4 ms·

So? Respond to people with reasoned arguments and it doesn't matter who they are. Trolls win when people think they have to achieve purity of thought - to driv

So? Respond to people with reasoned arguments and it doesn't matter who they are. Trolls win when people think they have to achieve purity of thought - to drive away anyone who believes wrong-think even at the cost of the forum itself. Triggering forums to play purity games and cull the insufficiently aligned is a troll victory. That doesn't mean you should let politics bleed into every other thread, but in a politics thread just move past the idea of needing to censor people to win.

ChicagoDave 3y ago
Honestly? Most conservative discourse has gone down a pretty terrible rabbit hole. I’m happy to discuss economics, public safety, education, tax policy, military spending, healthcare reform, and many other government centric issues. But all I see is disinformation, especially folks glued to cable news (they’re all profit centric with very sporadic integrity) that have never traveled outside the states, and have had no contact with a diverse, pluralistic society. I see a lack of empathy for anyone that’s “different”. I’ve watched our middle class get decimated by trickle down economics lies and blaming poor people for being poor. I’ve watched the invention of healthcare for mass profit from Reagan’s presidency that’s made it nearly impossible for anyone to just relax. I’ve watched college go from a Pell grant and a 10-hr/week job to the price of a house, also from Reagan’s presidency. I’ve watch gun ownership rise to hundreds of millions sold including weapons that liquify human life and a party that can watch the outcome of child massacres and just look the other way. I don’t need to sensor anyone. You can talk all you want. But I’m tired of the lies, the greed, the misogyny, and the hate. I honestly don’t have a clue what non-liberals believe anymore. I can’t make sense of any of it. Show me a conservative that actually cares about all of humanity and not just themselves.
- LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
  I don't think that it's always a lib/con issue, even if it gets played that way on the news, and I think the actual conservative side is often a lot more focused on kindness and safety than they are played. Even where I disagree with them (and libs too) I can often find happy middle-ground that both sides, divorced from their TV-applied baggage, can appreciate. It helps that I'm usually not in the USA and speaking about things outside of their rep/dem news-based framing. > I’ve watch gun ownership rise to hundreds of millions sold including weapons that liquify human life and a party that can watch the outcome of child massacres and just look the other way. I think this is a good example. In Canada there was a mass shooting and the government responded with a huge list of firearms restrictions. Ammo, magazines, models of guns, etc. Like 1400+ restrictions. But none of that would have impacted the guns the shooter had, which were all obtained illegally across the border. What it would have done is left even more country families without defense and made it easier for the shooter to go house to house. But it played well in the cities and was used to create an artificial lib/con divide in what is fundamentally a city/country issue. None of the "don't ban guns" people I spoke to wanted anyone to get shot, but they didn't want laws that won't help. We know that the vast majority of guns used in crime are illegal and that they come from the USA, not via stolen legal guns, so no amount of legal firearms crackdown would impact their numbers. If those restrictions were separately proposed when there wasn't a shooting some of them might have gotten some support, but when presented as a knee-jerk solution where they obviously wouldn't work there was a lot of pushback. Nobody wanted more shootings, especially the conservative side who had suffered in them, but they weren't willing to have their tragedy turned into a political defeat as well when it wouldn't even help. > the misogyny I'm pretty sure you mean abortion. I'm pro-choice and the bans scare me, but I see women getting shit on from both sides of the aisle. Men are being put in women's prisons: https://fairplayforwomen.com/campaigns/prisons/ https://fairplayforwomen.com/campaigns/prisons/ Even if they're baby rapers: https://torontosun.com/news/national/hunter-trans-killers-baby-rapists-terrifying-female-inmates https://torontosun.com/news/national/hunter-trans-killers-ba... And when they abuse women, the female inmates face extended punishment for describing them as male: https://insidetime.org/women-face-punishment-for-using-wrong-pronouns/ https://insidetime.org/women-face-punishment-for-using-wrong... Also sports: https://rileygaines.com/ https://rileygaines.com/ https://shewon.org/ https://shewon.org/ And violent terrorism against peaceful protest: https://archive.is/SrILu https://archive.is/SrILu https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/us/former-ncaa-swimmer-riley-gaines-assault-san-francisco-state-university/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/us/former-ncaa-swimmer-riley-... Both sides of the Dem/Rep fight are absolutely abusing women and women's rights, and while they're fighting against the other's excesses it's generally not to help women but to score points.

ChicagoDave 3y ago

Honestly? Most conservative discourse has gone down a pretty terrible rabbit hole. I’m happy to discuss economics, public safety, education, tax policy, military spending, healthcare reform, and many other government centric issues. But all I see is disinformation, especially folks glued to cable news (they’re all profit centric with very sporadic integrity) that have never traveled outside the states, and have had no contact with a diverse, pluralistic society. I see a lack of empathy for anyone that’s “different”. I’ve watched our middle class get decimated by trickle down economics lies and blaming poor people for being poor. I’ve watched the invention of healthcare for mass profit from Reagan’s presidency that’s made it nearly impossible for anyone to just relax. I’ve watched college go from a Pell grant and a 10-hr/week job to the price of a house, also from Reagan’s presidency. I’ve watch gun ownership rise to hundreds of millions sold including weapons that liquify human life and a party that can watch the outcome of child massacres and just look the other way. I don’t need to sensor anyone. You can talk all you want. But I’m tired of the lies, the greed, the misogyny, and the hate. I honestly don’t have a clue what non-liberals believe anymore. I can’t make sense of any of it. Show me a conservative that actually cares about all of humanity and not just themselves.

LawTalkingGuy 3y ago
I don't think that it's always a lib/con issue, even if it gets played that way on the news, and I think the actual conservative side is often a lot more focused on kindness and safety than they are played. Even where I disagree with them (and libs too) I can often find happy middle-ground that both sides, divorced from their TV-applied baggage, can appreciate. It helps that I'm usually not in the USA and speaking about things outside of their rep/dem news-based framing. > I’ve watch gun ownership rise to hundreds of millions sold including weapons that liquify human life and a party that can watch the outcome of child massacres and just look the other way. I think this is a good example. In Canada there was a mass shooting and the government responded with a huge list of firearms restrictions. Ammo, magazines, models of guns, etc. Like 1400+ restrictions. But none of that would have impacted the guns the shooter had, which were all obtained illegally across the border. What it would have done is left even more country families without defense and made it easier for the shooter to go house to house. But it played well in the cities and was used to create an artificial lib/con divide in what is fundamentally a city/country issue. None of the "don't ban guns" people I spoke to wanted anyone to get shot, but they didn't want laws that won't help. We know that the vast majority of guns used in crime are illegal and that they come from the USA, not via stolen legal guns, so no amount of legal firearms crackdown would impact their numbers. If those restrictions were separately proposed when there wasn't a shooting some of them might have gotten some support, but when presented as a knee-jerk solution where they obviously wouldn't work there was a lot of pushback. Nobody wanted more shootings, especially the conservative side who had suffered in them, but they weren't willing to have their tragedy turned into a political defeat as well when it wouldn't even help. > the misogyny I'm pretty sure you mean abortion. I'm pro-choice and the bans scare me, but I see women getting shit on from both sides of the aisle. Men are being put in women's prisons: https://fairplayforwomen.com/campaigns/prisons/ https://fairplayforwomen.com/campaigns/prisons/ Even if they're baby rapers: https://torontosun.com/news/national/hunter-trans-killers-baby-rapists-terrifying-female-inmates https://torontosun.com/news/national/hunter-trans-killers-ba... And when they abuse women, the female inmates face extended punishment for describing them as male: https://insidetime.org/women-face-punishment-for-using-wrong-pronouns/ https://insidetime.org/women-face-punishment-for-using-wrong... Also sports: https://rileygaines.com/ https://rileygaines.com/ https://shewon.org/ https://shewon.org/ And violent terrorism against peaceful protest: https://archive.is/SrILu https://archive.is/SrILu https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/us/former-ncaa-swimmer-riley-gaines-assault-san-francisco-state-university/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/07/us/former-ncaa-swimmer-riley-... Both sides of the Dem/Rep fight are absolutely abusing women and women's rights, and while they're fighting against the other's excesses it's generally not to help women but to score points.