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Originally Posted by ubertuber
I'd like to initiate a sort of conversation about conversations - a meta-conversation about these modes of dialogue. Of course, this thread will be moderated, so don’t get any ideas about slinging mud in a safe place. If anything, I’m hoping we can learn something from each other here that might begin to put this place on a better path. I don't know exactly where to start, so I'm open to what people have to say here as long as it leaves room for others to have differing opinions.
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I'm breaking my general ban on the politics forum to discuss this issue.
(As if anyone cares).Since this is a meta conversation about modes of dialogue -I will not get into detail about "a political debate" more than the act of having a political dialogue. That being said here there are one observation that I would like to make:
TFP as a forum is dominated by United States Citizens. TFP as a Political Dialogue is dominated by United States Politics. United States Politics is dominated by mudslinging, name calling and polemics.
This mudslinging and name calling is very un-TFP-like behavior. Yet somehow this behavior is allowed to exist on TFP because you can disguise it as something else. For example, when someone refers to a "moonbat liberal" they are denigrating an opponents position:
1) Regardless of whether or not the TFP member actually holds that position
2) Without refering to an actual other TFP member by name (thus finding a "loophole")
If any of you study logic then you know that this is an Ad Hominem fallacy. The reason that it represents bad thinking -is that it undermines the content of someone's actual words without actually addressing their issue. In TFP-Land it is simply insulting to deal with those people.
But again, in American Politics you can turn on any AM radio and hear the pundit-du jour rant against their political enemies... And it's completely acceptible to the listener. So there are obviously going to be some problems on TFP when those radio listeners (or whoever) come on and repeat what they hear -because it's insulting.