Bowfinger: You say that as if it's a bad thing. It is Anand's forum; he (or his delegates) can impose whatever rules they want. We are only freeloading guests. If we cannot abide by the local rules, we are free to choose to go elsewhere. That is our one and only right here. I commend Idontcare's tremendous effort to involve the community. He had a great vision of how to elevate P&N. Unfortunately, that seems to have confused a few people who now think they are entitled to have the forum run to their personal whims.
M: Whim? My thinking on how the forum should run has evolved dramatically in the last month. I now hold opinions dramatically different than those I used to. Because I know that the folk who insult me do so because they hate themselves, I had an easy time handling that kind of rage and an easy time of reflecting it back, of course only for educational purposes, you understand. But I get in trouble for that and was reminded I should know better. But being a sensitive liberal who must reflect on the rational validity of criticism leveled at me, I started thinking myself about the crisis facing the nation, the total polarization that has occurred between the left and the right, and because of the web, and the fact that I'm not the only one trying to find an answer to this, I came across a bunch if interesting stuff that challenges my liberal thinking and changed my mind on how the forum should run.
I now believe the rules the forum has adopted contribute to and further the polarization between the left and the right because each is allowed to insult the other and the scientific evidence shows this only deepens divisions. So it doesn't matter to me what the forum members voted or how liberal they wish to be about allowing insults, I now believe that doing that is destructive, not only to the forum but the members and the country and the world, to the degree that folk here are part of those things. My intention is to voice that opinion and change minds. The forum rules as they now stand do not comport with the best in human wisdom's understanding of human nature and only create further polarization between the left and the right, here.
If that is the intention, then fine, but if we are operating under the delusion that forum tolerance of insult is a positive necessity, then we are operating under a delusion, in my opinion. Demonization of the other is the major problem our political system faces and it is the result of instinctive human tribalism. It is unamenable to reason and needs to be managed or it will tear the country apart. As these are scientific facts based on the best new understandings of the human brain and personality, they are not widely known to many people. One application of rule that will further the aim of healing would be an absolute contempt for demonization of other people. That has to become as big and universal a no no as racism
B: But your opinion lost. It appeared to me you responded petulantly, going way over the line, as if to say, "Fuck you all! I'll show you what a bad decision that was." It's time to move on.
M: That is how it appears to you, only your opinion which you can't objectively substantiate, but, were he required to state his opinion as opinion and supply reasons as to why he believes the reasons he supplies, he would not seem so petulant and you might be able to introduce arguments of your own.
We have basically two camps that throw rocks over walls at each other and we tolerate this because the other side is worthless. Nobody is ever going to see the value in somebody throwing rocks at you. Take away the rocks and maybe folk will come out from behind their walls. Liberals and conservatives have different ways of seeing the world and incomprehension on both sides of the nature of the other plus the tribal instinct, and without an external enemy, leads to just what we see going on here and nationally.
Put downs were the cause that made us hate ourselves. Put downs are what we reach for when we receive them. Allow them and you promote self degradation. The only place in that equation that can be changed is what a forum tolerates. You can't change human nature, you can only create conditions where either the positive or the negative can grow. We have chosen to set the conditions for the negative. We should rethink that position, in my opinion.
Yeah, a tongue in cheek apology. They don't count, and you know it. Try using that type of an apology on your mom when she yells at you because you did not take out the trash again.
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