expobar Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 3,003 Location: .
Posted Sat May 7, 2005, 8:23am Subject: Ground Rules for Political Discussions
If you guys haven't realized, these discussions are getting totally out of hand.
People are attacking eachother.
People are making blanket assumptions and statements.
People are changing subjects.
People are ignoring other peoples' arguments, or avoiding answering them because they say they're bad questions
So - I say we ought to set up some ground rules when it comes to political discussions:
Follow the CG rules, namely the No personal attacks rule.
Reread your post before you write it, because you may be making a blanket statement. If it says "Democrats do this" or "Republicans do that" - it's probably a blanket assumption/statement, and make the discussion go off topic because they'll have to say what the person's political party actually does.
Make sure what you're writing has something to do with what the OP had in mind
If someone has a logical question, answer it. Don't say it's a bad question to avoid answering it.
Finally,
If we're going to keep on having these political discussions, we're going to need a Presiding Officer of sorts. A person that can make sure questions aren't getting out of line, and these rules aren't getting broken.
Posted Sat May 7, 2005, 8:29am Subject: Re: Ground Rules for Political Discussions
I dunno, man. It seems like whenever a hard question is posed, that person is accused of mudslinging.
Also, Democrats and Republicans do actually fit some general molds. To ignore that is to ignore the reality of the situation.
I think we're all able to monitor ourselves. If there is a consensus that someone, myself included, it out of line, people should post that up here.
If someone wants to ignore questions, that will be obvious. I've asked soccermom about five pointed questions that she either ignored or referred to as an unfair question. She's free to do that. The consequences are obvious, I think, and I don't think anyone, including soccermom, should be restricted in their behavior, so long as it's not over the top vitriol.
darkboron Senior Member Joined: 25 Jan 2005 Posts: 225 Location: Milwaukee, WI Expertise: Pro Roaster
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Posted Sat May 7, 2005, 8:33am Subject: Re: Ground Rules for Political Discussions
Agreed!
I would also like to add something to your list:
If you state someone did something (or didn't), have something to back it up! I'm not going to take someone's word for it! And try NOT to refer a source that is far off to one side of the political spectrum! Personally, I think NPR is as about as close as you can get to equilibrium.
Well, I think that the caller's are mostly liberal. I think it's a 60/40 liberal to conservative ratio of guests and hosts. Although Catheline Dunn was getting kind of angry when people called in to say that.
Posted Sat May 7, 2005, 8:52am Subject: Re: Ground Rules for Political Discussions
That doesn't matter. The point is, despite the free pass they gave Bush, the NY Times is called a liberal paper. NPR is liberal radio. That isn't the truth, but it's the public perception that's been generated by the right-wing media.
onocoffee Senior Member Joined: 5 Sep 2002 Posts: 733 Location: Towson, Maryland Expertise: Just starting
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Posted Sat May 7, 2005, 9:19am Subject: Re: Ground Rules for Political Discussions
I absolutely DO NOT agree.
Mudslinging et al are part of the American Process. It is the way our politics are handled today. These discussions are a reflection of our society. To pretend that we post in some fairytale land where everyone will happily agree is just dumb.
Politics and religion is angry, hair-raising business. If you're not up for a heated and very personal discussion the best route is to avoid the situation.
This is still the Internet and this is still CoffeeGeek.com with lots of forum sections and lots of threads. No one is forcing anyone to read these topics and no one is forcing anyone to get worked up over the topic. Surely, there's something else to read and post about if you don't agree with the off-topics section.
expobar Senior Member Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 3,003 Location: .
Posted Sat May 7, 2005, 12:42pm Subject: Re: Ground Rules for Political Discussions
Jay, I have no problem with disparity of ideas, don't get me wrong. However, I don't think the way society does things is necessarily the best way. If that way the way society is, coffeegeek wouldn't exist. I'm not saying anything, except let's be nice, let's be fair, and let's be logical.
I know politics and religion are controversial, but I don't think we need to be demeaning toward the other side. Personal, heated discussion is fine - mudslinging isn't. If you ever have the time, go to a high school congress tournament. A lot of these issues are very personal to these kids, and they act professionally. Why can't adults act the same way?
I know there are a lot of sections on CG, and I don't mind political discussions. However, no one seems to have an idea how to refute without attack the person who argued it. I disagree with a lot of people here, but you don't see me attacking them as people anymore.
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