You know, it really is interesting to watch political discussions around here... because to me it seems like it encapsulates all that is wrong with your country and your politics. While there are exceptions to the following observations, this is what I've seen so far: There is very little respect for the other person... it seems that it's only given when the other person believes the same as you. A number of you say you have respect, but your posts show otherwise. "Facts" are thrown around quite casually, when most of them are just beliefs, no better than religion... like you have some sort of crystal ball that gives you insight into the future, that you KNOW what is going to happen. Statements are taken and erroneously extrapolated to the worst-case scenario that has nothing to do with the original statement as if that's some sort of proof. Your convictions are quite malleable depending on context and whether or not they help your point of view. You identify so deeply with politics that you can't accept another viewpoint and just carry on and have fun with someone that doesn't agree. You all take a fucking stupid internet forum way too seriously. So yeah, if you're going to get all butt-hurt over what someone says on an internet forum, and then rage-quit, then good riddance. If someone says something that you don't like and you feel like you have to leave because of it, then good riddance... this is not a safe space. This site isn't here to grow in numbers or for any other purpose than I enjoy it as a minor, fun distraction. I accept that without new blood it will eventually die off (more than it already has), but I expected nothing else. That being said, all this bullshit is killing the fun around here, and it has to stop. So here's what I'm going to do... I'm going to give the politics thread a week or so to level out. I'd rather see people withdraw from the discussion than have it devolve into a wall-of-text rage quit. If you can't do that, then fuck off... because you're fucking it up for the rest of us. We managed to have a very successful Serious thread without screwing it up, so here's hoping that the Politics thread can do the same. If it doesn't sort itself out, then I'm either going to kill politics altogether around here, or nuke people that can't seem to understand how to carry on, or something else... I don't know, it's early on a weekend and I'm in no mood to deal with this bullshit right now.
Well, thankfully, shit seems to have cooled off, for the most part. I'm going to unstick this reminder, and am happy to see that everyone weathered the storm, for the most part,