While I think Politicial discussion is an important thing, I think I'd be preaching to the choir if I said the current state of the Politics forum is very un-Tilted. I stay away any chance I get because its so full of labels from "the left did this" and the "right is hiding this." However, I think many vehement political debaters are too used to labeling and demonizing the opposition for this to every be fully quashed. After reading a few Politics threads this morning, it occured to me what a big part of the problem was. If you look in Sexuality or Living or even General, most posts are at LEAST 5 lines of text. However, in Politics, you get one-liners out the wazoo.. "Apparently you haven't heard of X person or X policy..." or go "read x". These one-liners are inherently insulting -- "You mean you haven't heard about THIS! YOU MUST BE STUPID!" is the message that they convey. Just looking through TWO POlitics posts, I found these to demonstrate the behavior I'm talking about
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Originally Posted by ustwo
How well did the diplomatic approach work prior to Iraq?
If their governments foster this mentality, there is very little diplomacy can do if they tell us to fark off.
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Originally Posted by pacifier
what was they "diplomatic approach" against terrorism you are speaking of?
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Originally Posted by ustwo
Sorry I stopped reading there. The sanction claim was total bullshit. You HAVE heard of what is going on investigating the 'oil for food' program right?
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Originally Posted by NCB
Cease fire violations are not subject to diplomacy. Sorry, but the burden of proof was always on Saddam.
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Originally Posted by Alladin Sane
Bush is the most stupid evil genius in the history of fascism!
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Originally Posted by Marvelous Marv
That would be Clinton's tough talk/ignoring terrorist attacks for 8 years.
Which led to 9/11.
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Originally Posted by Pacifier
tough talk != diplomacy
ignoring != diplomacy
But nice try of bringing some humor to politics, I almost laughed but the joke was a bit too old
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Originally Posted by moosenose
Wasn't Arafat up for a "Nobel Peace Prize"?
After his first speech to the UN, he should have been jailed or killed.
Negotiating with Terrorists just empowers them.
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Originally Posted by moosenose
Ever hear of a guy named Sirhan Sirhan? It's been going on for a long time...
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Originally Posted by filtherton
Everyone can take off their tin foil hats now. Apparently.
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Originally Posted by moosenose
guy, how about you grab your copy of the Constitution, look at Article 3 § 3, and tell us EXACTLY how what Rove is accused of doing qualifies as "treason". Please be specific. Thanks.
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..it goes on and on. So then -- would it be possible and feasible to put a higher post length on the Politics forum specifically to deter this type of one-line behavior? When you are forced to EXPLAIN what "Sirhan Sirhan" is or what "Article 3" says.. you'll be a lot less insulting and a lot more informative.
That fosters discussion, in my opinion.