The Biden Administration

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

The Spartans? WTH. Truly pathetic. Crowder is such a loser.

 

[anticlimatic]

Oh my poor AC starved typo-C….

Fear not. Daddy is home.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

Although 44% of Americans Live in States That Have Legalized Pot, Federal Prohibition Is Not Likely to End Anytime Soon – Reason.com

Lawsuit: Immigrant Kids Are Suicidal, Eating Rotten Food in Secretive Detention Facilities – Reason.com

 

[anticlimatic]

Lawsuit: Immigrant Kids Are Suicidal, Eating Rotten Food in Secretive Detention Facilities – Reason.com

Still, it's not clear that Democratic legislators actually want to legalize marijuana. The MORE Act, which was reintroduced last month, attracted support from just five Republicans. It is chock-full of new regulations, taxes, and spending programs that seem designed to repel even Republicans who are sympathetic to the idea that the federal government should not interfere with state marijuana policies (a position that Biden also claims to favor).

Hilarious name.

Sums up most democrat bills- MORE EVERYTHINGGGG!!! Pad that bill out with as many special interest lobbyist payoffs (Joe Biden certainly didn't get himself elected here), and also create a bunch more administrative regulatory positions with their subsequent tax dollar salaries, and pay for all of it with printed money/money that doesn't exist. Textbook Washington.

Congress new job seems to be shitting out giant omnibus spending bills for special interests anytime there's majority enough to pull it off, and not much else. In between they posture for votes to maintain power. Rinse and repeat.

 

[anticlimatic]

How Big Tech Censorship Is Harming Free Speech :: Civil Liberties Union for Europe

That would be up to the echo chamber enforcement powers that be.

 

[The Cat]

Poor thing, lacking even the most basic capability of self control. Ah well. Seeing as how you're at the mercy of others then... Enjoy what time you have left darling...

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Hilarious name.

Sums up most democrat bills- MORE EVERYTHINGGGG!!! Pad that bill out with as many special interest lobbyist payoffs (Joe Biden certainly didn't get himself elected here), and also create a bunch more administrative regulatory positions with their subsequent tax dollar salaries, and pay for all of it with printed money/money that doesn't exist. Textbook Washington.

Congress new job seems to be shitting out giant omnibus spending bills for special interests anytime there's majority enough to pull it off, and not much else. In between they posture for votes to maintain power. Rinse and repeat.

I think people would have less of an issue with you if you tried addressing the main points people actually made, rather than treating everything as an opportunity to rattle off preprogrammed talking points.

It's just a tip. It's up to you whether or not you follow it. If you want to be a martyr for "free thought" (lol), that's probably what you'll end up being.

I gave advice to Jaguar, too, he didn't take it, got a month-long ban, and quit the forum.

 

[anticlimatic]

I think people would have less of an issue with you if you tried addressing the main points people actually made, rather than treating everything as an opportunity to rattle off preprogrammed talking points.

It's just a tip. It's up to you whether or not you follow it. If you want to be a martyr for "free thought" (lol), that's probably what you'll end up being.

I gave advice to Jaguar, too, he didn't take it, got a month-long ban, and quit the forum.

There are no “people” here- just an ever diminishing borg squad of stereotypically techie leftists censoring themselves into extinction. A year from now it will just be you and 20 mods trying to think of what else there is in the world to make a “what’s your favorite X” thread about. The problem with this place isn’t me. People like me are the solution to this place- but it doesn’t seem like we want solutions here. It seems like whoever is at the switchboard is just waiting for people to stop posting so they can shut down the server and move on with their life.

Which would be my advice to you, for your own good. It’s hard to realize how inheritly toxic this place is until you enjoy some time away.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

There are no “people” here- just an ever diminishing squad of stereotypically techie leftists censoring themselves into extinction. A year from now it will just be you and 20 mods trying to think of what else there is in the world to make a “what’s your favorite X” thread about. The problem with this place isn’t me. People like me are the solution to this place- but it doesn’t seem like we want solutions here. It seems like whoever is at the switchboard is just waiting for people to stop posting so they can shut down the server and move on with their life.

I'm not saying you have been the chief problem with this place (I'd actually say the biggest problem in the past has been overblown drama that spills into everything, factions jockeying for influence, and people just unwilling to tolerate deviance from their own personal orthodoxies), but I am suggesting ways in which you could integrate into this community, if that is truly your desire, and that it does not necessarily involve giving up your beliefs. Everyone here is familiar with right-wing talking points, you repeating them is not going to convince anyone. I'm merely suggesting that relating to people here as individuals rather than as members of a leftist Biden-worshipping authoritarian hivemind could get you better results and alienate less people. I don't think it's that crazy, if you truly feel like you want to belong here and people are ganging up on you unfairly.

If your intention, however, is to be a martyr for what you believe to be the truth because you are the "solution" to this place, than have at it, I guess.

 

[Jai]

There are no “people” here- just an ever diminishing borg squad of stereotypically techie leftists censoring themselves into extinction. A year from now it will just be you and 20 mods trying to think of what else there is in the world to make a “what’s your favorite X” thread about. The problem with this place isn’t me. People like me are the solution to this place- but it doesn’t seem like we want solutions here. It seems like whoever is at the switchboard is just waiting for people to stop posting so they can shut down the server and move on with their life.

Which would be my advice to you, for your own good. It’s hard to realize how inheritly toxic this place is until you enjoy some time away.

Misplaced self-righteousness is so satisfyingly cringe; please, do go on about how you are the saviour of TypoC and everyone that doesn't agree with your political stance is toxic while also implying that they aren't people. While you're at it you should throw in the word 'commie' again too, that'll really show them.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Like, I'm not going to stick up for and defend anyone who is going to shit on me as a member of a techie leftist Biden-worshipping cult. I'm not a therapist here to help you work out your severe issues with psychological projection.

 

[anticlimatic]

I'm not saying you have been the chief problem with this place (I'd actually say the biggest problem in the past has been overblown drama that spills into everything, factions jockeying for influence, and people just unwilling to tolerate deviance from their own personal orthodoxies), but I am suggesting ways in which you could integrate into this community, if that is truly your desire, and that it does not necessarily involve giving up your beliefs. Everyone here is familiar with right-wing talking points, you repeating them is not going to convince anyone. I'm merely suggesting that relating to people here as individuals rather than as members of a leftist Biden-worshipping authoritarian hivemind could get you better results and alienate less people. I don't think it's that crazy, if you truly feel like you want to belong here and people are ganging up on you unfairly.

If your intention, however, is to be a martyr for what you believe to be the truth because you are the "solution" to this place, than have at it, I guess.

How’s my treatment of you been, in your opinion?

I’m uninterested in integration into any ideological collective I’m afraid, which is what this “community” has decided to center its communal ties around. Other communities I’m a part of don’t operate in this way, and those are the only ones I’m interested in being a part of. I just don’t have sufficient respect or use for ideological collectivism. It is what it is, and the forum can take it or leave it.

 

[Coriolis]

I'm not saying you have been the chief problem with this place (I'd actually say the biggest problem in the past has been overblown drama that spills into everything, factions jockeying for influence, and people just unwilling to tolerate deviance from their own personal orthodoxies), but I am suggesting ways in which you could integrate into this community, if that is truly your desire, and that it does not necessarily involve giving up your beliefs. Everyone here is familiar with right-wing talking points, you repeating them is not going to convince anyone. I'm merely suggesting that relating to people here as individuals rather than as members of a leftist Biden-worshipping authoritarian hivemind could get you better results and alienate less people. I don't think it's that crazy, if you truly feel like you want to belong here and people are ganging up on you unfairly.

If your intention, however, is to be a martyr for what you believe to be the truth because you are the "solution" to this place, than have at it, I guess.

There is no substitute for actually explaining your point of view, or where you take issue with someone else's. Much of forum discussion, especially in the politics subforum, falls short of that. That has long been part of the problem, and part of what led to closing that subforum several years ago. Absent substantive, evidence-based explanations, all one has is those superficial, jargon-ridden talking points. Or worse: ad-hominem attacks, putting words in others' mouths, and other forms of denigration, baiting, and trolling.

How’s my treatment of you been, in your opinion?

I’m uninterested in integration into any ideological collective I’m afraid, which is what this “community” has decided to center its communal ties around. Other communities I’m a part of don’t operate in this way, and those are the only ones I’m interested in being a part of. I just don’t have sufficient respect or use for ideological collectivism. It is what it is, and the forum can take it or leave it.

The solution here is obvious to anyone with constructive intentions.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

How’s my treatment of you been, in your opinion?
\

I would say you've treated me no worse than any other member you consider part of the hive mind. Personally I'm inclined to just brush you off; I've seen many posters here over the years who I have considered far worse.

The biggest issue is really that I've found I can spend a lot of time creating a well-thought out response to something I've written, and then you'll respond by talking about something that I never mentioned in any of the previous five pages of the discussion and has nothing to do with views I actually hold. You seem unwilling to actually engage with others and seem to prefer addressing a strawman. That's not really a conversation I want to have, in part because it isn't actually a conversation. I could pretty much type anything and you'd give the same response by going on some irrelevant tangent that boils down to "Republicans good, Democrats bad."

Contrary to what you might think, I don't find anything provocative or threatening about that. You don't really introduce any provocative ideas to me that bring any cognitive dissonance, they are all either things I've heard before ( and have pretty good reasons why I reject it because I've put a lot of thought into it, having often examined it as a possibility), or at best obvious observations that apply equally across the political spectrum, but you assume it doesn't apply to your side.

My attitude is more that it's boring. At this point, I'm convinced I'm not going to hear anything out of you I haven't already heard 1000 times before. I've been arguing with Republicans on the internet since the days of AOL message boards (and in those days they seemed to be the majority in places like that). Trust me, none of this stuff is breaking my brain.

Other folks are less patient than me and are understandably sick of people with your mentality gleefully hastening the decline of this country, as well as in some cases making their personal lives more difficult and generally supporting measures that make things worse for them.

 

[Coriolis]

IMy attitude is more that it's boring. At this point, I'm convinced I'm not going to hear anything out of you I haven't already heard 1000 times before. I've been arguing with Republicans on the internet since the days of AOL message boards (and in those days they seemed to be the majority in places like that). Trust me, none of this stuff is breaking my brain.

Other folks are less patient than me and are understandably sick of people with your mentality gleefully hastening the decline of this country, as well as in some cases making their personal lives more difficult and generally supporting measures that make things worse for them.

I can tell the difference between Republicans/conservatives who are interested in an actual exchange of opinions, and those who are not interested in understanding the point of view of people who disagree with them. I have had worthwhile and enjoyable conversations with the first, but engaging with the second is generally a waste of time. Yes, there are Democrats/liberals who are similarly closed-minded. I have run into some of those, but not nearly as many. I wonder if there is something implicit in the liberal or progressive worldview that makes them more likely to examine and consider divergent points of view, but that is pure speculation. In any case, this forum has had a good handful of members who complain that more conservative political viewpoints don't get a fair hearing, while not bothering to make an actual case for them, and rebuffing requests for explanation.

 

[anticlimatic]

Other folks are less patient than me and are understandably sick of people with your mentality gleefully hastening the decline of this country, as well as in some cases making their personal lives more difficult and generally supporting measures that make things worse for them.

Pot, meet Kettle.

 

[anticlimatic]

There is no substitute for actually explaining your point of view, or where you take issue with someone else's. Much of forum discussion, especially in the politics subforum, falls short of that. That has long been part of the problem, and part of what led to closing that subforum several years ago. Absent substantive, evidence-based explanations, all one has is those superficial, jargon-ridden talking points. Or worse: ad-hominem attacks, putting words in others' mouths, and other forms of denigration, baiting, and trolling.


The solution here is obvious to anyone with constructive intentions.

I’ve painstakingly explained the logic of many of my ideas before, many times to you personally, but the fact that politics has become a religion substitute for your kind makes the subject far less objective and rational than you assume. There is a deep psychological need to feel moral and just, and the subconscious will dismiss deconstruct and bend whatever reasoning or reality is necessary to its will to defend that. This is where censorship kicks in- when logic can no longer win arguments, they must therefore be silenced for whatever adhoc reasoning fits.

I used to think it was important that people with opposing ideas talked, and I’m certain it still is, but I no longer care to advocate for it. My SO came around on some of the more obvious bits of leftist insanity- she’s embarrassed by the woke cult, cancel culture, and trans women being allowed to kick the shit out of actual women (most of her heros are second wave feminists). She’s also starting to realize how important economic management is and is beginning to understand how awful the government is at everything, and how absolutely moronic the people in charge actually are. If we can come to a compromise, I don’t really care about anyone else. Debate with strangers has always just been practice for me for more important people in my life.

So yes, the constructive solution is obvious.

*I will add that where the forum fails the fostering of political debate is the same place most online forums fail it. There is a double standard applied to right wing posters that inevitable terminates the possibility of a common ground with which to communicate. End result being that it’s impossible for people on the right (and I mean literally impossible) to participate in discussions here. Maybe that’s what you want, but in a country that’s 50/50 having a 99/1 representation is quite divorced from reality.

 

[anticlimatic]

I can tell the difference between Republicans/conservatives who are interested in an actual exchange of opinions, and those who are not interested in understanding the point of view of people who disagree with them. I have had worthwhile and enjoyable conversations with the first, but engaging with the second is generally a waste of time. Yes, there are Democrats/liberals who are similarly closed-minded. I have run into some of those, but not nearly as many. I wonder if there is something implicit in the liberal or progressive worldview that makes them more likely to examine and consider divergent points of view, but that is pure speculation. In any case, this forum has had a good handful of members who complain that more conservative political viewpoints don't get a fair hearing, while not bothering to make an actual case for them, and rebuffing requests for explanation.

Open mindedness is an inherently liberal trait, and closed mindedness is an inherently conservative trait. But those qualifiers no longer pair with left and right. Instead you have a bit of both now, libertarians being more open minded than the totalitarian cult of woke- which has been taking your side of the aisle over since Obama’s second term.

Weirdly enough the left is getting more and more traditionally “conservative” in its modus operandi while the right is now the one growing more open minded. Old fashioned liberals like yourself are slowly going extinct while the dogmatic lunatics you created take over the asylum.

 

[ceecee]

I can tell the difference between Republicans/conservatives who are interested in an actual exchange of opinions, and those who are not interested in understanding the point of view of people who disagree with them. I have had worthwhile and enjoyable conversations with the first, but engaging with the second is generally a waste of time. Yes, there are Democrats/liberals who are similarly closed-minded. I have run into some of those, but not nearly as many. I wonder if there is something implicit in the liberal or progressive worldview that makes them more likely to examine and consider divergent points of view, but that is pure speculation. In any case, this forum has had a good handful of members who complain that more conservative political viewpoints don't get a fair hearing, while not bothering to make an actual case for them, and rebuffing requests for explanation.

Well, yeah. But victim mentality is a key component of conservatism. An explanation would end the victimization and without it, what would become of their façade? They simply wait for the right wing outrage machine to feed them something new. But they beg to have a "conversation" with anyone on the left because it pisses them off. And fuels that victim mentality. Rinse and repeat.