WWTBAM Bored

... reading political posts from, especially from people who have no respect whatsoever for anyone who disagrees with them.

I'm tired of 'liberal' being used as the equivalent of 'anti-American commie.' (For the record, I also don't think 'conservative' is the same as 'fascist,' but you don't hear that one as much nowadays as you did when I was in college.)

I'm tired of people who smugly trot out tired catch phrases like 'liberal media' as a convenient way of dismissing any criticism. (I once spoke to a conservative friend of mine who told me that 'commie rags' like the New York Times were hiding the truth about the success of US policy in Ira ... and then, a week later, spoke to a left-wing friend of mine who told me that the mainstream media were all hiding the truth about the failure of US policy in Iraq.)

My blood pressure can't take suppressing my desire to kick some people.

Join the moratorium lounge we've opened, Frank. I swore about two weeks to never open another political thread on the bored for any reason.

I'm sticking to that. You'll be glad you did.

kayrharris wrote:Join the moratorium lounge we've opened, Frank. I swore about two weeks to never open another political thread on the bored for any reason.

I'm sticking to that. You'll be glad you did.

I actually have no objections to political discussions. I'm just sick of knee-jerk responses and demonization.

franktangredi wrote:

kayrharris wrote:Join the moratorium lounge we've opened, Frank. I swore about two weeks to never open another political thread on the bored for any reason.

I'm sticking to that. You'll be glad you did.

I actually have no objections to political discussions. I'm just sick of knee-jerk responses and demonization.

Especially from smart people. It's so puzzling why some let others do their thinking for them.

Enjoy the Lounge! It's the coolest place on The Bored!

franktangredi wrote:

kayrharris wrote:Join the moratorium lounge we've opened, Frank. I swore about two weeks to never open another political thread on the bored for any reason.

I'm sticking to that. You'll be glad you did.

I actually have no objections to political discussions. I'm just sick of knee-jerk responses and demonization.

Hear, Hear (or is it Here, Hear?)

I wouldn't mind to see a real discussion on real issues and evidence for and against them in a farily objective manner. Unfortunatly we see so much garbage, especially in the new media talk/opinion shows that cover just the fluff and the horse race/popularity aspect that there is no real intellegent discussions of the issues with a sense of history and a sense of what can be shown to have worked or not with somewhat objective evidence. All this crap about lipstick on a pig, should Sarah Palin have had a baby, what about her daughter, is Biden a hypocrite, does Obama's supporters think that he is Jesus - all that crap should never have seen the light of day.

I'm not saying the news should be censored, what I'm saying is that when this type of stuff is put out, I only wished the public response would have been WGAS! If no one laps it up it will dry up. With all the time these cable news outlets have it would be great to see real analysis of real positions with real evidence for and against. Also to see how successful their past analysis proved to be.

What are the effects of tax cuts or tax hikes - what have historically been the consequences, what were the factors that may have biased the results, is the situation analogous - if not how can we test to see what will happen next. If a pundent is constently predicting that if x happens then y will be the result and if y never occurs but z does, and it happens over and over again - why give that pundent more air time? People say what they want with no accountability and that is unfortunate.

To a certain extent I fear that a good portion of this is the lack of quality science eduction in the public schools - there is a successful methodoligy for trying to understand hard and complex systems - but it requires hard work, dedication and above all else the willingness to let all your current ideas be proved wrong - and be happy that it happened because you have then learned a lot.

I would like to see such an experiment here. It would be fun to discuss politics without all the crap and I hope I would learn something. If we were to try it, here are my initial set of ground rules:

Everyone assumes that everyone has the best interest of the country at heart. Assume the best in the other person.

Assumptions are put on the table out in the open with premises expcictly stated, what is the evidence that supports you position and what is the evidence that works against your position. Most importantly, how could what is being proposed be disproved, e.g. I accept A, but if you could show me B then I would have to reject or modify A.

Argue the points, not some abstraction of the point.

Support you points with data.

Finally, anyone who disagress with what I proposed is just plain stupid.

---Jay