Well, fellow like minded participants in the Bill Archer forum, I have been banned, temporarily, from the Politics forum. This is a fascinating saga, and very telling. What it shows to me is that the great leftist chorus over there simply cannot stand to really have free speech. It began with the thread about the London attacks. The thread quickly evolved into a combination of expressions of anger, sympathy, and little bits of news. Fine. Then someone posted a link to a story that al Qaeda claimed responsibility. I responded then that some on the Politics board...in fact, I daresay, a lot on the politics board -- don't think al Quaeda exists as a coordinated managed organization. Well, then the screaming and ranting began. Calling me a fvckwad. And so on. One poster neg repped me, saying that "politics didn't belong in this thread." Oh, I see. The leftist thought police are now telling me that in a thread in the polticis forum, politics doesn't belong because they say so? Or is it because they are being presented with a set of ideas they don't like? I responded that, in the context of the expressions and sympathy and anger, we have to understand we are in a WAR. With an ENEMY. Who is ruthless, patient...and yes, organized and coordinated. Well, apparently the chorus against me was so vociferous that the mods caved and have me exiled. Here is how I responded to one of the mods.
Sorry to hear this... your opinions are just as worthwhile as everyone else's opinion... why would the Mods discriminate? Who's the Mod anyway? Obie? Dante? Someone else? I have been threatened lightly in posts and more directly in PMs for my opinions...and yet none of these folks are ever punished! For my part they just call me a troll becuase I express an opinion! I am seriously considering withdrawing from BigSoccer due to the nasty reception conservative opinion receives on the Politics board... I may have some far out ideas, as does everyone, but I don't believe you Karl, or anyone else, should be excluded! Sad! More liberals discriminating against free speech! Didn't the Democrat Party at one time embrace free speech? IntheNet
I personally have come to believe that the only purpose of the politics forum is thus: It will be easier to track down the nuts for their stay in the camps when the revolution comes...
I daresay my opinions are more worthwhile, because I try to back them up with reasoning and thought. As for who the mods are in this instance, it doesn't really matter. Like I said, I respect what they have to do, and the jobs they do willingly. Yet I do hope they feel at least a little tinge of guilt in clamping down on my free speech in response to the overwhelming cacophony of the lefty chorus. I too have thought about abanonding the Politics forum from time to time, but you know, I just can't help myself. It's like being drawn to a car wreck. They need to be called out.
I sense that too! There is a poster in the Politics Board now...BillQ...blaiming President Bush and Prime Minister Blair...for the bombings in London! And his sentiment is fostered! https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=216829&page=1&pp=15 A car wreck indeed!
This mind set is the same as a child blaming himself for his parents getting divorsed. It's sad that so many people look for excuses to blame themselves. We keep going down that path, we play right into their hands. Feeling guilty, when you're not...looking for a reason to be guilty, when you're not...is a huge mistake.
A further update. I asked back in today. One of the mods told me that "A lot of people want you banned for good and carded." I am sorry, this is very very typical of the leftist chorus. I have zero problem with any of them calling me stupid, or my ideas stupid, or anything of the sort. And while I have asked the mods to wrist-slap a moonbat who equated me to a mass-murderer, I never EVER asked any mod to ban anybody...ever. You see, for some, free speech is just fine as long as (a)they, the enlightened left, are the ones who are free and, (b) it's the kind of speech THEY want to hear. Yes, they love free speech...when it's THEY who are free and doing the speaking.
ITN's buddy BillQ has a yellow. Is that from the debacle known as the London Bombing thread? Not to really thread-jack your rant, but if AQ was as coordinated as you have said in the past, shouldn't crap like this have happened a lot more? As a society (Western Hemisphere + Aus-NZ), we have taken the war to them and have built up our homeland defenses. However, against a well organized opponent, we could never do enough. Basically, either through our actions or infighting of AQ, the terrorists are not coordinated and well-managed.
Well, al Qaeda isn't General Electric, in terms of top down communication and edict, but on the other hand, they can pull off operations that require coordination and control. The London bombings were clearly planned well in advance. I think there are two reasons we don't see more operations. One of the reasons has do with us -- we're doing better at intelligence and thus are more successful as thwarting them. But the other reason has to do with them. They are very very patient. They don't feel a need to do lot, because they know that when they DO execute an operation, it's very high profile. Also, AQ, very much like GE, has a corporate strategy and a series of short and long-term objectives; these objectives are predicated upon us being weak and spineless. --Evict the US and other militaris from the region --Depose "impure" Islamic governments --Restored the 5th Century caliphate to control a supra-national Pan Arab state, from the coast of North Africa to the Caspian and Aral Seas. --Destroy western civilization That's why leftists like Kerry, who want to turn all of this into some sort of criminal enforcement exercise, have a degree of naivete that is absolutely huge.
Yeah, I saw where one of them even threatened you (maybe it was BillQ, I can't remember), but I bet he didn't get banned. You have to remember that these guys are desperate because they have lost control. Keep your cool and prevail.
From today's WSJ on the planning and coordination aspect of the London bombing: by Andrew Sullivan: Also, this: Now THAT's sig material, eh??
Not my buddy... not at all! He makes claims of racism and a bigotry toward me all the time... I guess because I supported the Secretary of State Dr. Rice in a post! Yeah... that must be it! There are far too many leftist loons in the Politics Board! For example, look at this=> Poverty Causes Terrorism! So we are guilty for 09/11/01 becuase we didn't give the world a Happy meal??? Leftist lunacy! Invariably every Mod assigned to the Politics Board becomes a leftist liberal by default! If BigSoccer had any cajones whatsover; they'd make a strong conservative the Mod: give them liberals a friggin heart attack!
C'mon, already. You're a big contributor to the car wreck. And it's not because you're a conservative -- hell, I'm married to one -- it's because you, to be quite blunt, are a ********-for-brains college student who thinks he has all the answers. I would apply the same critique to all the neohippies that annoyed me 10 years ago on the West Mall of the UT campus. If I were King of BigSoccer and could ban you from the Politics forum in perpetuity in exchange for one weekly post from Bill or the contributor to Bill's guestbook of my choosing, I'd make the exchange in a heartbeat. Hell, I wouldn't even make that deal for Karl. And definitely not for Smiley. And it's not because you write nominally conservative posts, it's because you write stupid ones.
I was a paleohippie at UC Berkeley in the late 1970's. By the time I left, the local commies and Khomeini sympathizers turned me into a right-wing tubthumping hippie. Those were the good old days. Especially when Reagan was elected, man you should have seen the caterwauling. That alone was worth the minimal tuition I paid.
The saga continues. A mod said it was "justified" that I was banned. Here is the exchange. My response.
Hey, I just throw on some fuel and watch the flames. Provoking jacknuts like those on the politics forum is simple fun, but it sure is fun. Besides I don't post nearly as much over there as I used to (it's the same 4-5 arguments over and over again) and yet the downhill slide continues. Hmm... I mean, when you have a thread entitled "is american retarded?" that has been up for several days without being deleted, but Karl gets banned for a week from the board....
ElJefe=>Why are you good for nothing liberal leftists so opposed to free speech? You're worse than spit!
Here's an example of one of IntheNet's lovely opinions (re: Mike): If you have something worthwhile on topic, feel free to post your thoughts. Otherwise such juvenile redskin rants contribute nothing but reservation chatter.
bojendyk: I see you neglected to post Mike's post which prompted my response so here you go: bojendyk: Mike's a moron! Yet even morons should stay on topic! Mike makes the fatal mistake of being a moron and being so off topic! If he wishes to add to discussion, I welcome it, but if he exists just to castigate others, as so many liberals on Politics Forum do, then he should be called on it! finis
Was it DJPooypants that lost a bet to ITN and had to have Ann Coulter for an avatar for a week? That got ITN alot of capital in my book.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. You're just a provocateur. [Jon Lovitz]That's it. That's the ticket.[/Jon Lovitz] Have you actually read that thread? A couple of posts from a poster who's since received a red card and about 30 from posters' basically acting goofy and riffing on retards.