These kind of forums should NEVER have political debates\discussions. The point of a Sports\Music\hobby forums is to bring people together based on common grounds in order to escape this horrible world we live in for a little while. You bring politics or religion in and it becomes a shitstorm and everybody hates each other over stuff that's out of their control. I don't understand why people think their opinion on politics even matters lol
Maybe it was wrong of me I don't remember, I just have a real issue these days with people trying to control others vocabulary and what you can and can't say or getting upset over these magic words we all give power to. It's not like I'm going around trying to offend anybody you know. I said something at the moment, people took it out of context and started telling me what I could and couldn't say and that's probably where I should of stopped. People need to just lighten up at the end of the day, you can't run around searching for things to get mad about. Too much of that these days. People like choosing to be offended rather than actually being offended. There are no dangers in people's lives, we don't have to hunt anymore or just survive because most of us live under a roof with Internet so people just get bored and we got to a point where now everything is offensive.
I completely agree that people especially in the media, created this PC culture where people are just trying to find reasons to bash what someone said and get angry simply to get angry or try to create this moral high ground. It generally happens with someone saying something not PC but can happen the reverse as well. Its one of the 1000x reasons why watching the news and discussing politics get into a crapshow so fast, people want to be offended with things and they will.
This has been a theory of mine for quite a while. Basically we've been so comfortable for so long, that we need to create struggles of some kind. If we had to worry about when or where our next meal or drink of water was coming from, there'd be no such thing as PC.
FWIW, one of the requirements for this community is the OT section. Non Blazers mods wanting to do away with OT and move the posts to the sites overall OT section is what caused the migration here in the first place, no? From what I saw, the subject matter hasn't changed much. Where is TalkHard anyway?
If I'm being completely honest, reading some of that shit has me disturbed. There are a few posters I now have 0 respect for because of their complete lack of moral compass. As you say, I too don't care one bit what they say about hoops when they actively support such a sleaze. I'd rather have not known all this. Trying to stay as much bball related as possible-- definitely gonna curb my ventures to OT forum.
I am pretty big on compartmentalization, so this makes no sense to me. For instance, I have 0 respect for Jason Kidd as a person. But I would listen with rapt attention if he were talking basketball. I have no problem separating the two. Furthermore, I think this also illustrates one of the biggest problems with political religious discussions in general: too many people conflate, "I disagree with specific beliefs held by this person," with, "This is a bad person on the whole." This thought process is unhealthy, and is the kind of thinking that leads to prejudice and bigotry. There are plenty of people in the OT section with whom I disagree vehemently, both in the content of their conversation and their manner of delivery. But when we're talking Blazers, none of the OT stuff matters to me, because it's not relevant to the basketball discussion.
It's just hard for me to un-see what I saw (rather, un-read what I read) and compartementalize as you say. Would much rather have as anonymous of an interaction as possible. Not easy to do when you're here a lot I guess.
There are some people I have put on ignore, those who used deliberate personal insults. I have nothing to gain by reading it. Some OT threads I ignore because frankly they are just the same people repeating the same things over and over. I'd rather go clean the litter box. (BTW, loved the cartoon, I get LIVID when other people's dogs shit in my garden and I discover the pile while crawling on the ground weeding.) Sometimes I engage when I think I have information or point of view that might shed light. Or just f'ing feel like it! Sometimes people ask respectful and interesting questions. I forget who but someone asked Hillary Clinton supporters, without mentioning Trump, why are you supporting her? And asked Trump supporters, without mentioning Clinton, why are you supporting him? What I saw reflected the country as a whole, Clinton supporters mostly raised specific issues or talked of her experience, Trmp supporters expressed themselves as pissed off. Calling people SlyPokerDogs is never acceptable. I don't even like it when gay people use it among ourselves.
I spend a fair amount of time in the OT Section. For lack of a better word, I find it entertaining. Or maybe enlightening is more accurate. Faceless or not, this is a community and I enjoy getting to know what makes the other members "tick". One of the first and most important lessons I ever learned is that there is (almost) always two (or even more) sides to every story. And as much as I (like everyone else) likes to think my side is the "right" side, I don't have too much heartburn over being challenged. Call it "peer review". In a time where virtually all "news" and information is open to question, the more viewpoints available, the better. Because somewhere in all that white noise are kernels of truth to be gathered and hopefully the "big picture" can be assembled. And regardless of why or how people form the basis of their opinions (or "truths") they are theirs to own. It's part of what makes us all unique in our own ways. And we all need to do a better job of respecting that. And I guess that's my only real complaint about the OT forum. Things tend to get a little heated and disrespectful sometimes. I enjoy poking and being poked most of the time, but calling each other morons, asshole etc, slams the door on any hope of understanding or "enlightenment". No one is right 100% of the time (okay, maybe my wife is....green font). I've attended two meet and greets, along with three games since joining the board. And everyone I've met so far has been terrific. Believe or don't, we are a great group of folks, and not once, for even a second has anyone ever discussed religion or politics at those events. It's all about the Blazers and enjoying the camaraderie. The OT section gives us a refuge when the team is sucking, we're in the off season doldrums, or we just need a place to escape and vent. I'd just like to see us all take the actual heated moments down a notch and give each other the respect we are all owed. Because hey, at the end of the day, we all know what opinions are like.....and we all have them. And if you don't want to hear 'em, then stay out of the OT forum......
Use the word SlyPokerDog in public at your own risk. Does saying it mean more to you than keeping your teeth? I almost can appreciate your viewpoint if that is the case.
Yes, I just edited all mentions of a certain f word in this thread. That is because if I don't others someone will use it as an insult against someone in the forum and they will say it's not fair that I deleted their post and didn't delete it in this thread.
Did I make that ignore list? I've been making small appearances in the OP. Its overwhelming to try to keep up though. Man @Rastapopoulos has been on FIRE!!! lol.
I don't even know what that is, and after reading your post, I glad I don't. Sometimes, I like being old. BNM
