Off Topic Political Debate

I count that as name calling obviously - any body would so it was self explanatory.

 

I was quoting Toby who has posted over 14,000 times, is he not a regular?

 

I was quoting Toby who has posted over 14,000 times. Is he not a regular?

 

No. And I'm generally polite on here, you just drove me to it.

I apologise to the other members on this board.

 

Thanks Toby

Also thanks to OFH and Cologne - better for non mods to voice their concerns here I feel.

I hope that draws a line as we try not to censor on this board and I want to keep it that way.

 

A very good idea to stop the insults, but I'm not sure any of the recent debates have reached the level indicated in the original strap line. "stay away from this thread unless like me you enjoy talking about political matters that generate heated discussions"

 

Fair play Dan I didn't want to come on here and stir things up but I was provoked by one of yours.

Your a good decent bunch on here and I apologise if I caused any offence.

Have a great end to the season by beating Norwich to the second place spot.

 

I live in a Tory free area, so to read some of the tired cliche driven drivel on here is strange-thiose right wing apologists really are daily fail megaphones, for whats its worth ,both main parties are guilty of sucking off capitalists, just the tories have got deeper throats.
The economy has been declining for over forty years, thre brutal shift to services and banking that thatcher regime engineered has excacerbated the inequality,the ideological driven attack on the poor, disenfranchised , blaming of all woes on others is nothing new , the sheer hypocosy is standard,but to try and defend them is at best misguided and worst an lillness.

many millions of us , the majority of voters will be voting Against the tories and what they represent, not for labour per se, as they too are guilty of putting the rich first and the real workers second.

however , global events will shape the future more than any westminster careerists, capitalism lurches from criisis to crisis, the debts of all major economies keep expanding --something has to give......

 

gutter language.

and your alternative to capitalism?

 

I gave up on this thread when it became clear that people do not respect others' positions. We all have our politics but two things annoy me - people who are more interested in slagging others off rather than saying why they support what they do and also people who label others using the press or media - from what I see here most of us are thoughtful people who think for ourselves and although we cannot help being influenced by the media I see nobody here who parrots the Daily Mail or Mirror etc.

However I do not agree with censorship and cannot support banning anyone or closing threads - this thread is for people who want to discuss politics and that often gets a bit nasty - even on TV debates. There are hundreds of others threads so if this one irritates you then avoid it. People who do post here though should try to remember that none of us really read what they say when they just use insults

 

Censorship, there's a topic for a thread on its own, shouldn't be needed in a sensible, sophisticated society - except one person's sophisticated and liberal view point might then allow those in that society with a hugely blinkered world view to have air. Should censorship be so relaxed as to allow the promotion of acts completely harmful to society in general or not? Just because I believe the sky is blue and someone doesn't should I be stopped from saying it, on the other hand if I were publishing an opinion clearly harmful to society you would expect me to be stopped. We suffer from a lot of moral outrage these days, which could be a good thing if it were completely and totally balanced - unhappily there does seem to be a group of individuals who see being a victim as a lifestyle choice, where others in a similar position just get on with being part of the greater society.

 

I think that one of the problems here is that we do not have really clear parameters for the debate. Are we simply debating who we want to win the next election ? Or is it a more general critique of either Socialism or Capitalism (or within Capitalism - Monetarist vs. Keynesian theory). I ask because up to now I have seen the expression 'socialist' used to describe more or less anything which the 'right' do not like, and I can't really debate on those terms. As far as I know all of the parties contesting the election believe in some sort of modified capitalism and so to lump any of them in the same catagory as eg. the ex GDR. is ludicrous. Also - is it necessary to provide an alternative vision before criticizing Capitalism ? If called for I will provide an alternative vision - but it may fall outside the parameters of this debate.

 

There should be no place for comments as above, we are not all hardened political animals, there might be children visiting this site. Where are the moderators? It seems any crudeness or insult is allowable as long as it has a lefty message attached to it.

 

There is nowhere in the World which has complete freedom of speech Brag. All nations have their forms of censorship. Either based on so called national security - or on the need to protect people from libel, slander, incitement to violence, or material of racist, sexist or pornographic material. Exactly where each individual draws the line is different in each case - I would have legally silenced Charlie Hebdo long before it's Mohammed caricatures, others on here believed in an absolute free field in this case.

 

Fair point Cologne. If I remember correctly I think Leo started the thread in order to avoid going off topic on a thread about a specific political issue (possibly the European elections last year). Pretty much the natire of the besat that it would turn into a Genral Election thread I suppose but yes there are real blurred lines between discussing the elction itself and political theories etc. in principle..

 

I would hope they are all either in school or hanging round the local parks drinking cider and studying the form for the 2-40 at Newbury.
Anyway, he made one questionable comment which wouldn't be to everyone's taste (and yes some may find it pureile) but it wasn't a direct insult aimed at anyone on this board and wasn't racist or homophobic so as far as I am concerned the forum rules haven't been broken.

 

You comrades should get married.

 

Dan / H
This thread has an outstanding Report - are you able to view it?
I know some mods are having problems - can you deal with the report or let us know if you can't see it.
Thanks

 

What is an 'outstanding report`?

 

I think you'll only get an argument over that if you stumble across some Ancient Greeks in the pub - I believe that they considered the sky to be bronze...