The Challenge of World News and Political Discussion

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Tis_Bearself said:
Unfortunately this leads to situations where victims who are mistaken or outright lying have to be “believed” and “supported” rather than people just being kind to them and not nasty.
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I suppose that there is a charitable process to be followed, that might first involve some mind-open listening, some commiseration, and an expression of goodwill rather than just leaping into pointed questioning laced with clear disbelief. The treatment of one of our posters here yesterday was appalling.
 
I don’t know what you’re referring to and likely didn’t read it as I was off the forum for most of yesterday, but unless a post clearly violates TOS in some flaggable way, “appalling” is a relative concept. There are several people on here who in my opinion post in an “appalling” way pretty constantly (I find certain people’s agenda posting to be appalling), and I’m sure there are several more who think that of me.

I have also found that even if you go through the whole business of listening, commiseration and an expression of goodwill, if you then express skepticism or make whatever point you wanted to make, the person doesn’t care that you went through all the “niceness” first. Sometimes they even get more upset that you acted all nice but then disagreed with them. Also, if the point is to have a discussion, then having to constantly play to someone’s feelings is distracting from the discussion and becomes more a type of virtue signaling in my mind than anything contributing to the talk.
 
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Tis_Bearself said:
I don’t know what you’re referring to
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The thread, Trump approval climbing. 51% now is now thankfully closed.
Tis_Bearself said:
(I find certain people’s agenda posting to be appalling),
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I may disagree with the agenda of other posters, but it is hard to fathom being appalled by them. That is a fundamental barrier to civil discourse - going beyond the trivial disagreement to ind the experiential, factual, logical, and philosophical bases that inform the differing opinions and outlooks thaty different people have.
 
CAF forum has a TOS rule against agenda posting.
This is not a place for somebody to promote a particular topic or opinion on many different threads, and unfortunately too often that’s what happens.
Apart from being against the TOS, it’s boring.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
This is not a place for somebody to promote a particular topic or opinion on many different threads, and unfortunately too often that’s what happens.
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I am aware of that rule, and should have been more careful in my last post here. People have perspectives that consistently inform how they respond to thread topics. That posting might be considered as reflecting an “agenda”, but I think that sense of agenda is not the same as the applied in the rule. What do you think is an “agenda”?
 
dvdjs said:
What do you think is an “agenda”?
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Yesterday there was a post that referred to Trump as ‘stupid’ and another that referred to him as a ‘moron’.

This is what breaks communication down.
 
robertmidwest said:
a post that referred to Trump as ‘stupid’ and another that referred to him as a ‘moron’.
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Is it Trump that is beyond such criticism, or would that apply to Maxine Waters, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, etc.?
I would be happy if all of the name-calling and labeling were stopped. For that to happen, it is important to avoid it altogether, not just for Trump.
 
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dvdjs said:
Are you agreeing, or advocating for labelling?
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I am agreeing with you. All name calling should stop.

Name calling is sign you don’t really have an argument or are unable to express an argument. Either direction.

You will probably don’t agree with me here but 9/10 of the name calling here is directed at the right. Trump seems to be fair game to call ‘moron’, ‘stupid’, ‘cheeto’.

It’s great that we live in country where we can have differing opinions, but be ready to back them up with facts. Too often on the forum there is no logical argument. It’s just “Well Trump is a misogynistic Cheeto!!”
 
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OK, here is a practical suggestion that everyone can do. Whenever you submit a post, after writing it out and seeing that it is saved as a draft, close your browser, go have a cup of tea, and while you are sipping your tea, consider how you would feel if the post you are about to submit was written by someone else and directed at you. Then come back to your browser and open up to that response again. Make appropriate modifications to what you wrote so that you are still making the point you wanted to make, but with less hurt toward the person or persons it is directed at. I find that quiet reflection and editing my post before submitting it has saved me from being more hurtful than my first draft - and saved me from the embarrassment of having to apologize for it later, or double down and defend by hurtful remark.
 
Not only does Catholic Answers have the aforementioned ocean cruises to facilitate get-togethers, but they also have yearly conferences in San Diego, which cost far less to attend.

One of these years I’m going to make it to one or the other. I do think meeting someone in person, even once, would significantly change the tone here.
 
robertmidwest said:
You will probably don’t agree with me here but 9/10 of the name calling here is directed at the right. Trump seems to be fair game to call ‘moron’, ‘stupid’, ‘cheeto’.
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I absolutely do not agree.
We have talked about “cheeto” before. There were very few posters who used it. And the number of uses was very small to the number of times Trumps fans expressed their outrage about it. Have you looked at the way Democratic party women are name-called here? Keep watch.
 
Wampa said:
I do think meeting someone in person, even once, would significantly change the tone here.
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Having been on forums where a lot of the posters eventually met each other in person, in my experience it doesn’t really help with “tone”.

It might help in the sense that people who have met each other may be more likely to just dismiss what is said as “ah there’s crazy old So-and-so again, just ignore him, he’s harmless” rather than “I must set that evil Internet person who is attacking me straight!”
 
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I think you are right. I know plenty of people I could argue with but don’t. There is something about the internet and sitting at home passing time on it that makes an argument harder to pass up. I now make a special point of not getting enmeshed in heated discussions.I might make a contribution and then get back to real life.
 
Remember that God loves EVERYONE : )

There are plenty of people that I go out of my way and nearly out of my mind trying to treat well just because someone I love loves them.

The faith has been very good to me. I know more love, peace, hope, and joy than I could have ever imagined before it. Everyone should be treated with kindness, respect & dignity because God loves them. And, I love God. He is totally worth the effort (and sometimes heartache or occasional swindling that goes along with it.)

Another strategy: If someone posts something that is offensive to you, CLARIFY that they meant it the way you’re reading it.

Always try to be polite and limit your time on the forum. I hope that was helpful.
 
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