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Your view of other posters

I view other posters as

  • Primarily an individual

    Votes: 24 82.8%

  • Representing an ideology (mine or not mine)

    Votes: 7 24.1%

  • Primarily part of a group

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Someone to understand

    Votes: 16 55.2%

  • Someone to learn from

    Votes: 12 41.4%

  • Someone to be prevail against

    Votes: 6 20.7%

  • A chance for a relationship

    Votes: 3 10.3%

  • Interesting

    Votes: 15 51.7%

  • Uninteresting

    Votes: 6 20.7%
  • Total voters
    29
Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

Jesus loves you.
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Location
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Political Leaning
Liberal
I am curious to see where people fall.
 
You need "all of the above" as an option.
 
It depends. I could, depending on exactly who we're talking about, chose some or all of those options, with one exception: Primarily part of a group. I tend to view individuals as individuals, as I am not group-oriented and every person is different.
 
Other people are endlessly fascinating. Why do they believe the things they believe? What makes them tick?

And, of course, there is always the primal thrill of conquest.
 
megaprogman said:
I am curious to see where people fall.
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It can all be summed up in one word, "Entertainment". All those positions presented are moot and meaningless. Who needs the respect of anyone that hides behind the anonymity of a keyboard, what do you gain by besting or refuting that anonymity? There is only one valid reason to visit sites such as this....entertainment, anyone that thinks they are benefited by anything that is presented in the pretentious world of cyber space has some very serious issues to begin with.
 
Walter said:
It can all be summed up in one word, "Entertainment". All those positions presented are moot and meaningless. Who needs the respect of anyone that hides behind the anonymity of a keyboard, what do you gain by besting or refuting that anonymity? There is only one valid reason to visit sites such as this....entertainment, anyone that thinks they are benefited by anything that is presented in the pretentious world of cyber space has some very serious issues to begin with.
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Not entirely. I've changed some of my views a bit since joining DP a couple years ago. I know of others who have altered their views on certain things as well. I vote and am active in politics, and have influence over a number of people who are intrested in my opinions IRL, so it isn't entirely trivial that the well-reasoned arguments of certain DP posters changed my mind on a few things.

There are far more people that read DP than post here, and we don't know who they are. Some of them vote, I'm sure; for all we know some of them might be in positions of influence or government. Some of the opinions wrangled over here could have a real impact IRL now and then.

To say there is no point in debating on DP is much like saying there is no point in talking about politics at all. It is a forum for discussion like any other: like a call-in radio talk show, or the guys you talk politics with at the local hangout, or a smallville town-hall meeting, or when your Representative drops by the local landmark for a Q&A with the citizenry. DPers may not solve all the world's problems or determine who wins the Presidency in 2012, but to assume that it is all utterly meaningless is just as silly as assuming the whole world was hanging on our every word. Every venue of political discussion has a certain small effect; add them all up, every website and talk-radio-show and beer-and-politics-circle and the cumulative effect is probably very large indeed.
 
Goshin said:
Not entirely. I've changed some of my views a bit since joining DP a couple years ago. I know of others who have altered their views on certain things as well. I vote and am active in politics, and have influence over a number of people who are intrested in my opinions IRL, so it isn't entirely trivial that the well-reasoned arguments of certain DP posters changed my mind on a few things.

There are far more people that read DP than post here, and we don't know who they are. Some of them vote, I'm sure; for all we know some of them might be in positions of influence or government. Some of the opinions wrangled over here could have a real impact IRL now and then.

To say there is no point in debating on DP is much like saying there is no point in talking about politics at all. It is a forum for discussion like any other: like a call-in radio talk show, or the guys you talk politics with at the local hangout, or a smallville town-hall meeting, or when your Representative drops by the local landmark for a Q&A with the citizenry. DPers may not solve all the world's problems or determine who wins the Presidency in 2012, but to assume that it is all utterly meaningless is just as silly as assuming the whole world was hanging on our every word. Every venue of political discussion has a certain small effect; add them all up, every website and talk-radio-show and beer-and-politics-circle and the cumulative effect is probably very large indeed.
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Must we still wonder why we have a Marxist as Commander in Chief of a Constitutional Republic...as I said, Serious Issues. How difficult is it to read a simple 8 page document and 26/27 following amendments thereof written in simple basic English? Anyone concerned about politics must first have a fundamental grasp on the Standard that Calibrates all Governmental Functions in this nation...anything else is moot to anyone actually concerned about the health of this nation, as we do live and thrive in a Constitutional Republic. When the Constitution is adhered, the nation is healthy, when its not...its sick, right now its almost on its deathbed.

Progressivism has had its opportunities and has failed miserably, its time to get back to basics. I come here for the sheer entertainment value, there is nothing any more enjoyable than allowing a progressive to use their own words to paint themselves into a corner, and watch them come spinning out. Now that's entertainment.
 
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Walter said:
Must we still wonder why we have a Marxist as Commander in Chief of a Constitutional Republic...as I said, Serious Issues. How difficult is it to read a simple 8 page document and 26/27 following amendments thereof written in simple basic English? Anyone concerned about politics must first have a fundamental grasp on the Standard that Calibrates all Governmental Functions in this nation...anything else is moot to anyone actually concerned about the health of this nation, as we do live and thrive in a Constitutional Republic. When the Constitution is adhered, the nation is healthy, when its not...its sick, right now its almost on its deathbed.
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Can we use you as an example? I would be much more comfortable voting if that were the case.
 
LimeLight said:
Can we use you as an example? I would be much more comfortable voting if that were the case.
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Sure...IF YOU KNEW who...I WAS, use away. What do you get...but entertained? More Liberal Logic?
 
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Walter said:
Sure...IF YOU KNEW who...I WAS, use away. What do you get...but entertained. More Liberal Logic?
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I just want to know how anything you said relates to the OP.
 
LimeLight said:
I just want to know how anything you said relates to the OP.
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More Logic? You just waste your time in retort because, YOU ARE NOT BEING ENTERTAINED? And still, you do not know who you are speaking to or about, what have you gained?
 
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Walter said:
More Logic? You just waste your time in retort because, YOU ARE NOT BEING ENTERTAINED? And still, you do not know who you are speaking to or about, what have you gained?
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Im being entertained. Hence if you were the example, I would most definately check interesting.
 
I tend to think of people belonging to groups. Until the point at which you can get to know them and interact with the fine complexities of human thought and personality, you need to use a short-hand, and I believe most people use a short-hand for classifying DP posters. I don't think the groups always have that much to do with ideology. Sometimes they do, the Islamophobes tend to be driven more by their ideology than by anything else, but Libertarians can crop up in any number of DP's 'gangs'. Here are a few I've noticed:
  • The Basement In-crowd
  • The Military Club
  • Euro-liberals
  • Anti-Euros/America First
  • Islamophobes
  • Ron Paul for Prez
  • The Jokers
  • Glen Beck can have my babies
  • Glen Beck IS the Antichrist
  • Conspiracy Froot Loops
There's quite a lot of cross-over, and once you've been here for a long time you can relate to people more on a one-to-one basis because you know some of the intricacies of their idiosyncratic thought patterns.

I know it can be both wrong and inaccurate to classify people, but sometimes some idea about who they are is better than none.
 
It just depends on the poster. Some I view as individuals, and others I view as mouthpieces for a particular ideology without an original thought in their heads. Some I've learned from, and others I've taught (or tried to). Some I love to argue with just because it's easy to beat them. Some are interesting and others are dull as a beige room. We've pretty much got the whole spectrum on here.
 
Walter said:
It can all be summed up in one word, "Entertainment". All those positions presented are moot and meaningless. Who needs the respect of anyone that hides behind the anonymity of a keyboard, what do you gain by besting or refuting that anonymity? There is only one valid reason to visit sites such as this....entertainment, anyone that thinks they are benefited by anything that is presented in the pretentious world of cyber space has some very serious issues to begin with.
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You don't think you can learn from books? How is a view point from a forum different from a view point from a book? Books can be written by pretentious people too.
 
I don't think many of us think about the person sitting at a computer. I think that is why many(sometimes me included) find it so easy to be rude when responding to posts. I think we would communicate differently if we were looking each other in the eye.
 
Walter said:
It can all be summed up in one word, "Entertainment". All those positions presented are moot and meaningless. Who needs the respect of anyone that hides behind the anonymity of a keyboard, what do you gain by besting or refuting that anonymity? There is only one valid reason to visit sites such as this....entertainment, anyone that thinks they are benefited by anything that is presented in the pretentious world of cyber space has some very serious issues to begin with.
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Interesting view. Totally disagree with the bolded sentence above. I've learned a great deal in cyberspace -- even on this forum, in particular. If you can honestly say you haven't, well, maybe you already know it all... ;-)
 
I love the frantic cassandras-the ones who take their posting too seriously be it the google whores who spend hours amassing "facts" to support their opinions to the "because I am ernest my hysterics actually matter"
 
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