And you will?
Sometimes positions changed based on that debate - other times individuals agreed to disagree - civilly. Friendships were made and issues were discussed - civilly. In fact, when I first discovered FReeRepublic, I had a position that I was forced to examine by none other than Jim Robinson and several other posters.
Being a former police officer turned attorney, I was an enthusiastic supporter of the WOD and Asset Forfeiture - as well as Law Enforcement generally. However, I am an unapologetic Second Amendment activist as well. These individuals confronted me with the Constitutional infirmities that exist with respect to asset forfeiture, and to a lesser extent the WOD and Law Enforcement - especially where the constitutional and policy arguments I offered as support I for my positions on the WOD/Asset Forfeiture placed me squarely in the anti-gun camp. After much debate and reflection, I acknowledged that I had not thought through the entire asset forfeiture issue and changed my position.
I am still a supporter of Law Enforcement - as I will always be a police officer at heart. However, I came to remember, with these posters help, that WE are the bosses of the police and they exist to serve us. Criticism is our responsiblity and Right. Blind support of actions taken by Government on our behalf allows tyranny. Similarly, they helped me re-examine the WOD, reminding me that which I had come to learn through my time on the street - you can't legislate behavior modification, and we should be pursuing policies that allow individuals to make individual choices regarding their lives while also holding them accountable for those decisions without involving other taxpayers/citizens. It was a lively and rewarding exchange of ideas that truly made me happy to have found this forum.
Such an atmosphere does not exist here anymore. When confronted with logic and facts that refute positions taken by this new crop of posters, these people resort to the afore-mentioned personal attacks. The days of civil debate are long gone - as are the days of logic.
The forum has changed so drastically that most of the posters who helped me understand my incongruent stances on these issues have died (God Bless you and yours HeavyD - I pinged you 'cause I know you are still lurking...), been run off or just lurk. Jim remains strangely silent when people are attacked by this new crop, even though they truly do hurt the forum by alienating many individuals who happen to drop by and are repulsed by the behavior of these posters.
It is a shame.