Posted by Dinah on October 31, 2006, at 13:12:35
In reply to Re: what's right vs what's wrong, posted by Jost on October 31, 2006, at 10:50:10
Speaking personally, I think part of the problem is that Babble isn't split evenly in terms of political leanings. At the time of the last presidential election, things got rather uncomfortable for me, not because people were fighting, but rather because people weren't fighting. They were all pretty much in agreement, very heated, and it was not a welcoming environment for those of us with minority political viewpoints. I don't particularly want to talk politics here, or convince others of my positions. But I don't want to feel like others would think me a horrible person or a pariah either, because I don't have the same political views.
My major overriding political viewpoint is that decent people can come to different conclusions about the same topic. And that therefore respect is a vital component of political discussions. I guess this is in part because I split ideologically along different lines on different topics so I have respect for both dominant political positions. And in part because I had a father who loved talking politics and hated agreement, so on occasion would pretty much take whichever position was open on any given topic, and give a reasonably decent argument for it.
I like Dr. Bob's view of the Politics board. I tend to think he should just outlaw Politics or Religion as topics, but Dr. Bob is against banning topics. And since I respect that viewpoint, I think he's doing the best he can under the circumstances.
poster:Dinah
thread:698908
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20061018/msgs/699324.html