Hello snugs. This is my first go on the Sunday thread. Frankly, I get too angry usually. However, the lineup on MTP was too intriguing to pass up. Fr Neuhaus is top notch and held up Christianity in excellent style and content.
For me, participating in this thread has been the antidote to getting angry and shouting at the TV.
This thread (and FR overall) has been one of the great finds for me on the entire internet. It does what I feel the internet is best at. Not "best," technically, but what is best for society. It returns us to the style of interaction and intellectual discussion of a smaller community from earlier in our history, not necessarily of only like minded people, but of ideas and supporting arguments that help all of us to understand, not just agree. I always come out of discussions here, particularly on this thread, understanding more than I did when I came in, even if I don't agree with the overall conclusion that seems to emerge.
But what is most amazing about this thread in particular and FR in general is the astounding breadth of expertise, experience and understanding that we have to draw on. The emergence, during the UAE ports deal of PrinceOfCups, who actually lives there and could provide us direct information, or the information provided by snugs through her direct involvement with the shipping issues involved, etc., turned our discussion of the ports deal into the most informative avaialble anywhere. We all didn't come to the same conclusions on the ports deal, but we all came away better informed on the issues.
I don't think anyone will ever be able to argue that the internet is a "vast wasteland" they way TV was pigeon holed (rightly so). So long as sites like FR continue to survive and people like these continue to participate that can't happen.