rumitoid

Knee-jerk statements of "libtard" or "conservatard" are childish. Drinking the "kool-aid" is a twelve year old in a playground comment. People, please, let us see things for what they are: Automatic insult by label is a mental disorder or a feeble mind, nothing else. There appear to be a number of very sick people, right and left, on this site. Vote for America. Go beyond this disease of fear and hate to our American ideals and wondrous Constitution.

jack sequim wa Loc: Blanchard, Idaho

With all the emotion, many believe our country has been taken over, forever leaving the founding fathers, while others believe what is happening is for the best. There is no fault in strong forceful statements, but when it turns personal, as the author states, it becomes a school yard battle of lower IQ words.
There are some that don't appear to want an honest discussion, but to insite anger, can we ignore there replies? Just no even respond....

Thanks for your post, and reminder to us all

Secret Alchemist Loc: Carthage, TX

Agreed. It may seem as though insulting someone you disagree with is going to discourage them and further your point of view. In actuality, insults encourage the insulted to get more belligerent until everyone involved gets lost in an escalating and pointless war of words. There really are more important things to discuss in politics than how sorry you think someone you disagree with is.

rumitoid

Excellent feedback, thank you, and well put.

rumitoid

Yes, funny, and very good observations. My feelings exactly!

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

This has become an automatic response for some and they feel perfectly justified in doing so. Some are just bullies and this is another format for them to ply their trade in. Some people are overly sensitive to anything that sounds like criticism and they respond with verbal abuse, thus making it personal. I don't know how many times I've read through an entire post, just to see that it's a shouting match between two persons. That wastes my time, it wastes theirs as well, but that's their perogative.

Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

There are some voices of reason out there but on this site & in this country every one things their voice is a voice of reason.

But little to they think about their lack of reasoning in their post when they slip in to verbal abuse.

I find I am responding to fewer & fewer topics as it becomes clear after reading just a few posts that it is just another go no where topic.

Artemis

This is all very true, what I find most disappointing is when the insulter comes on a post, that had been having a descent discussion only to derail it by insulting a poster. I feel that was their true intention and they do succeed if we engage in them. This just happened to me yesterday and I found I had to just get off of Opp, which I also do more and more. Even though it may be difficult to ignore them, that is what we must do.

Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

Well I will keep looking & responding to the voices of reason that I come across.

It may be the only way to truly put an end to most of the insulting.

We need to just not respond to insults with insults.

jjb2012

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

Well said, Floyd. I have come to the unfortunate conclusion that there are some from all sides who are resistant to voices of reason. That does cause many to refrain from commenting...knowing that their comments will fall on deaf ears...or, bring forth a torrent of contemptuous responses.

I sense there are many who realize the futility of participating in such close-minded discussions. The 'truth' seems to be only that which aligns with one's particular stance. Dismissiveness of other's thoughts/opinions is a virus on the OPP. No one individual is always right or always wrong.

I often question why I remain on the OPP. Then, I remind myself of the numerous good people on the forums. By 'good', I mean those who are civil and accepting of other viewpoints without agreeing, necessarily. I prefer the company of such to those who always agree with me. I am more likely to learn something.

"A man's (person's) character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation." [quote/] Mark Twain. Also, "People who fly into rage always make bad trips."

Searching Loc: Rural Southwest VA

When the news came (some almost 9 years ago) that I was about to become a grandmother for the first time, since I dabble in clay, I crafted a father sitting with his newborn after one that I had seen that was such a pleasant visual, and in the shadow box that father and child nestle in, I placed a printed copy of the following by Forest E. Witcraft. entitled "A Hundred Years From Now",... "A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drive but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a CHILD." As each of my three sons became fathers, I presented them with one of the shadow boxes, because the message is one of such importance.

This last month, much soul searching have I done, along with a lot of "looking in" on the OPP community, sometimes with hope as I see some obviously choosing a lighter tone, even in their rebukes of others, and sometimes in despair over the vitriol and mistrust displayed. During this time of looking in, introspection and "catch up" of things not necessarily ALL OPP, I came across my copy of "The Hundred Years From Now.." and it kept intruding in my thoughts when I read the threads on OPP, leading me to attempt to visualize the "real" people beyond the computer screens of vitriol and mistrust --, what "had" they, what "would" they, pass on to their children. In the past, from time to time, I have caught glimpses of kinder, gentler souls than what most who post present as on OPP. I can only hope that this is the legacy passed on to their children. Lest anyone wonder, toward the end of my introspection, someone very kind and unconnected to OPP helped me to see that when I am angered, I have an inability to "let go" of it, sometimes past all rational thought. I can only say I have thankfully NOT passed on to my children this lovely trait. This less than attractive side of me is something I intend to seriously work on, because I have come to discover the enemy IS me. Perhaps, even if the negativity of mistrust, vitriol, and anger, has not been passed on to our collective of children by all of us individually, the ripple effect out into the universe of the same that we project may well still be able to reach out and touch our children -- a thought worth pondering before hitting the "Send" button. Somehow, I suspect that none of us wish this to be our legacy to our children. Righteous "anger" feels "good" for a nanosecond, and then what....

slatten49 Loc: Lake Whitney, Texas

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :mrgreen:

Your post serves as a reminder of why you are missed. :wink:

RetNavyCWO Loc: VA suburb of DC

Excellent post! Thank you! :thumbup: :thumbup:

Floyd Brown Loc: Milwaukee WI

You could not just give up on your search for the voice of reason could you?

You seem to always show up on topics that seem to show hope.