Posted on 12/30/2004 12:26:25 PM PST by K1avg
For the past several months, fate has conspired to keep me away from the computer. I haven't posted nearly as much on FR as I used to. With the holidays, though, I've had an opportunity to catch up a bit.
What I found on my return is a bit disconcerting. While there's always been an element here that refuses to reason and does little more than insult Democrats and RINOs, it seems that this mentality has taken over a large portion of our membership. I've encountered more shrill, radical nonsense in the past couple of days than I had in the months before my absence.
Certainly it's acceptable to gloat a bit after our enormous gains on November 2, but I do believe it's about time to get back to normal business.
Referring to Democrats as Rats or some variant thereof may be somewhat amusing, but seeing the reference in nearly every other post really gets annoying at times. Pet names for Democrats and RINOs may be funny the first time, but quickly get old. It's one thing to respect someone, and it's certainly acceptable to not do so for one reason or another, but it's never alright to be downright incivil.
Just the other day, I was in an argument here with some other members who were supporting Yanukovych over Yushchenko because Yush had pledged to remove Ukraine's 1600-some-odd-strong force from Iraq and was *gasp* more liberal than Yanukovych. Seriously, that's absurd. I'd be happy to debate with you here, but anyone can tell you Yushchenko as president will be much better for the Ukrainian people, our interests in Iraq be damned.
But I'm getting away from the subject at hand. These are just a few examples of the devolution of discourse here. While everyone is certainly allowed to have their own opinions, there is a certain level of civility that should be maintained, regardless of the context.
This is the sort of stuff you find at DU, not here. I recognize there's plenty of good, civil users here, and I'm thankful for that. To those guilty, though, it would be nice if you could tone it down a bit.
I love being here. Things like the Undead Thread, Daily Dose, and crushkerry's Lib Pundit tournament, along with the usual daily banter of normal news, makes FR like no other political site on the web. Let's keep it that way. Thanks for your time, and have a lovely day.
Those pics well define one of the things I like most about cats: Bad Attitude.
Is this a ZoT, YeT?
I'm going to jump on the RATS band wagon and blame Rummy. Surely all this RAT talk must be his fault because everything else is! (sarcasm off)
Oh, and another thing.....
You may continue.
; )
Really, after the stress from the horrible things that were done by the rats and the media this past election, I think we're all in "blowing off steam" mode.
There's quite a bit built up. It may take a few months. I'd suggest visiting a "Disney World" forum unless you want to see rats get verbally eviscerated for the next two or three moons.
For myself, I've brought popcorn. Ahhhhhhhhh....home.
Are you from the deep south??? I'm a transplanted yankee lost in MS but I know what " Bless your heart" means : )
Aw, shucks!
The IMPOTUS, Beelzabuba, Ol' Crusty, Cankles days were fun, weren't they! Ahhh....the memories!
Excuse me, but this is where I couldn't disagree with you more! IMHO, right now if you damn our interests in Iraq, you damn our soldiers who are over there fighting. Or could this possibly just be your version of "I support our soldiers, but I don't support the war"?
JimRob's is the only opinion that counts.
Of course I knew his comment was sarcasm...so was mine!
Amen to that.
I for one am glad that you're back. I haven't been lectured to since I left for work this morning. But you forgot to complain about all those damn cat pictures that keep getting posted!!!
Maybe I'm wrong but I think what is frustrating him is that there are a lot of "Rat, Rhino" spewing robots who have little to offer in the way of deep thought or provocative conversation. A person can find out what FR is like pretty quickly these days IMO, they can just read this thread.
If you're so concerned about civility, you need to be posting at DU.
I didn't read how she (maybe he) survived, just a few people on here told me that she did and one showed me a picture of her obviously alive and well. Not to get too sappy but God, that really got to me.
Ouch!
You just relinquished your moral high ground. We're not talking about building a hot dog stand here. Too many brave Americans and honorable Iraqis have given their lives for the sake of freedom for you to just dismiss it like this. I find this statement every bit as vulgar as calling democrats "Rats."
I, too, sometimes cringe when I read the things posted here. But this is, after all, an open forum and all views are considered. Long before politics was hijacked by intellectual elites it was the realm of ordinary people who expressed themselves in terms they knew best. Just because a view is expressed in visceral terms doesn't make it invalid.
So sit back, relax and enjoy America.
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