Political blurbs and agendas

Please, Jeff, close this thread before I make derogatory comments about gonzo's obvious anal retentiveness and his complete lack of comprehension of the "English" languarge. If I had not forsworn making politcal remarks in this forum, I would say that his responses bear a striking similarity to the lame and contradictory statements of George Bush.

 

You just did. Be honest

 

There is a group of people that keep on posting insults with the same political bend. Are you guys capable of discussing the subject. I proposed something to see what other points of view there were. Suggestions that I should not change at all are just stupid. The object of a discussion forum is to learn. Sarcasm and comparisons to politicians you apparently hate only show a narrow mind and a lack of intelligent discourse. My command of English and three other languages is above average. If there are such flagrant mistakes or errors in my use of English, can you point them out?

 

Some smartasses can make stones fight and should be treated with the contempt they deserve by the rest of mankind, until they dry up and learn!

 

Gonzo, you objected to simple opinions along with the worse behavior of agendas and blurbs. I agree with Vega and maybe some others that you may have gone a little too far there. In fact, I think you accepted that as well. I would say Vega has been petty in playing "gotcha" and rubbing your nose in that minor mis-statement. But his quoting you with the other parts of your statement removed is not a misquote. He did not change your meaning, all he did was emphasize the part that was relevant to his point. The last few posts look to me like they have more to do with ego and scoring "points" than the thread topic.

 

Come on Guys! By my count there have been 26 posts in this thread since anyone made mention of BOATS in any way shape or form - the very reason why I agreed with Gonzo in the 1st place - it's because political views (whether you agree with them or not) have a habit of distracting, redirecting and generally just buggering up otherwise sensible and interesting discussions.
Now, can we please desist from this unending to-and-fro of insults and get back to it....

 

Willallison: Come on Guys! By my count there have been 26 posts in this thread since anyone made mention of BOATS in any way shape or form
Will, this is a thread about politics in an "Open" forum. It doesn't have to be about boats.

... political views (whether you agree with them or not) have a habit of distracting, redirecting and generally just buggering up otherwise sensible and interesting discussions.
Couldn't agree with you more. Politics tends to stink up conversations and needs to be quarantined.

Now, can we please desist from this unending to-and-fro of insults and get back to it....

Will, were you interpreting my post as derogatory? I was trying to be critical but fair. I would point out that it's mostly safewalrus who has been calling people names ("boring b@$#%&s" and "smartasses"), and he's one of the people in favor of allowing politics in the boat forums. Gonzo and Vega have been a little petty recently, but I don't see them insulting each other.

 

And my two posts above were meant to express sarcasm - that was the intent of the " " for the second posting.

 

awww don't go all defensive on me - I wasn't pointing the finger at anyone! It's just that none of this has anything to do with why we are all members of this fabulous site...
...now there are 30 non-boating-related posts... including mine!!

 

Willallison: awww don't go all defensive on me - I wasn't pointing the finger at anyone!
Then what exactly did you mean by "unending to-and-fro of insults"? You were "pointing the finger" at everyone who has posted to this thread.

Willallison: It's just that none of this has anything to do with why we are all members of this fabulous site...
It has everything to do with defining what this site is NOT about. Specifically, what kinds of political comments are inappropriate or out of line.

Willallison: Come on Guys! By my count there have been 26 posts in this thread since anyone made mention of BOATS in any way shape or form
Skippy: Will, this is a thread about politics in an "Open" forum. It doesn't have to be about boats.
Willallison: ...now there are 30 non-boating-related posts... including mine!!

Speaking of insults Will, do you even read other peope's posts before responding to them? Both of those comments of yours are irrelevant, because this is a POLITICAL thread in an OPEN forum. This thread has enough BS from the political types, I don't think it needs any more from you.

 

I think that my original post was not limited enough. Political comments are sometimes relevant. For example, there was a thread about doing business in China. Their system may not allow suing for damages like we are used to. Discussing a political situation, in this case would make sense as long as it was limited.

 

Bloody Hell Gonzo, that makes sense, careful you'll have me agreeing with you in a minute!

I think we've established what Political comments are about and how they should be used and for Willallisons sake we could now go back to boats! I for one am exhausted with all this

 

OK, I'll take my soap box back into the attic.

 

I sort of think it was too limited. The choices should have included a grey area such as "sometimes". The question could have been better defined about people bringing politics into an established boat thread as opposed to whether people should start a political thread in a boating NG in the first place. Better yet would be to ask whether off topic topics have any redeeming social value in a boating NG. If you feel it's OK to start threads about child ********** in this NG, I can't see how you can object to political threads in this NG. Sure, I agree it's an important problem, so is DUI and continuing human slavery. If you bring up child abuse and ***********, I can easily connect that to religion, then I can connect religion to fear, ignorance, ego and power, and here we are, right back to politics. I can see your point about inane BS cluttering up a thread but it seems easy enough to ignore since there isn't much of it. I can definitely see your point about political and other topics becoming disrespectful and infecting the rest of the NG. Since there is no third choice, I voted no. I believe the people in this group are quite capable of regulating themselves and if a little discussion can't bring the out of line back in line, we have a very reasonable Andy of Mayberry moderator to throw them in the slammer until they shape up. (Unlike the Yahoo Bolger group who apparently have a quivering Barney Fife on the moderation trigger. As Raymond from Hong Kong would say, the guy has a lack of the sense of humous.) Sam