Today I voted

innerSpaceman · 11-08-2006, 11:25 PM

Well, absent the histrionics and regurgitated upset, I enjoyed catching up on this discussion of our personal politics, we Swankers who are political, and how they may be more nuanced and more personal and far more complicated than we tend to assume on a daily basis around here.

I think many of us may have, in fact, lumped all the liberal-leaning members together, and all the conservative posters together too often, because the issues have tended to polarize us with such certainty on both sides.

I have to agree that the LoT leans liberal, and in far more than just politics, if you consider it purely by numbers. But, when we communicate via internet threads of discussion, is it simply the number of posts, or perhaps rather the passions with which views are expressed that make this board lean this way or that?

If a hypothetical conservative member, lets call him "SCAsparrow, has 58 posts in a political thread, and there are 42 other posts by 6 liberal members in that thread, is that a lefty thread or not? What if another conservative poster, we'll call her "Crephyula," has 12 posts in some thread, and they are the most passionately expressed posts amoung 60 others, much more liberal and much more dull. What is the poliltical ph-balance then?

I don't think it's simply a numbers game of us vs. them, even though too many threads come down to it. I prefer to concentrate on the details of the different viewpoints we might be able to illuminate for each other, even on the topics we agree about.

The election's over, and I'm happy ... but don't feel like gloating. I know we're not going to solve any of the world's issues here on the board, so I hope in future we can do more illumination of our various personal politics and persuasions ... and less fighting about the issues as if we were the ones charged with solutions.

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Motorboat Cruiser · 11-08-2006, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

The election's over, and I'm happy ... but don't feel like gloating. I know we're not going to solve any of the world's issues here on the board, so I hope in future we can do more illumination of our various personal politics and persuasions ... and less fighting about the issues as if we were the ones charged with solutions.

Well said.

scaeagles · 11-09-2006, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I know we're not going to solve any of the world's issues here on the board

You don't get it, do you? If everyone did what I said and took my suggestions, the world would have no problems.

Ghoulish Delight · 11-09-2006, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

I don't think it's simply a numbers game of us vs. them, even though too many threads come down to it. I prefer to concentrate on the details of the different viewpoints we might be able to illuminate for each other, even on the topics we agree about.

Exactly, which is why I wasn't reacting to the claim that we are liberal-leaning (I am one of those who doesn't consider being called "liberal" an epithet), but rather the implication, joking as it may have been, that as a board we respond to anything non-liberal with "furious anger". In fact, I dare anyone to find a board that comes close to the amount of calm, rational discussion of opposing viewpoints as we have here.

11-08-2006, 11:25 PM	#1
innerSpaceman Kink of Swank Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Inner Space Posts: 13,075	Well, absent the histrionics and regurgitated upset, I enjoyed catching up on this discussion of our personal politics, we Swankers who are political, and how they may be more nuanced and more personal and far more complicated than we tend to assume on a daily basis around here. I think many of us may have, in fact, lumped all the liberal-leaning members together, and all the conservative posters together too often, because the issues have tended to polarize us with such certainty on both sides. I have to agree that the LoT leans liberal, and in far more than just politics, if you consider it purely by numbers. But, when we communicate via internet threads of discussion, is it simply the number of posts, or perhaps rather the passions with which views are expressed that make this board lean this way or that? If a hypothetical conservative member, lets call him "SCAsparrow, has 58 posts in a political thread, and there are 42 other posts by 6 liberal members in that thread, is that a lefty thread or not? What if another conservative poster, we'll call her "Crephyula," has 12 posts in some thread, and they are the most passionately expressed posts amoung 60 others, much more liberal and much more dull. What is the poliltical ph-balance then? I don't think it's simply a numbers game of us vs. them, even though too many threads come down to it. I prefer to concentrate on the details of the different viewpoints we might be able to illuminate for each other, even on the topics we agree about. The election's over, and I'm happy ... but don't feel like gloating. I know we're not going to solve any of the world's issues here on the board, so I hope in future we can do more illumination of our various personal politics and persuasions ... and less fighting about the issues as if we were the ones charged with solutions. . Last edited by innerSpaceman : 11-08-2006 at 11:57 PM.
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