RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Fortress of Awesome Chat Worst RKMB posters of all time!!

THEBastard comes to mind as well. But for a different reason than those guys.

If you don't care, why did you--less than eight hours before--ask for me to respond to some of the points raised on this "petty" thread?

To be honest, mere curiosity. You made a point, several people made valid challenges, and I wanted to see how you would respond when people disputed your claims. Everybody reacts differently, and I wanted to know how you would. Also, it was kinda nice to see that for a while discussion was civil, and it kept my interest. But once the "slamming the other side" begins and discussion comes to an end, I lose interest. And it may not have been at that point yet, but I had the feeling it was going to, and I was annoyed, ebause I thought we had a real debate going here. I was willing to get involved to the degree of sharing insights on public opinion on how the media works in regards to polls and that sort of thing (because I work in the media - check out my webpage and see for yourself), but I have no interest in another "liberal vs. conservative" debate. It's gotten old, and when neither side is listening to the other, which often happens in political debates, what's the point?

I've come across these types of debates elsewhere, and besides getting sick of this feeling of divisiveness that many of my fellow Americans insiston, I'm tired of people presenting valid points that get snubbed just because of what side they're on.

As noted to the other poster, is any question about how our government is being operated ever pointless?

Not in the least. But slamming somebody for their support, or lack thereof, of a certain ideaology is if you're not willing to hear them out. And in many "lib vs. con" feuds, most people aren't willing to hear the other guys out. They have their stance, they won't change it, and how are you supposed to debate with someone who won't listen to what you're saying?

DISCLAIMER: This is the general "you," not G-Man or anyone else here

If you are not interested in the discussion, you neither have to participate nor read.

I'm interested in discussion. I just don't want to get sucked into a "liberal vs. conservative" deadlock. I've been sucked into too many, or hastily dived into them as a response to a comment I didn't agree with, and I've gotten tired of it.

<strong>I hope, however, you will choose to reconsider and contribute some more points to ponder. </strong>

If people are willing to listen, I'm willing to speak (and even sometimes when they're not willing).

The most annoying thing about partisanship is the fact that a lot of it is based on stereotyping and generalizations (without qualifiers like "most.") Look at any stereotype ever made about liberals or conservatives, and you will find a decent number of exceptions. In any race, nationality, gender, religion, political party, there are good people and bad people, and to only focus on one or the other isn't right.

It's like what Abraham tells G-d in the Bible when he's told of the destruction of Soddom and Gemorrah - "will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?" There are many conservatives I don't like, but I don't hate conservatives period. There are many liberals I admire, but I don't admire them all. I just think people need to be careful with broad generalizations, because there will always be exceptions.

For example:

I was listening to "The Schnitt Show" yesterday on my way home from work, and they were talking about the possibility of the draft. Some caller made a remark that "liberals and Democrats don't want to serve in the military." Schnitt said he agreed, and he said that he really wondered if liberals and Democrats would be willing to answer the call to serve their country if they were needed.

In 1968, my dad, who describes himself as a liberal Democrat (I'm more moderate than my parents are), enlisted in the United States Air Force during a war he did not believe in under a president he did not support. He served this country proudly and honorably, as have many other liberals and Democrats. When people make broad generalizations that say "liberals or Democrats don't want to serve in the military," they are dismissing my dad like he didn't matter.

Granted this was loyalty and defense of a parent that was on my mind (they stick up for me, I stick up for them), rather than politics, but I was annoyed with Schnitt's comments, because my dad is an exception to that claim. I've heard Schnitt play the Devil's Advocate in a lot of situations. He's a smart guy, and surely he must know there are exceptions to his claim. But because the caller was taking a shot at liberals, he didn't object. As far as I'm concerned, people can slam liberals all they want if they really feel the need, but my dad served this country when it needed him, and nobody has the right to say his service didn't count just because of his political ideaologies.

This is the problem with partisanship. When you lash out blindly at a certain group, people get hurt like this.

Pro could be an asshole at times but I think he did that some of that just to get a reaction from people. I like Pro and I wish he would come back.

McGurk.

Because he's obviously Rob's alt.

Oh yeah. Bastard.

He's a fucking race-obsessed idiot who truly believes that it's in the core nature of every white person to keep him, and every other black person, from succeeding--whether they know it or not. But he tries to act like he's not angry at everyone anyway.

Upon leaving, did I become cast as the villain foreign anti-American leftwinger?

No, my friend, you were well known as that long before leaving the board.

As for Pro and Annie:

a. Pro always struck me as a good and funny guy;

McGurk.

Because he's obviously Rob's alt.

In The Ass social network!

.....

But seriously.

I never had a problem with him until recently....a matter of years ago I suppose. But he just kept getting progressively more insane until things finally reached a breaking point. I'm not totally sure what drove him over the edge. I have a feeling it's a combination of malignant narcissism and bi-polar disorder--and of course the fact that he fries his brain for purposes of recreation (I'll never understand people who do that).

There's always been something wrong with his character, but he's just never really been given the opportunity to have it implode until his 10 year point.

It might surprise many that for most of his time here, I didn't have a problem with Pro, up until he went off the deep end in the latter half of 2011.

Up till then, he was a left-leaning guy, and we got into it occasionally, but it was a dialogue where we each laid out the conservative and liberal perspectives of the argument.

Then he just got into this fanatical mindset, where --as Pariah said-- he just went bipolar or something, and it just became impossible to have any kind of a dialogue, where he would just hurl endless insults, and paraphrase others' posts, scripting us all as racists or whatever, and quite a few of us here put him on ignore, because it just became impossible to have anything resembling a conversation.

Especially with...

• Occupy Wall Street topic
  
  and
  
  On the subject of Pavlovian Psychopaths... topic
  
  and
  
  Paulites in revolt topic

...Pro just went way the fuck off the deep end. He tries to come off as if he's just taunting those he disagrees with and having fun. But then he repeatedly says some really angry and intolerant things, and envisions violence to "exterminate those who won't evolve into the 21st century".
And then when caught at it, he just jumps into "Hey I was just kidding" or "yanking your chains" or whatever. No. He clearly wasn't.

And just smothered all dissenting opinion in an ocean of endless copy-and-paste.


In the last two years or so, I'd say Pro was the worst poster.

Since Pariah, G, and Jake decided to stalk me over at BLEEDING COOL (where I live now) for no real apparent reason yesterday

Nobody invites me to raids anymore.

You're getting too old for this job, Mxy.

Nobody invites me to raids anymore.