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Politically Correct: Can we discuss politics?

Can we discuss politics in a polite and respectful manner?

  • I love my brothers and sisters faneditors

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I can try, but it could be hard

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Hey! When you're wrong, I'm gonna tell you about it!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Shut the hell up!

    Votes: 1 100.0%
  • Total voters
    1
  • Poll votes is visible for users with special permission.
I used to believe tv news. really. sunday morning shows. loved them, especially this week with david and then sam and cokie.
Now i agree with throwngncpr, its all crap.
I get my real news from THE DAILY SHOW.
 
...and the Colbert Report, Dead Ringers and the Interwebs. ;)
 
LOL, i like the Daily Show and The Colbert Report for entertainment (and a bit of news too ;) ), but most of my news comes from NPR and BBC radio
 
lol and me? i don't even like NPR...... i do like the onion though ;) haha
 
Keep the TV for movies and entertainment. Get you news and politics elsewhere. Polite doesnt sell ratings
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I don't know of many places I trust to get the news at all. Certainly not the radio, which, here in Canada at least, is mostly wire-read junk.

As for print, here in town we have two newspapers I wouldn't let my dog go on. Even the Times has lost their minds (Bill Kristol? Really?)

I mentioned television only because it is so extreme an example of what's happening everywhere. Even if you don't believe in bias (beit corporate or liberal, depending on your own tilt), it's all to easy to see disinterest (generalization, summarization, commercialization), laziness (nonexistent fact-checking), pathos (the modern contempt for dispassionate logic) and unprofessionalism (editiorializing, lack of contexturalizing) as rampant, not just in TV, but everywhere.

Frankly, the "media stream" (or "flood", if you will) is destroying contemplative judgement, and hence debate, everywhere.

For my own part, I stick to books and documentaries (BBC, CBC, PBS). With those two forms of comminication at least the lengthier nature of the process necessitates reflection and dedication.
 
I agree with most of that. Print can be extremely biased. I find that most newspapers are horrible. and yes, they are really only good for the coupons on the weekends, and soaking up puppy piss.

For all these reasons, this is why political discussions SHOULD exist (keeping it civil of course), because the only way to gain knowledge or insight is through exposure, and we have already identified the media to be a bunch of shit.
 
Heinrich said:
...soon somebody says that george bush is an asshole/antichrist/alcoholic...
Click to expand...

You forgot coc(aine)head. :smile: You should never be crucified for preaching the truth.
 
i am a ron paul supporter for what he does (and doesn't) stand for.

he's educated, can communicate well, and his ideas are founded on something other than lobbyist money.

it is easy for those uneducated in fundamental concepts like economy, constitution, social implications of domestic and foreign policies and even simple ideas like cause & effect to disregard his views as crazy.

i realize that he's probably not going to win anything, but someone who WILL raise the standard of discourse is needed in american politics and most other candidates are leaving a bit to be desired...


so... what about ron paul is not desirable?


re: media -

i have lost ALL faith in television news sources (and like throw the little tv i watch includes 'the colbert report' and 'the daily show'). i've lost MOST faith in print media (magazines, newspapers, etc.). and i digest most information nowadays from various internet sources, other print types (like books!) and definitely articles FROM newspapers (which are retrieved by an index site rather than a news homepage).

most forms of media have turned from information to entertainment and that is not acceptable. i'm not going to wade in shit to find a nickel.
 
ThrowgnCpr said:
I agree with most of that. Print can be extremely biased. I find that most newspapers are horrible. and yes, they are really only good for the coupons on the weekends, and soaking up puppy piss.
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Don't forget the funnies!

Although one might argue that those are no longer needed either with the internet and collections in book stores.
 
GyRo567 said:
ThrowgnCpr said:
I agree with most of that. Print can be extremely biased. I find that most newspapers are horrible. and yes, they are really only good for the coupons on the weekends, and soaking up puppy piss.
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Don't forget the funnies!

Although one might argue that those are no longer needed either with the internet and collections in book stores.
Click to expand...

I actually haven't looked at the comics page in forever. Is there anybody good around anymore?

I miss Calvin.
 
joebshmoe said:
i am a ron paul supporter for what he does (and doesn't) stand for.

he's educated, can communicate well, and his ideas are founded on something other than lobbyist money.

it is easy for those uneducated in fundamental concepts like economy, constitution, social implications of domestic and foreign policies and even simple ideas like cause & effect to disregard his views as crazy.

i realize that he's probably not going to win anything, but someone who WILL raise the standard of discourse is needed in american politics and most other candidates are leaving a bit to be desired...


so... what about ron paul is not desirable?


re: media -

i have lost ALL faith in television news sources (and like throw the little tv i watch includes 'the colbert report' and 'the daily show'). i've lost MOST faith in print media (magazines, newspapers, etc.). and i digest most information nowadays from various internet sources, other print types (like books!) and definitely articles FROM newspapers (which are retrieved by an index site rather than a news homepage).

most forms of media have turned from information to entertainment and that is not acceptable. i'm not going to wade in shit to find a nickel.
Click to expand...


As a Canadian observer, I woulda loved to see a Ron Paul presidency. I musta watched that debate reply to the question "As president, would you start a war without congress?" half a dozen times. (If you missed it, he goes last, after every other candidate has acted tough, and says, basically, "You guys are nuts, you can't do that, it's ILLEGAL!")

Definitely there's something to be said for an actual plain talker, even if he doesn't believe in taxes whatsoever. (In fact, I think I mowed down Paul with my shotgun in the city of Rapture, on level 4 of 'Bioshock'!).

Kucinich woulda been fun too. And now that Edwards is out, there's nobody but the usual talking wallets.

Oh wait, we're discussing politics! Bad boy! Bad boy!
 
Well obviously Poll Votes do not matter to everyone here in this thread,we voted on this and it looks overwhelming to me,but my eyes could be wrong.

61833088yx2.png
 
Type12point said:
I actually haven't looked at the comics page in forever. Is there anybody good around anymore?

I miss Calvin.
Click to expand...

Me too... I have The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, all of the yearly books, all of the original treasuries (pre-wide, yearly format) the 10th Anniversary book, the new and old Sunday collections, and a duplicate copy of It's A Magical World.

And I've read each individual copy a minimum of twice; most many more.

So I'm not really feeling the pain of missing it in the paper (the paper in Tampa, Florida still runs it, for example, but here in Austin, Texas, it's nowhere to be found) with all of the books. I'm just missing Bill Waterson's daily updates.

But there are a few others out there. Foxtrot was one of the biggest and even had Bill Waterson quotes praising it from time to time, but it recently ended. (and in a fairly slow final year too - it was a wise decision; he only came up with two or three stories with great laughs that last year) Zits is the other big extension of Calvin & Hobbes style humor, and it's still going pretty strong. There are some small stall outs where it's predictable, derivative "humor" worth a vague chuckle at best, but most of the time those guys still have it.

Forgetting the physical comic strips, there is one that I like right now that's online. It's called XKCD, and it's not really the same type of humor at all. I like to refer to it as "academic silliness, if there is such a thing", and here are a few examples of why:
http://xkcd.com/135/
http://xkcd.com/249/
http://xkcd.com/162/
http://xkcd.com/150/

There are also comments on each comic if you hover your mouse over the image.

Which brings me to a question of my own: What are some good comics that I'm missing out on?

EDIT: Since I don't want to completely derail this topic, let's just keep this exchange to the two of us in edits to these same two posts. And here's a political cartoon I just Googled for topicality... >_>
http://www.wunderkraut.com/art/01cartoon.jpg
 
ah i forgot - i'm a SUCKER for documentaries. i love 'em. i like them also because i can listen to them while doing other things. (except for things like planet earth, obviously)

some good ones?
* bbc's global dimming
* journey of man
* fiat empire
* planet earth
* islam: empire of faith
* ken burns' jazz
 
I greatly enjoyed Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine, but I think that was because I watched it for entertainment value... He did open my eyes to the idea that Canada has just as many guns as the United States but a completely out of ratio murder rate. That part was strange and true, but my favorite part was when he tried to portray Charlton Heston as a racist, as if nobody watching his film would remember this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_H ... l_activism

My favorite documentary is Empire of Dreams, but I don't suppose it's very political. Nor would it even be considered educational by most people. Still need to see Planet Earth. Can't decide whether to trust An Inconvenient Truth or not, but I know that regardless of whether it's just a political touchdown or complete reality, I really would like the Earth to smell better either way.
 
Personally, I think that politics don't matter much, because I don't think the politicians hold any real power. It's the bankers who are controlling the world, the politicians are there to create as much noise as they can and to keep us distracted from the fact that most western countries are owned by private persons. for example: The Federal reserve system is owned by private banks, who are owned a by few private citizens.

I'm not sure about the central European bank. Is it owned by private people or not? Wikipedia says that it's owned by the national banks of member states.

The main problem with politicians is that I didn't get to choose any of them and I don't want any of them deciding any thing for my. I view politicians as egotistical, power hungry idiots who will sell themselves to whoever pays the most.

That's the sad thing about power: whoever wants power - don't deserve to have it. and those who deserve it - don't want it... :)
 
GyRo567 said:
Type12point said:
I actually haven't looked at the comics page in forever. Is there anybody good around anymore?

I miss Calvin.
Click to expand...

Me too... I have The Complete Calvin & Hobbes, all of the yearly books, all of the original treasuries (pre-wide, yearly format) the 10th Anniversary book, the new and old Sunday collections, and a duplicate copy of It's A Magical World.

But there are a few others out there. Foxtrot was one of the biggest and even had Bill Waterson quotes praising it from time to time, but it recently ended.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Foxtrot was good, from what I remember. He used that kid with the lizard to rant about a lot of geek stuff that touched base with me.
 
GyRo567 said:
I greatly enjoyed Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine, but I think that was because I watched it for entertainment value... He did open my eyes to the idea that Canada has just as many guns as the United States but a completely out of ratio murder rate.
Click to expand...

That's because our guns are in the country, not so much in the cities. I don't know anyone who owns one. My father used to, but that was was way back when we owned a country cottage.

Can't decide whether to trust An Inconvenient Truth or not.
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That's the thing with all documentaries, and all news. How do you know who to trust?

I'm a fairly well read bloke. I'd say I go through thirty to forty non-fiction books a year, and keep up with as many documentaries and well-produced television reports as I can, not to mention looking through the Web. But unless you're willing to make it your primary hobby, you're basically at the mercy of what your own critical faculties can discern regarding "the truth". I prize mine as being above average, but even I'm not so arrogant to think I can't be duped.

Part of the reason I avoid political discussions, I guess. If I wanted to argue only the things I was expert at it would come down to: movie history, porn, screenwriting, Warner Brothers cartoons, Star Wars, baseball, and which actresses have the nicest butts.

That hardly makes me Christopher Hitchens or George Will. And I'd say I'm easily more in touch than most.[/quote]
 
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