Posted by mair on December 3, 2004, at 16:34:56
In reply to Re: politics board, posted by Dr. Bob on December 3, 2004, at 4:27:05
" i was blocked simply for calling bush's policies destructive... i was not outrageous, i didn't put anyone down, etc. if we are not allowed to discuss anything "bad", then we cannot have a real political discussion.
> >
> > amy
>
> IMO, calling them destructive puts down them and those who agree with them. How about a discussion about constructive, "good" policies?
>
> Bob"
Since the only PBC I've ever gotten and my only block arose from political comments, I view the politics board as a potential minefield, and not necessarily the best board addition. Your response to Amy is an example of the pitfalls which I think will befall posters on that board. Comments like "I think George Bush is a war criminal," or "anyone who would support Bush is an idiot," are obvious examples of provocative name-calling which should be understood by everyone to fall outside the parameters of civil discourse. However it's simply unrealistic to assume that you can have a board where everyone only talks about constructive good policies. While I freely admit that much of the political discourse in this country borders on the uncivil, I also believe that much of the civil discourse concerns a discussion of negatives.
Making a remark like "I think the War in Iraq has been destructive because it's polarized the country, done great damage to the landscape of Iraq, resulted in the killing of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens, and alienated much of the civilized world, thereby diminishing our international standing," in my opinion, should be ok, even though it hardly focuses on the positive.
We're not asked to limit our remarks about insurance companies or pharmaceutical companies to a discussion of all the wonderful things they do, so it makes no sense that we should limit a discussion of politics to the constructively positive. (if that's what you meant). To do so would take any political discussions here far out of the realm of typical civil political discourse. My guess is that permissible discussions would be too stilted and the topics too limiting to be of any use to anyone.Mair
poster:mair
thread:422023
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/admin/20041109/msgs/424065.html