patrick.net

A comment from "Marcos2247" on the Ars Technica site:

"The U.S. is so deeply divided. And that only serves the powers that be. Divide and conquer. Because once you put people into only two groups - Liberal vs Conservative - you really make it an us-vs-them or good-vs-evil thing.
And at that point, political actors will just place everybody who's not of their opinion into the other camp.
Into the "them"-camp.
The "evil"-camp.

It's just an awesome way to suppress diverging opinions."

curious2 says

political discussions ruin Facebook & friendships

How very true. Marcus and I used to be BFFs. </sarcasm>

Dan8267 says

How very true. Marcus and I used to be BFFs.

LOL - I think that example speaks to a real truth though. If I met randomly someone who claimed to be a math teacher from California, I would presume those claims were accurate and that this new acquaintance had a high likelihood of becoming a friend. Probably many of our favorable acquaintances in real life consist of people we don't know very well, but we fill in the blanks by giving them the benefit of the doubt, projecting onto them the qualities we imagine.

Then, they reveal themselves in ways we hadn't seen before, and of course we're disappointed. It's like whenever a serial killer is caught, the neighbors always say that had no idea, and probably they're telling the truth. I would never have guessed that someone who claims to be a math teacher could be such an illogical, insecure, trollish buffoon, until Marcus showed me.

That's why I respect some sites that delete all political threads. Well ones that don't actually have a Political section. The opposite is true for those that do.

I used to frequent a Guitar forum, any thread at all that veered into Political would get deleted. Or the user would get deleted if he insisted on politbombing other threads he disagreed with.
These folks have plenty of Gun enthusiasts, as well as many Liberal minded Guitar players. They all get along and share a harmonious wonderful time on this particular forum. The problem is, every time posts "NGD" which stands for New Gun Day, all of the Liberals on the board all start chiming in politicizing the gun gawking and discussion.

But by the same token the guy doesn't allow the Republicans to rant against Obama and his cast of Crooks on that show where Obama plays president.

curious2 says

I would never have guessed that someone who claims to be a math teacher could be such an illogical, insecure, trollish buffoon, until Marcus showed me.

I would pay to interview Marcus's students. If he really is a math teacher, he must be doing a grave disservice to the next generation.

It's a great thing about patrick.net Everyone can chat about politics, have their opinions and discuss anonymously. It makes for a much better, and more honest discussion. I can personally admit that I've learned a lot about politics and residential real estate here.

have two accounts.

FortWayne says

It's a great thing about patrick.net Everyone can chat about politics, have their opinions and discuss anonymously.

True that. Putting up with idiocy and the occasional trolling is the price to pay for truly free speech. It's a good tradeoff if sometimes frustrating.