[BigV]

thinkin out loud here....

A little bird told me I should read this thread; I have though it took me two days and my lips are really tired now. I didn't bother with it for at first because I just don't care what lumberjim says anymore. And that still applies. He has his standards, and mostly I don't think much of them. In this case, however, I share his and others' sadness that the quality of the dialog in the politics discussions, and many other places here has declined, due mostly to the way many posts are put into the conversation.

To me, the name calling, the profanity, is nothing at all like a conversation. It is a shouting match. With bullhorns. To extend the popular and useful tavern analogy, when this happens it is like a loud disturbing ruckus. The analogy breaks down here for a good reason. In the tavern, there'd be a fight and some resolution at least to the point where the volume dropped again. But that doesn't happen here, because they can't "settle this like men, once and for all". They're stuck, using the only violence delivery method they have, more fucking shouting. It never gets solved. Mostly because in a shouting match, you're just trying to intimidate your opponent into backing down or running away. That never works here, because it just isn't that scary--oooo he's shouting at me--we're a bunch of internet hardcases, unintimidateable. It makes regular conversations for others nearby difficult or impossible.

But, the very thing that makes it last (on and on) here is the same thing that makes it ignorable. Just read around them.

It is not a conversation. It is not an attempt at an exchange of ideas. It is just noise. Content free noise. And it should be treated accordingly. I mute it or move away from it. If we were in the tavern, telling the shouters to shut up would be unlikely to work. I think it is just as unlikely to work here. Let them rave. I say this because I don't want *my* speech to be judged and censored. I don't think the rule "don't be intolerably irritating" has been violated. I think making more rules is not necessary. I don't think putting the onus on the moderators to protect me from this noise is appropriate (nor would it be successful in the long term).

The Golden Rule works here. Some want to shout at each other, presumably wanting or expecting me to shout back. I decline. I want silence from them, so I show them silence. I want dialog. I want conversation, to exchange ideas. This is the main way I learn.