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To: Shermy
There is no such thing as bad publicity

Not true. One would hope that people who lurk here would come around and think, "Gosh, what a suprise! A place full of people who think well and talk about important political issues...maybe I can learn from/contribute something to this!" Instead, when they read things like suggesting people should commit suicide and wishing people would die, they probably think this is just another whackjob internet site, and go back to the warm glow of the television.

71 posted on 02/15/2002 11:23:46 PM PST by Pistias
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To: Pistias
Good points.
72 posted on 02/15/2002 11:25:05 PM PST by Shermy
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To: Pistias
One would hope that people who lurk here would come around and think, "Gosh, what a suprise! A place full of people who think well and talk about important political issues...maybe I can learn from/contribute something to this!" Instead, when they read things like suggesting people should commit suicide and wishing people would die, they probably think this is just another whackjob internet site, and go back to the warm glow of the television.

I think it's important that liberals be encouraged to engage in debates (in civilized fashion of course). After all, the goal is to win over fence-sitting liberals, and that's far more likely to happen if FR has a welcoming atmosphere than if it becomes a conservative self-aggrandizing society.

About a decade ago, I was in a bowling alley when an episode of Donahue came on which featured Rush Limbaugh as a guest speaker. I was a liberal at the time, and while I had not previously watched Donahue, I thought it would be interesting to see Rush in front of a hostile crowd. I was right.

Rush's performance there was far better than anything I'd ever seen the few times I caught his show. On his own show, Rush would be inclined to make unsupported statements which conservatives would accept is true but liberals would not. While that may be fine if his goal were to preach to the choir, it's not a good way of winning converts. On the Donahue program, however, the liberals were inclined to challenge almost everything he said; since Rush proceeded to back up the challenged statements, however, the program was probably far more effective at winning over those who would have disbelieved Rush's statements had he not done so.

77 posted on 02/15/2002 11:44:44 PM PST by supercat
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