Guest
09-05-2009, 12:35 PM
I lifted these from the General forum....I wonder if that's legal. Kinda like an attempt at cross pollination of posts between forums. I know if the cross pollination was reversed, Political to General, one of the gleeful, political forum critics would remind us that they won the "subscription" argument and with prompt dispatch, would drop a dime on the administrators to report their outrage. I feel comfortable being sarcastic because surely they would not enter this offensive forum whose ignoble demise they encouraged. "Demise"...., I agree that term is arguable which is why I am posting now. As an aside, I am a hardcore, offshore, bluewater fisherman....I am conversant with "baits" and "baiting" in case you were wondering.
What if you had a big party at your home and a fairly large number of the attendees entered into a loud political discussion in the kitchen and it became heated at times. Then some of the other guests started to complain to you that it was straining their enjoyment. What would you do?
I would tell them to stay out of the kitchen. Anyone offended by comments in political, entered by choice and read what offended them of their own volition. No one told them to enter and read. It was a matter of choice. Their kinda like the people who complain about all the sex, violence and nudity in "R" rated movies but keep viewing them so they can report how offensive the content is. Or.....the man who reported lewd, lascivious conduct to the police. He stated that his neighbors had sex every night in their pool for three weeks. He had set up a step ladder by his fence and watched them every evening. The couple in the pool was offended and filed a counter complaint for invasion of privacy....there goes the neighborhood. This did not happen in the Villages.
My observation and personal opinion is that the partisan breakdown of the Political Forum, roughly mirrors the ideological persuasion of Villagers as reflected in voting trends in this area.
In the 2008 Sumter County presidential election where The Villages makes up a major portion of the electorate, it is interesting to note the result was overwhelmingly (63.01%) for McCain. Obama received only 36.04% of the vote. 82% of eligible voters went to the polls.
30,866 Sumter residents voted for McCain
17,655 voted for Obama
While I do not suggest that all the advocates for silencing political debate in an open forum are of a persuasion that tilts to the left....a compelling argument can be made to validate that claim. I will not elaborate because I will surely be censored for hijacking a thread in a general forum for political talk....even though I didn't start it.
It initially occurred to me that the banishment of the Political forum to the basement of TOTV was based on the sensitivity and/or bias of partisans who were distressed by hardball rhetoric that was inconsistent with their own views. I suspected and speculated that the administrators were being hoodwinked by those with alternate political motivations...like silencing powerful opposing views because logic and common sense precluded them from winning honest debate in an open forum. Pressure for censorship is easier in the private sector.
Before you hit the delete button....I no longer believe that was the case. I took some time off from posting...to the pleasure of some....but must confess to a little lurking to see which way the winds would blow. This thread gives abundant insight. I have seen the administrators make a sincere effort to support the Political Forum with ads, posts and other road maps to the forum. I congratulate them on that effort. True to form, the political forum bashers and critics revert to form and continue to criticize posters from the Political Forum....from a venue outside that evil forum. Weird irony. "Racists"?
I still believe an "opt out" switch would have been fairer and greatly reduced the suspicions about motivations and the "spanking" of political forum contributors. I believe the administrators when they state that opting out was a technically impossible alternative.
A tip of the hat to Bucco, BTK, rshoffer, JimJoe, Muncle and zcaveman (for making the most profound contribution by accident or design ROTFLMAO), et al for standing your ground. Thanks to Tony and Talkhost for having the courage to start and contribute to a "hot" thread. It's getting dark....I'm going to jump in the pool with my wife now.
After lurking without posting in my favorite forum since the banishment, it occurred to me that the zest, challenge, intellectual stimulation and fun of once reasonably unbridled political talk has diminished. Please post if you have a different opinion.
A fair amount of time has passed since Political was unceremoniously uprooted and transplanted to the obvious, articulated pleasure of its critics. By now, measurable trends should start to become apparent and an honest although futile review of consequences would be interesting and informative to many. I would like to know if an empirical look at the numbers would support or dispute diminished interest. I originally stumbled on the forum while exploring the site. It seems a bit harder to "stumble" into Political now that the boo birds have had their way. I wonder how many potential posters the forum has lost. I know the administrators have honestly tried to shore Political up as indicated in the above posts. That in itself tells me there is at least a minor concern about the import of the "subscription" issue. I also recognize how time consuming the policing of an active political forum can be. Did things occasionally get out of hand? For certain. However, some of the worst examples of inappropriate context on this site that I have ever seen came out of the General forum. Once again, without resurrecting old ghosts, the administration did yeoman work in cleaning it up.
The bottom line is.....do you feel the same about the political forum post "subscription" as you did before? Has it changed? For the better?
As always, your thoughtful and valued observations are appreciated.
What if you had a big party at your home and a fairly large number of the attendees entered into a loud political discussion in the kitchen and it became heated at times. Then some of the other guests started to complain to you that it was straining their enjoyment. What would you do?
I would tell them to stay out of the kitchen. Anyone offended by comments in political, entered by choice and read what offended them of their own volition. No one told them to enter and read. It was a matter of choice. Their kinda like the people who complain about all the sex, violence and nudity in "R" rated movies but keep viewing them so they can report how offensive the content is. Or.....the man who reported lewd, lascivious conduct to the police. He stated that his neighbors had sex every night in their pool for three weeks. He had set up a step ladder by his fence and watched them every evening. The couple in the pool was offended and filed a counter complaint for invasion of privacy....there goes the neighborhood. This did not happen in the Villages.
My observation and personal opinion is that the partisan breakdown of the Political Forum, roughly mirrors the ideological persuasion of Villagers as reflected in voting trends in this area.
In the 2008 Sumter County presidential election where The Villages makes up a major portion of the electorate, it is interesting to note the result was overwhelmingly (63.01%) for McCain. Obama received only 36.04% of the vote. 82% of eligible voters went to the polls.
30,866 Sumter residents voted for McCain
17,655 voted for Obama
While I do not suggest that all the advocates for silencing political debate in an open forum are of a persuasion that tilts to the left....a compelling argument can be made to validate that claim. I will not elaborate because I will surely be censored for hijacking a thread in a general forum for political talk....even though I didn't start it.
It initially occurred to me that the banishment of the Political forum to the basement of TOTV was based on the sensitivity and/or bias of partisans who were distressed by hardball rhetoric that was inconsistent with their own views. I suspected and speculated that the administrators were being hoodwinked by those with alternate political motivations...like silencing powerful opposing views because logic and common sense precluded them from winning honest debate in an open forum. Pressure for censorship is easier in the private sector.
Before you hit the delete button....I no longer believe that was the case. I took some time off from posting...to the pleasure of some....but must confess to a little lurking to see which way the winds would blow. This thread gives abundant insight. I have seen the administrators make a sincere effort to support the Political Forum with ads, posts and other road maps to the forum. I congratulate them on that effort. True to form, the political forum bashers and critics revert to form and continue to criticize posters from the Political Forum....from a venue outside that evil forum. Weird irony. "Racists"?
I still believe an "opt out" switch would have been fairer and greatly reduced the suspicions about motivations and the "spanking" of political forum contributors. I believe the administrators when they state that opting out was a technically impossible alternative.
A tip of the hat to Bucco, BTK, rshoffer, JimJoe, Muncle and zcaveman (for making the most profound contribution by accident or design ROTFLMAO), et al for standing your ground. Thanks to Tony and Talkhost for having the courage to start and contribute to a "hot" thread. It's getting dark....I'm going to jump in the pool with my wife now.
After lurking without posting in my favorite forum since the banishment, it occurred to me that the zest, challenge, intellectual stimulation and fun of once reasonably unbridled political talk has diminished. Please post if you have a different opinion.
A fair amount of time has passed since Political was unceremoniously uprooted and transplanted to the obvious, articulated pleasure of its critics. By now, measurable trends should start to become apparent and an honest although futile review of consequences would be interesting and informative to many. I would like to know if an empirical look at the numbers would support or dispute diminished interest. I originally stumbled on the forum while exploring the site. It seems a bit harder to "stumble" into Political now that the boo birds have had their way. I wonder how many potential posters the forum has lost. I know the administrators have honestly tried to shore Political up as indicated in the above posts. That in itself tells me there is at least a minor concern about the import of the "subscription" issue. I also recognize how time consuming the policing of an active political forum can be. Did things occasionally get out of hand? For certain. However, some of the worst examples of inappropriate context on this site that I have ever seen came out of the General forum. Once again, without resurrecting old ghosts, the administration did yeoman work in cleaning it up.
The bottom line is.....do you feel the same about the political forum post "subscription" as you did before? Has it changed? For the better?
As always, your thoughtful and valued observations are appreciated.