pan6467

I do so to get my ideas across (hopefully in a sane way.... sometimes I succeed sometimes I sound blithering.... course so do a lot of others so i am in good company).

I am not really trying to convince the other side my side is right, just that perhaps there is merit to my side and that there maybe a compromise. I do try to convince fencesitters with my side, as does the other side.

I also come to learn and see what the other side offers. There are some great posters who do promote thought and make me question my positions (as I hope at times I do them).

I do not come to try to prove my side better, but only show the reasoning I have for my views. (This is the hard one because sometimes emotions can run high and being passionate it then becomes a pissing war.... again many here are guilty of that).

Overall we have a great board and some truly intelligent, well informed posters on both sides. The tempo here has changed a lot, there isn't as much sarcasm and hate but far more respect being shown and the exchange of ideas and views. And is that truly not the purpose of true debate, to exchange ideas and work to better society through understanding and compromise.....

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

StanT

I have little tolerance for people that see political issues as black or white. All issues are shades of gray, to me. I hate absolutes, I'll debate a political issue, just to shake things up and prove that there are many ways to look at things. I really have no interest in converting anyone to my position, I just want to shake up theirs.

ARTelevision

It's discussion and dialog for me. I'm interested in that. I appreciate a variety of views on timely subjects - especially ones I see as crucial. I do work to eliminate emotional attachments to positions, as possible.

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create evolution

Willravel

I want to debate so that I'm not bored!
Actually, I find that politics contains a lot we should be talking about. Politics is oft overlooked, and oft missunderstood. Oft. I like to have a good handle on the world around me, and politics is part of the world around me. It's actually the part of the world around me that I understand the least. Politics determins how we live and what we believe in. Politics has a direct effect on everyone's lives. This particular forum for debate is refreshing because we can all be mostly civil in an area that can become very heated. While the mention of politics in some places leads to the use of firearms and braking up of families, I know I can come here and have a constructive conversation.

MSD

I might learn something, or someone might learn something from me. I can form better opinions after hearing a lot of discussion.

Mephisto2

There's an old saying. Never talk about politics or religion. But that's practically all Irish people do talk about, especially amongst friends and usually down the pub.

Well, TFP is my local now.

Since I moved to Australia (first to Sydney and then to the even more remote Perth), I've had nowhere to hang out, drink a few beers, "talk shite" and debate the issues of the day. Irish people love to argue and even for an Irishman I'm argumentative.

I honestly believe I'm right in most of my opinions (who doesn't?), but they have evolved over time. I make no apology for trying to convince others, but I also do my best to see both sides of every story. That is unless it's hatred or predjudice or just plain downright stupidity.

I like it here and hope I don't make too much of an ass of myself. I've learnt an awful lot from most of you. Liberals and Neo-cons alike.

It's just a pity that there's not more international, non-American politics debated here. But I guess that's because us non-Americans are in the minority. So be it. I'm used to being the odd guy out living in a small Australian town!

Mr Mephisto

tecoyah

............enlightenment...............
Limited though it may be

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

roachboy

various reasons, really.
i am interested in how arguments that i really disagree with are framed, so i learn quite alot by participating in debates here.

it is useful to talk about politics in a space in which the ways of thinking cannot be taken for granted--i come out of a marxian background (even if i think it impossible to "be" a marxist in 2005, for lots of reasons starting with the inability of that mid 19th century framework to account descriptively or analytically for contemporary forms of capitalism)--one lingering effect of that background is a very different understanding of how politics interacts with wider social phenomena than seems to be typical here---so working through the various boundaries that get set up around political questions is interesting.

mostly, however, there are enough interesting folk here to make debating in this forum diverting, sometimes even fun. if this was not the case, the other matters could be investigated elsewhere.

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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

pan6467

Hey now..... lol... hope all is well Tec.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

tecoyah

All is well....I was speaking of my own enlightenment

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Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. - Buddha

fibber

I just post to put up not quite funny slams agains my opposing party. I am not alone.

-fibber

flstf

Most of the contributors here seem to be younger and more liberal than I am. Since I live out in the country now, most of the folks around here that I discuss issues with tend to be more conservative. I look forward to the differing opinions I find here. I am trying not to become too set in my ways.

Zeld2.0

I come here to get frustrated and angry and by doing so I learn and grow.

filtherton

I come here to test and retest my perceptive and cognitive abilities.

arch13

We're all here feeling out our ideas and beliefs, testing them against the same of others, then re-examining. This is the very core of civilized debate.

I have fun here. Nothing more, nothing less. As a member of a genartion that is 10-12 years off from holding office(s) as a twentysomething, I feel that now is a point that I should be fleshing out a better idea of where I want this country to be heading and what I can do to effect that.

But mostly, I'm hang out in politics for the ladies.

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Seen on an employer evaluation:

"The wheel is turning but the hamsters dead"
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Is arch13 really a porn diety ? find out after the film at 11.
-Nanofever

JumpinJesus

I enjoy reading how both sides feel about their views and how informed those views are. I often learn that many people on here are far more informed than I am, and it encourages me to dig deeper into the issues I find important.

I also really enjoy well written arguments by both sides.

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"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses

daswig

I post here because my blood pressure is too low, and this is the best way I know to raise it.