• Current Events & Politics
    Welcome Guest
    Please read before posting:
    Forum Guidelines Bluelight Rules
  • Current Events & Politics Moderators: tryptakid | Foreigner

A PLEA: can we discuss and debate without insults and abuse?

alasdairm

alasdairm

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 22, 2002
Messages
68,906
Location
south lake tahoe, ca
why is it so hard to have a discussion without insults, abuse, sarcasm and belittling?

i'm not going to point fingers or call people out because it's happening across the board. some people are worse than others but people on both 'sides' of the spectrum are guilty. i try very hard not to insult but i'm sure i'm probably guilty too.

so, please, can we find a way to focus on issues and stop telling other people, with whom we disagree, that they're stupid or that they can't possibly believe what they believe unless they're a moron. and all the rest

most of us live in a countries where we are free to speak our minds and we should accept, celebrate and honor that in our discussion.

let's leave "but he started it!" at the door. let's accept responsibility for our part and try to raise the level of discourse in the forum?

thank you.

alasdair
 
Me too. Although I try to keep my criticism to Mr Trump only, I get your point.
 
^ jfc. seriously? this is your chosen contribution to a thread inviting more respectful discussion?

sigh.

alasdair
 
Last edited:
Some people clearly can't help but be childish alasdairm.

As for your plea, I'm not so confident such maturity and respect can be reached within a forum in which the specific subject is politics, unfortunately. As long as this sub is in existence, so will be the childish nonsense insults, name-calling and bickering.....sigh...

It is one of the most potentially ego-damaging subjects after all....human brain can't stand any notion that it may have something so fundamentally, so tightly held as fact, as reality- wrong. It doesn't like to think that it may be dysfunctional in some way- so it lashes out. People lash out, in anger usually, and insult others to satisfy their own ego, to maintain a feeling of sanity. I was actually contemplating this in great depth recently....really kinda interesting, but I won't go into that.

Anyway, although I stand by saying it'll always be a problem, hopefully AT LEAST SOME people can begin trying to improve their behavior acting like mature adults able to calmly discuss important topics and respect each other's differences with understanding, as difficult as it may sometimes be....but as has already been demonstrated here, some people are simply incapable.

-PA
 
Alasdair you say you are probably guitty of it too? There's no probably about it.
 
The reason why people get upset and discussion degenerates is because if someone has a go at a political viewpoint that another has or a political figure admired by others then that gets taken as an insult about themselves personally.


Say for example soso78 is a hard core supporter of the Spice Girls party and I think the Spice Girls and everything they stand for is shit. Soso might then see that Im calling the Spice Girls useless pieces of shit and think I must think he is equally as retarded if hes gonna vote for them so he thinks I just called him a slut but I didnt.


Zig a zig za.

Dont worry im going to bed now.
 
zephyr said:
Personal attacks are boring but a little sarcasm isnt that bad?
Click to expand...
there's nothing wrong with a little sarcasm. i am talking about direct attacks e.g. "you smug cunt".

Soso78 said:
Alasdair you say you are probably guitty of it too? There's no probably about it.
Click to expand...
if you'd care to post an example or two, i'd be happy to discuss civilly.if there's no probably about it, coming up with a few examples to discuss should be easy.

zephyr said:
Say for example soso78 is a hard core supporter of the Spice Girls party and I think the Spice Girls and everything they stand for is shit. Soso might then see that Im calling the Spice Girls useless pieces of shit and think I must think he is equally as retarded if hes gonna vote for them so he thinks I just called him a slut but I didnt.
Click to expand...

comments like "the spice girls are shit" is not a problem,. if somebody who loves the spice girls takes that comment personally, then that's on them.

comments "if you believe that then you are mentally deficient" are closer to being problematic because they're just a not very thinly-veiled way of saying "you are mentally deficient".

so far, the response to this please has been somewhat positive with the exception of a couple of forum participants who seem determined to take a stand on their desire to insult and abuse others. it's disappointing because my hopes were higher.

alasdair
 
Are you really saying your not guilty of belittling people or sarcasm?
 
Does that include accusing people of being: racist, Nazi, fascist, or sympathizer for all of the above?

If so, how are 90% of the people going to continue to debate?

Or are those accusations considered completely normalized and acceptable by now?
 
They are normal mate. They get used so much on bl everyone's used to it.
 
Are you able to have a decent discussion without calling people fuckwit?


Nazi, fascist, whatever...thats all subjective. I dont think they count as insults. ?
 
They're insulting if not deserved. I'd be insulted if someone called me a nazi.
In fact I'd be more insulted being called a nazi than a fuckwit.
 
if you can't or won't post examples, then we can draw the obvious conclusion and move on.

i've asked politely a couple of times now. a couple of people seem determined to make an issue of this simple request to stop insulting and abusing. we can move on and, if they decide that they want to continue, they'll be infracted and temp. banned as appropriate.

alasdair
 
I'm not sure if this is possible? Generally people get so impassioned about politics or about debating or arguing, that they wind up attacking, flaming/trolling, and insulting people who have opinions other than their own.

It's not always the people who post here on CE&P who are right-wing, conservative, or moderate who wind up doing this most of the time either.
 
Nazi, fascist, whatever...thats all subjective. I dont think they count as insults. ?
Click to expand...

Pretty sure identifying someone as a fuckwit is far more subjective than stating that someone is a Nazi.
And Nazis are the biggest fuckwits. You call someone a Nazi you're calling them the biggest fuckwit you've ever seen.

Calling someone a Nazi = saying that someone is less than human. A worthless sociopath, who is completely filled with hate, obsessed with dominating the weak, who literally wants to murder minorities.

How did this become a normal thing to say to someone?

The thing that worries me is these people either: know that what they are saying is obviously untrue yet they say it anyway, OR they actually think this way of good people of their same culture whom they have a political disagreement with. Either way it's a concerning state of mind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top