Posted by Dinah on December 6, 2004, at 3:35:23
In reply to Re: politics board - more than one?, posted by mair on December 5, 2004, at 10:32:56
Thanks Mair. I guess my interest in politics is more intellectual than passionate. I can generally see the point of all sides.
I had tons of practice. My father and I used to have hours and hours and hours of political and current issues and history (and religion and philosophy) discussions that would fit perfectly into Dr. Bob's civility guidelines. Daddy enjoyed arguing (in the nonpassionate sense) different sides of the same discussion. And while I think he did it just for the fun of it, it makes perfect sense too. Because there are generally coherent arguments on most sides of any issue. So we'd talk politics in terms of how shrewd a politician's strategy was. And current events in terms of likely outcomes of various possible decisions, and the political likelihood of each coming to pass. Religious and philosophical discussions went the same way.
My mother is an extreme and very passionate conservative, but from my conversations with my father and his friends, it never occurred to me that so many people approached topics like my mother rather than my father.
When the Faith board first came up, I was excited thinking that I could finally have somewhere to have the discussions that Daddy and I used to have, and that my husband detests. But it didn't take me long to discover that Faith wasn't quite like that. And I see no evidence that a board on current affairs (and I agree with Mel that if Dr. Bob is foolhardy enough to go ahead with this, he ought to change the name) would be any more like it.
I'm not sure that two boards would solve the issues that I see. If, for example, a Gorgatrope came to the site and there was on the site a board in which members of Babble were saying how angry they were that Gorgatropes were so shortsighted and uninformed and that they felt the need to apologize for the actions of Gorgatropes (which implies that the actions of Gorgatropes are shameworthy), I'm guessing that even if the Gorgatrope doesn't post on that board, it will affect how he will relate with the people who are saying those things on every board. Because no one likes to think that people think that badly of them. And I doubt many people are unaffected by it.
Separate boards, same boards, Social, Politics, Current Affairs, Republican Board, Democrat Board. Passionate denunciation of viewpoints, especially passionate denunciation of viewpoints that verge into passionate denunciation of a group, is bound to cause feelings of alienation and lessen supportive and loving feelings.
I understand that people think that's a fair trade. And if that's what people, and more importantly Dr. Bob want, then that's fine.
I'm just sad. Because it seems like there must be lots of places on the internet to denounce Bush or people who voted for Bush or people who believe in this or that policy. But there aren't that many places with a loving supportive environment for those with mental health issues.
But that's just me, and I'm clearly in the minority. In more ways than one. :)
poster:Dinah
thread:422023
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20041109/msgs/425106.html