Leftism Makes You Meaner

archer wrote:

neptunechimney wrote:

archer wrote: [Exactly

...............I simply got tired of the conservatives here telling me what I (and every other liberal here) believe, rather than asking.

archer, do you have any idea how often you have done the same thing to the right? In my opinion you are famous for it. I believe I have pointed it out at least a couple of times.

BTW, in the past I have enjoyed sparing with you. I do not take anything on a MSG board seriously and am sometimes amazed at those that do.

I freely admit to characterizing "conservatives" as a whole, I think that's a game we all play.....but I don't do much of the you _________(insert someone's name here).....are a fascist, or a socialist or whatever. That's personal. I also don't engage in the ridiculous practice of distorting someone's nic to denigrate them......

I just got tired of it, I enjoy reading over here, but avoid too many responses. If I even say "hello" I get attacked, so I'm pretty much done with participating here. I think it's a great message board, but the tone here has taken a nasty turn and I don't care to add anything to it.

It would be nice to have even a heated discussion with those who keep it out of the gutter...and yeah, you have mostly done that, as have several others, but the general tone now even in the courthouse is one of anger, accusation, baiting, and denigration......it just isn't fun anymore.

The generalizations are annoying, as is the assuming what another poster thinks based on what else they've supported, but I never let any of that get to me personally as I know they don't really know me. If an individual poster is bothering you, please use the Foe button - I'd rather see everyone ignore a troll's post, or even just a crappy generalization by a regular poster, and skip back to the issue at hand, rather than getting bogged down in "he said, she said", or leaving the board altogether. With the lesser moderation and increased freedom of speech, comes the negativity of posts that can be upsetting. It's up to us to hold ourselves to a higher standard when posting, and to not get upset at those who post merely to upset others. I've missed you sharing your thoughts archer, but I understand why you've been absent. I wish I could do more without also going down a path I cannot and will not go down.

I shared this thought with some friends last night: I've found that the more respect we have for another, the harder it is to abuse that love and trust.
This goes not only for romantic love, but also for friendship and common fellowship among neighbors, fellow countrymen, and even between all of us on a humanity level. Different people experience those levels to different depths (I myself feel it all the way to the top, and respect all life, as the differences between me and a person in Mozambique is so slight as to not even be significant), but the more we feel connected with one another, the less able we are to be rude and impolite, whether online or in person.

I will say again, I value the opportunity that this forum provides: a place where people of very different beliefs and backgrounds can come together to share thoughts, information, and ideas. I myself have learned much from all of you, been exposed to ideas and information that I wouldn't have otherwise sought out, had to step up my game on supporting my claims, and had so much fun meeting new people! Facebook is where you artificially surround yourself with like-minded people, people who are filtered coming into your life because of where and how you met them (ie, at the gym b/c you work out, or at a Republican caucus b/c you are both passionate about being involved in politics). You aren't going to "change people's minds" there, they likely already agree with you, and they aren't going to push you to question your beliefs. It's nice to have that (although for myself, I dont like everyone agreeing with me, I want to be challenged! Maybe I'm weird...?), but it's not where a true opening up of exposure to new ideas and viewpoints can occur, or how personal growth can be fostered - it does here. That also makes for more clashes as we perceive ourselves as being more different than we really are. It's my hope that we can tone down the superficial back-and-forth crap (don't get me wrong, it's fun sometimes, just not on a majority of threads, or always the same thing from the same poster) and really get some good dialog going! I won't apologize for being optimistic about that, or for trying to find ways to help us get there, in a non-interfering way.

Good posts neptune and archer, thank you.