doubt.
Message boards reflect the outline of us--the black (dark) fringe outlines of our outer form, and lose all the color and features that betray our true identify. The outline may paint a starkly opposed image... the full pick OTOH, shows a far more fluid and harmonious people than only our dark, fringe outlines. You know it's true. As I posted recently in another thread, if we really felt as intensely about our political differences as these boards suggest... we wouldn't be on here exchanging verbal potshots. We'd be activel planning ways to bring about actual, real change, rather than bantering about with exaggerated depictions of our adversaries, for greater effect/to amplify our points, amidst an ocean of noise. Cest la vie.
You kind of lost me here, with this section of your post, but I wanted to possibly hear you explain. In just the last few weeks we've heard one Presidential candidate lie about FEMA, lie about illegal immigrants in many ways such as eating dogs, reference a political opponent being shot in the face, and tell repeated outright lies about "cheating" in the current election. And that is just from the past few weeks or days. You mention the "same spiteful polarizing rhetoric from the left." For those of us who don't see such rhetoric, could you please provide recent examples? Tx!
Ginny Stroud once proclaimed: I agree with your general sentiment about people feeling more emboldened to say things they might not have otherwise said, but I also don't think we've fallen significantly from our overall level of morality as a country since the early years (remember, our founding fathers and the generations to come didn't think everybody was equal, and certainly not the people that were here before us). I still have hope that most people see the nutty stuff on social media and think "that's a bit nutty, chill out a little bit." Go GATORS! ,WESGATORS
