Poll: Have You Thought Of Leaving Forum Because Of Politics?

[SomeDude]

As in the other thread, I don't understand. Why would someone leave here due to the politics? Why not just stop browsing this subforum where all the political content has been corralled into?

Some people just can't help themselves, Smithers. They lack self-control. They find it too tempting to just move that mouse cursor over "Politics" and click.

It's like suing McDonalds for "making" you fat, even though you order several double Quarter pounders a day.

Does double quarter pounder sound better than half pounder?

It's not like that at all. It's more like people going to McDonald's to buy a burger and then leaving because they got insulted by the cashier.

Ohh yeah, I was referring to the absurdity of posting on political threads, then getting upset and asking for the threads to be shut down so no one else can post.

[Mountaineer]

As in the other thread, I don't understand. Why would someone leave here due to the politics? Why not just stop browsing this subforum where all the political content has been corralled into?

Some people just can't help themselves, Smithers. They lack self-control. They find it too tempting to just move that mouse cursor over "Politics" and click.

It's like suing McDonalds for "making" you fat, even though you order several double Quarter pounders a day.

Does double quarter pounder sound better than half pounder?

It's not like that at all. It's more like people going to McDonald's to buy a burger and then leaving because they got insulted by the cashier.

That’s a wonderful whopper of a story!

[glennds]

As in the other thread, I don't understand. Why would someone leave here due to the politics? Why not just stop browsing this subforum where all the political content has been corralled into?

Some people just can't help themselves, Smithers. They lack self-control. They find it too tempting to just move that mouse cursor over "Politics" and click.

It's like suing McDonalds for "making" you fat, even though you order several double Quarter pounders a day.

Does double quarter pounder sound better than half pounder?

I prefer 1/4 Kilo Royale with Cheese

[SomeDude]

As in the other thread, I don't understand. Why would someone leave here due to the politics? Why not just stop browsing this subforum where all the political content has been corralled into?

Some people just can't help themselves, Smithers. They lack self-control. They find it too tempting to just move that mouse cursor over "Politics" and click.

It's like suing McDonalds for "making" you fat, even though you order several double Quarter pounders a day.

Does double quarter pounder sound better than half pounder?

I prefer 1/4 Kilo Royale with Cheese

And mayo on your fries?

[yankees60]

To be fair, I agree the Bogleheads forum is ridiculous. I'm not suggesting that. These are not binary choices. It doesn't have to be one or the other. There is a WIDE gap in between the two.

I find your statement to be apropos to the political discourse libertarians have with leftists. Whereby libertarians point to places like Venezuela and say, “we don’t want that” and the leftists agree but don’t realize the slippery slope they’re creating with policies will eventually result in Venezuela.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slippery_slope

"A slippery slope argument (SSA), in logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and caselaw, is often viewed as a logical fallacy[1] in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usually negative) effect.[2] The core of the slippery slope argument is that a specific decision under debate is likely to result in unintended consequences. The strength of such an argument depends on the warrant (in this case, a demonstration of the process that leads to the significant effect). This type of argument is sometimes used as a form of fearmongering in which the probable consequences of a given action are exaggerated in an attempt to scare the audience."

Any time I hear anyone using that term... their argument automatically loses a lot of its power.

Vinny

[SomeDude]

How about “just the tip” regulation, just for a minute, just to see how it feels, and stopping there.

I suggest not. I tried this last Jan with my wife. She ended up giving birth Aug 27th, and it's been Hell on Earth ever since.

That is a slippery slope if I ever saw one.

[pmward]

Okay, so I find it very convenient that this poll was started this morning and within a last few days we've had several new forum accounts registered. And maybe those new posters are responding to our poll.

Are Bogleheads intentionally coming here, registering for accounts just to tamper with our poll? And if so, are they trying to Boglehead-ify our forum? Or are they trying to disrupt it so we destroy ourselves and they can be the leading financial forum on the internet?

How about some rules where you have to be a registered member for at least one month with valid post history before participating in polls that are non-binding recommendations to the moderators?

I demand a full investigation into the findings of this poll. Also, as of right now, 3:40pm Eastern, the results are 11 to 10, in favor of keeping the politics subforum. To maintain the integrity of the poll, I demand we stop accepting new responses immediately.

And also we review all responses made from forum members in the last week, compare IP addresses to existing posters, even use some browser fingerprinting to make sure people aren't trying to make multiple accounts to respond to the poll using different VPNs.

Hahaha. Ok you got me to laugh on this one.

[doodle]

This thread is like a perfect metaphor for the two dominate political philosophies in the country lol.

Group A wants people to have freedom to choose their actions and take responsibility for their choices.

Group B wants the admins (government) to prohibit certain behaviors and take no responsibility for their choices. They want the responsibility to lie with a small group of people and ban (imprison) people that break the rules they want instituted.

It's funny these almost perfectly coincide with the beliefs about potential election fraud.

This lends more credence to my theory about the nature of people driving them to one political group or another.

This post is so on target, OMG OMG.

Hmmm...what camp do I fall in then defending keeping this place open to all topics...considering my role as resident authoritarian Marxist here?

It's a stretch to equate regulation of speech on a forum with all regulation....that is my primary issue with many on this board, the all or nothing extremism.

[SomeDude]

This thread is like a perfect metaphor for the two dominate political philosophies in the country lol.

Group A wants people to have freedom to choose their actions and take responsibility for their choices.

Group B wants the admins (government) to prohibit certain behaviors and take no responsibility for their choices. They want the responsibility to lie with a small group of people and ban (imprison) people that break the rules they want instituted.

It's funny these almost perfectly coincide with the beliefs about potential election fraud.

This lends more credence to my theory about the nature of people driving them to one political group or another.

This post is so on target, OMG OMG.

Hmmm...what camp do I fall in then defending keeping this place open to all topics...considering my role as resident authoritarian Marxist here?

It's a stretch to equate regulation of speech on a forum with all regulation....that is my primary issue with many on this board, the all or nothing extremism.

Outlier

[doodle]

This thread is like a perfect metaphor for the two dominate political philosophies in the country lol.

Group A wants people to have freedom to choose their actions and take responsibility for their choices.

Group B wants the admins (government) to prohibit certain behaviors and take no responsibility for their choices. They want the responsibility to lie with a small group of people and ban (imprison) people that break the rules they want instituted.

It's funny these almost perfectly coincide with the beliefs about potential election fraud.

This lends more credence to my theory about the nature of people driving them to one political group or another.

This post is so on target, OMG OMG.

Hmmm...what camp do I fall in then defending keeping this place open to all topics...considering my role as resident authoritarian Marxist here?

It's a stretch to equate regulation of speech on a forum with all regulation....that is my primary issue with many on this board, the all or nothing extremism.

Outlier

How about nuanced freethinker? I prefer that.

[Mountaineer]

This thread is like a perfect metaphor for the two dominate political philosophies in the country lol.

Group A wants people to have freedom to choose their actions and take responsibility for their choices.

Group B wants the admins (government) to prohibit certain behaviors and take no responsibility for their choices. They want the responsibility to lie with a small group of people and ban (imprison) people that break the rules they want instituted.

It's funny these almost perfectly coincide with the beliefs about potential election fraud.

This lends more credence to my theory about the nature of people driving them to one political group or another.

This post is so on target, OMG OMG.

Hmmm...what camp do I fall in then defending keeping this place open to all topics...considering my role as resident authoritarian Marxist here?

It's a stretch to equate regulation of speech on a forum with all regulation....that is my primary issue with many on this board, the all or nothing extremism.

Outlier

How about nuanced freethinker? I prefer that.

Nice Avatar. You can run but you can’t hide.

[Mountaineer]

Perfect!!!! It is now 48% to 52%.

[Vil]

Perfect!!!! It is now 48% to 52%.

Does it properly show all the votes by mail ...

[Mountaineer]

Perfect!!!! It is now 48% to 52%.

Does it properly show all the votes by mail ...

Excellent! Just Excellent!!!!! Now it’s 45-55 so I guess yes. I shall check with Hugo and Xi to verify.

[yankees60]

Perfect!!!! It is now 48% to 52%.

Now 45 to 55. But both what you cite and I cite are close to the actual results, though as seen in a mirror.

Vinny

[SomeDude]

Perfect!!!! It is now 48% to 52%.

Does it properly show all the votes by mail ...

Excellent! Just Excellent!!!!! Now it’s 45-55 so I guess yes. I shall check with Hugo and Xi to verify.

Has Putin called to congratulate the no's yet?

[Ad Orientem]

I am glad that the political discussions have been sequestered (or quarantined?) in their own sub forum. The "other discussions" were getting carpet bombed by political threads and non political discussions were getting pushed off.

[Mountaineer]

Has Putin called to congratulate the no's yet?

I got an email from the Kremlin. Also one from a Nigerian prince who needs help unlocking his inheritance if I send over a dozen American Gold Eagles. Yeah, nice try, as if I would ever buy a gold eagle. #BuffaloMasterRace

Anyway seems like this poll has stirred up tons of international interest.

You are certainly trying to Buffalo us!

[Maddy]

Here's the only question that really interests me: Why are the otherwise level-headed members of this forum indulging this obvious attempt to destabilize the forum?

This looks virtually identical to what transpires in the workplace when a single disgruntled employee decides that "it's over"-- but instead of making a graceful exit, sets multiple balls in motion, all calculated to collide down the road with the ultimate objective of blowing everything sky high. Of course, when the balls collide down the road, that person is nowhere in sight. "Who, me?" It's textbook borderline behavior that's easy to spot if you've ever witnessed adolescent borderline girls in a psych unit.

And, just so there's no misunderstanding: Yes, I am saying that you--pmward--are acting like an adolescent girl with borderline personality disorder. Get a hold of yourself and start taking responsibility for your world. You have the freedom to create whatever you want for yourself, your only obstacle being your belief that other people's viewpoints prevent you from having a good life.

[Vil]

adolescent girl with borderline personality disorder

I am not an American and it well might be that I am missing something here. Is the above a normal way of communication between forum mates that are here to share worth financial information and possibly help each other ? Recently, I have seen in the forum so many statements like the above, so I think I got my English on the very next level.

I do not care about politics, especially in US. Its pretty impressive that out of 300M people you have those 2 candidates to choose from. Its your US business (and forum as well!), and I am quite convinced pmward does not need any advocate, but I am also convinced he has very nice and informative way of sharing information and has contributed a lot (quite opposite to me). Not sure if many people have the level of maturity to separate the political and non-political discussions and keep their bias away when talking about investments with someone from the opposite party. Really not sure. But its your business, supposedly you know better.


PS. Feel free to call me troll and drama queen

[SomeDude]

I am not an American and it well might be that I am missing something here. Is the above a normal way of communication between forum mates that are here to share worth financial information and possibly help each other ?

Yes that's why we fought a revolution against your king Vil, you drama queen troll.

kidding

[Maddy]

adolescent girl with borderline personality disorder

Not sure if many people have the level of maturity to separate the political and non-political discussions and keep their bias away when talking about investments with someone from the opposite party.

Uh, this is the Politics subforum. Why would you suggest that the discussion here injects bias into discussions about investments that appear elsewhere on the PP forum?

I call them as I see them. When you come to a libertarian-oriented forum such as this and complain that the libertarian viewpoint ought to be silenced, you're making yourself a prime example of what Harry Browne identified as both a self-defeating trap and a fool's errand: believing that your world can be better only if others can be made to believe as you do. So why does someone who so detests the libertarian way of thinking (which permeates and is inseparable from Harry's investment philosophy) continue to come to the PP forum? Even more saliently, what causes such a person to frequent the politics area of such a forum--to the point where his profile shows that he makes more posts there than on any investment-related subforum?

We are living in a time where conservative and libertarian viewpoints are being silenced everywhere you look. Youtube videos addressing anything other than the mainstream political narrative are being systematically deleted. Just about every serious commentator of the conservative or libertarian persuasion has had social media accounts suspended or dropped. So when somebody works his way onto a libertarian-leaning forum and begins focusing the majority of his energy on attacks directed toward the libertarian way of thinking, I've got to ask, once again, why is he here? What is his agenda? Is he so lacking in self-awareness and insight that he is truly caught in the "trap" Harry Browne described? Or does he know full well what he is doing? For me, the instant "poll" thread, clearly intended to build a constituency aimed at shutting down the Politics forum, told me everything I needed to know.

[doodle]

We are living in a time where conservative and libertarian viewpoints are being silenced everywhere you look. Youtube videos addressing anything other than the mainstream political narrative are being systematically deleted

Seems like there is bipartisan support for amending section 230.

I think these media outlets are caught in a tough place being that this technology can be easily employed for just about any cause..positive or negative.

How would you feel about them silencing AlQaeda who might use their platform to recruit and inspire terrorist attacks? What about radical political parties calling for the armed insurrection...or spreading lies and misinformation?

A lot of these "rights" have to be reevaluated in light of technological developments I think. This is a sensitive topic, I understand that. The second amendment guarantees a right to bear arms, however it is curtailed. You can't just walk into a Walmart and buy a machine gun with unlimited rounds of ammo....there are background checks, waiting periods, limitations on the type of gun you may purchase. Also, many places limit how and where you can carry that weapon. You can't go strolling down main street like Rambo with a locked and loaded bazooka on your shoulder. I know many of you disagree with that. But it's an example of how rights have been conscribed or boxed in due to evolving technology and living circumstances. I think that process will eventually filter into the internet with changing legislation. Will be interested to see how it unfolds.

[dualstow]

I do not care about politics, especially in US. Its pretty impressive that out of 300M people you have those 2 candidates to choose from.

There is a whittling down process, Vil. Don't you have that in Bulgaria?
As they say- anyone who wants to run for office is, by definition, unfit to rule. Or something like that.

[doodle]

We are living in a time where conservative and libertarian viewpoints are being silenced everywhere you look. Youtube videos addressing anything other than the mainstream political narrative are being systematically deleted

Seems like there is bipartisan support for amending section 230.

I think these media outlets are caught in a tough place being that this technology can be easily employed for just about any cause..positive or negative.

How would you feel about them silencing AlQaeda who might use their platform to recruit and inspire terrorist attacks? What about radical political parties calling for the armed insurrection...or spreading lies and misinformation?

This part of your post would make a bit of sense if Facebook, Twitter and YouTube weren't intentionally pushing a left wing agenda and intentionally silencing any post that doesn't agree with their narrative. It's a far cry from a conservative viewpoint to a terrorist organization.

Regardless, they need to fix 230, because the current state of affairs is unacceptable to half the country.

Do you think it's that they are pushing a left wing agenda? I have trouble envisioning these tech billionaires as bleeding heart social justice warriors that want to overthrow the free market system.

Do you think if Biden posted something to the effect of the Republicans being linked to the development of COVID in order kill blacks and Hispanics that it wouldn't get flagged?

How do you think tech companies should deal with their platforms being used to mass distribute disinformation?