LittleGreenMan
Well-Known Member
... This forum and how uncivil it is and how few regular contributors there are on it. After all, the internet is kind of wide open in a world with billions of people, and despite the fact that very few Americans speak other languages, lots of people speak English., and many more read & write it well enough to cobble together intelligent thoughts given time and online translation aids. I've been to and on many different sites and they all suffer from the same malady: bomb throwers that can't construct two sentences in a row without name calling and worse. I recall that a hundred years back when I was in school there were usually not a lot of students in any class that participated in discussions. People are generally, -naturally, a little shy about speaking before groups of other people, unsure how their contribution will be received and unwilling to stick their neck out and be embarrassed by one of the more gregarious students, or worse having the teacher officially contradicting them. So, they keep a low profile, and that's pretty much how it goes in life. It's not that only a few people have contributions or concerns that are important to them, or that their concerns are theirs alone, and it's not that they have little to offer that would be welcomed in a civil discussion. You know where I'm going with this.
Good people of every political persuasion, racial & ethnic origin, current situation, leaning in one direction or the other, -or not, can discuss anything civilly if and when they decide the discussion is more productive than not having the discussion. On a world-wide website like HouseOfPolitics we could have such discussions involving hundreds if not thousands, but we suffer through with a handful. That's shameful. That productive discussion is precluded when one party to the "discussion" is intent upon bullying anyone who steps forward. I've decide to stop entertaining these kinds of people. I'm a small guy who learned as a child that bullies need to be dealt with by force, ASAP, or they just intrude further. Online they can't be dealt with that way, I should say that exchanging nasty remarks doesn't achieve anything worthwhile, it just allows them to stay on center stage in spite of having nothing constructive to say. We, -us, the whole of civil online society needs to turn these people off.
Looking through the stats here I see that pjmret has been very active, probably a long time. He's the worst, but Boris Norris is just as bad and Stalin is of the same ilk. I'm putting all three on Ignore. I'm not engaging these people any more, it's like pouring water on an electrical fire; activity without achievement. I don't need that kind of stimulation and nobody but the bullies like it so putting them on ignore works for me but does nothing to make this website more civil and attract more of the right kinds of people. The website owner won't do it. That's a shame because it would be in his best interest to do so. If a bar owner let drunks brawl he soon owns a bar that only has fighting drunks for customers busting the place up and zero good customers that would just come and buy drinks, -and making a living for himself.
I encourage everyone here to shut down those unwilling to keep the conversation productive and especially civil, and I call on management to cut off anyone who is put on Ignore by some number of people, thus marking them as uncivil and a detriment to the site.
I invite your opinions.
Good people of every political persuasion, racial & ethnic origin, current situation, leaning in one direction or the other, -or not, can discuss anything civilly if and when they decide the discussion is more productive than not having the discussion. On a world-wide website like HouseOfPolitics we could have such discussions involving hundreds if not thousands, but we suffer through with a handful. That's shameful. That productive discussion is precluded when one party to the "discussion" is intent upon bullying anyone who steps forward. I've decide to stop entertaining these kinds of people. I'm a small guy who learned as a child that bullies need to be dealt with by force, ASAP, or they just intrude further. Online they can't be dealt with that way, I should say that exchanging nasty remarks doesn't achieve anything worthwhile, it just allows them to stay on center stage in spite of having nothing constructive to say. We, -us, the whole of civil online society needs to turn these people off.
Looking through the stats here I see that pjmret has been very active, probably a long time. He's the worst, but Boris Norris is just as bad and Stalin is of the same ilk. I'm putting all three on Ignore. I'm not engaging these people any more, it's like pouring water on an electrical fire; activity without achievement. I don't need that kind of stimulation and nobody but the bullies like it so putting them on ignore works for me but does nothing to make this website more civil and attract more of the right kinds of people. The website owner won't do it. That's a shame because it would be in his best interest to do so. If a bar owner let drunks brawl he soon owns a bar that only has fighting drunks for customers busting the place up and zero good customers that would just come and buy drinks, -and making a living for himself.
I encourage everyone here to shut down those unwilling to keep the conversation productive and especially civil, and I call on management to cut off anyone who is put on Ignore by some number of people, thus marking them as uncivil and a detriment to the site.
I invite your opinions.
