Greetings Good Posters. Anybody up for Civl Discourse of Politics?

Happy New Year 2019.

Let's have a good year of political debate.

I extend an open invitation for all to join in civil discourse.

I also invite anyone who enjoys civil discourse, and does not want to get into petty flame wars, to adopt my PIP.

Here is my PIP:

Personal Ignore Policy PIP: I like civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Flame on me, mouth off to me, or express overt racism, you go on my PERMANENT Ignore List. Zero tolerance. No exceptions. I won't participate in your threads, you will be banned from mine. ... Ignore the shallow. Cherish the thoughtful. Long Live Civil Discourse, Mutual Respect, and Good Debate! ps: if you like my PIP, feel free to use it. It works well.

I have found, after nearly a year on the site, that my PIP works extremely well. I do not have to put up with harassment. Obviously, anybody can blindside you and make unprovoked personal attacks. But they can only do that to me once. After that, they are placed on my Ignore List, and that breaks the loop. If I were to let it go, and not place trolls on Ignore, that is tacit approval that they can continue. My PIP effectively shuts down online abuse. I neither accept nor tolerate online abuse. My posting experience here is very serene and cerebral. I talk about the issues, events and ideas.

If most posters were to adopt my PIP, or a similar method, trolling would be marginalized. We only have to put up with what we put up with. 'Everybody' is not flaming on people. You don't have to do that to try to fit in. It is not required to 'fit in' around here. You are free to be an individual. Know that you are under no obligation to 'be tough,' or do anything you don't really enjoy. The ability to 'take it' is worthless, has no value, gets you no respect. There is no respect for being disrespectful or tolerating it. You don't have to be mean, hateful or 'tough.' It is OK to share your true feelings. It is OK to just be you. If you are not really a mean person, you don't have to come across like one in chat rooms.

This Forum is what we the posters make it.

We can have a trashy forum, or we can clean it up.

I like clean.

If you like clean, please feel free to join me.

Also, if there is anyone who shares a desire to improve the civility of the forum, and wishes to become one of my many friends, please PM me and let's make it official.
 
Hello good people,

This is a reminder that I mean what I say. My rules are more strict than the site rules. I am into civil discourse, not petty name-calling.

New additions to my permanent Ignore List and Thread Ban List are tinfoil and RB 60. They have both become the most recent examples that I really do mean exactly what I say.

I will miss the better part of both, but I refuse to be dumped on. tinfoil will be especially missed, as that poster was on my friends list. But as I have made very clear, nobody is immune. tinfoil really tried. I made a plea and asked him in a PM to back off on me. He apologized and said he would. But after some time, he found he couldn't do it. When discussing a political subject, called me a 'retard.' RB 60 replied to one of my threads and ranted about 'you chickenshit libtards.'

I made it clear I am not going to just look the other way at that stuff. My farewell reply to RB 60:

"I have made it absolutely clear that if you go off on me, you go on my permanent Ignore list. No exceptions.

I am perfectly happy to discuss politics with anyone who can do so with mutual respect, in the manner of civil discourse

Your reply is not it.

I enjoy hearing the political thoughts of conservatives who can voice them while showing * simple * common * decency. It is not too much to ask. There is a reason disrespect is not allowed in Congress - they would never get anything done. It's conversation poison.

I am interested in hearing why you believe the things you do, as long as you have valid reasons for favoring the policy you would like to see. Hatred is not a valid reason. Hatred is wrong. Telling somebody off, calling them a bunch of names, that's not discussing politics. That is a line crossed. Once you begin with the name-calling you are not longer discussing politics; you are then simply unloading frustrations and stress. I refuse to be your punching bag. Not gonna do that.

If I were to allow people to do this and continue to talk to them, then I become their enabler for online abuse.

Anybody can tell me off once. That's on you. And that is my warning that if I DON'T immediately place you on permanent Ignore, then I am tacitly saying that is OK with me, that I will be your enabler for you to abuse me. Not gonna happen. This is where it has to be shut down.

I do hope you have a good life, RB 60. I have no malice. I don't think you are a bad person. I don't hate you at all. I simply don't want you in my life any more. You lost it and went off on me. You challenged me to make good on my word. I do make good on my word. I am trustworthy. I put it out there in my PIP that I would do this to anybody who goes off on me. You challenged my PIP. Nobody is immune. I have my standards and you crossed the line. I refuse to lower my standards, or make any exceptions.

You are now Ignored and thread banned. You are no longer allowed to talk to me or comment in my threads. You can talk AT me all you like. Usually, people in your position are prompted to have a rant about how unreasonable I am being. Knock yourself out. You may as well be talking to a brick wall. I won't read it. I think you are the one who was unreasonable by expecting me to indulge in an insult contest instead of a political discussion. I came here to talk about just plain politics. Pardon me. I don't get the part of that which means politics + flames.

I don't know why you bothered to even include any discussion about the subject. Did you think I was going to reply to a single word you said if it is mixed with such hatred and vitriol? Well, if you did, you are sadly mistaken. Not only will I not reply to what you said, I'll go ya one more. I'll never reply to another word you say again. *Ever* You just became the latest example that I mean what I say.

Note to all: Anyone who wishes to address me and enter into a discussion should take note. I do not reply to people who say things like "you chickenshit libtards." I am not going to call you anything like that. I am not going to stereotype all conservatives. I think everyone is an individual. If you are an individual who can talk about the issues facing our nation and do so respectfully, then I will be happy to discuss any political subject at length. Bring it on. I want what is best for the USA, for the world, for humanity. I am interested in hearing your views on how to solve the problems of the world.

I don't think that needs to involve hate. Hatred is wrong. Humans have not progressed through hatred. Hatred is moving backwards. Hatred causes wars and destruction. We didn't get what we have by taking it away from other people. We have become advanced by building things, by learning, by developing new science, by working together. Name-calling is not working together.

Good luck in the rest of your life. If your political positions require a punching bag, I hope you find one. I ain't it. Good bye forever. "
 
Hello proponents of civil discourse,

You are the gems who make this place worth while.

Everybody who is on my Ignore List is there for a reason - they have all shown callous disrespect.

My Ignore List is public - simply look at the Thread Ban List of my most recent thread. It is the same list.

For anyone who wishes to discuss politics with civility and mutual respect, and also wishes to filter out those who don't, you are totally free to copy my Thread Ban List.

The List is regularly updated as required, so I would encourage you to find my most recent Thread for the most recent version, but this how it stands today:

Anarchon; Arminius; AssHatZombie; Bigdog; Bobb; BodyDouble; Boris The Animal; CFM; CharacterAssassin; coolzone; countryboy; Dark Soul; DonaldvoTrumpovich; Earl; Enlightened One; Evmetro; Getin the ring; gomer; Granule; Grumpy; Havana Moon; Howard Wolowitz; I Love America; Into the Night; Irish; katzgar; Legion; Life is Golden; lisasanders1964; Loving91390; LV426; PostmodernProphet; PraiseKek; RB 60; Ralph; rhym3pays; Sailor; SmarterthanYou; Superfreak; Teflon Don; The Ugly Truth; tinfoil; Tkaffen; Tommatthews; Truth Detector; TTQ64; USFREEDOM911; Vasquezrocks; volsrock; Wolverine; Yurt; zymurgy
 
I have changed my PIP.

I previously used my Ignore List as a thread ban list for nearly every thread I created. That has changed. I no longer do that.

Having a large thread ban list resulted in many posters being left out of those discussions. That was nice for me, and for people who appreciate subject-based discussions over insult-based discussions, but it was too frustrating for the ones who were left out. I enjoyed not having to scroll through page after page of Ignored poster place holders, and not having the tone of a discussion marred by petty disrespect and incivility. This created a problem because the banned posters would create copy-cat threads which made the main page confusing and the discussions became duplicated and difficult to follow.

So I have been experimenting with not using the thread ban feature.

It is not ideal, as the tone of the conversations often gets ugly, which is detrimental, but nobody can expect idealism. Ideal is merely a best case possible situation which is almost never realistically achieved. It provides something to strive for which has to be compromised in order to deal with reality. Approaching idealism requires more rules and updated rule making.

I now view the thread ban feature as useless unless it were accompanied with a level of moderation which would prevent copy-cat threads.

The reason our government is set up to allow constant modification of rules is because people find ways around rules. It is only logical that any set of rules faces the same challenge. JPP is no different.

Please bear with me on my threads as we accommodate those who don't necessarily want to take part in a civil manner, but also don't want to be left out.

I can only offer my wise advice as to how to deal with trolls.

Don't respond to trolls. Don't encourage them. Don't engage with them. The best way to deal with trolls is to simply place everybody who talks down to you on Ignore. The more people who do that, the less of a problem trolls would be.

The more popular and accepted the Ignore feature becomes, the less of a problem trolling becomes.

It is up to we the good people who want a good Forum to make it what we want.

We all have the power to do that.

Don't have any concern for putting too many people on Ignore. I can tell you from personal experience it is entirely possible to have a very rewarding posting experience with a large Ignore List. I've been building mine for over a year and it has worked out fabulously.

Enjoy!
 
OK, let's try this again. I posted here when I joined this site eight days ago. I posted that I was a conservative looking to connect with like-minded people on here. I was immediately attacked. NOT a nice welcoming, to say the least. So let's forget about all that political crap, at least for this post. I was born in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in Chicago suburbs and the Valparaiso, Indiana area. Moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1977, stayed there over 30 years. I got tired of big city living, moved back here in Valparaiso in 2010. I love it here, can't see EVER going back to Arizona. I'm of Dutch, Italian, Irish and English descent. My father, who passed away recently, had a saying, "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much". I've worked in many fields, including working in a library (my favorite work), I worked in an animal shelter for about 7 years. That was rewarding, but sometimes sad, work. I worked in group homes for the mentally challenged for about 6 years. I moved back here to Valparaiso to get away from the big city living but also to be here with my sister and mother. After my mother passed away very unexpectedly in October of 2013, my sister took it very badly. She and my mother were good friends as well as daughter-mother. My sister gradually took more and more opioids until they almost killed her. I took an early retirement to take care of her for about a year. She recovered and is doing much better now. I have many interests other than politics. They including reading, (I need to get back to the two books I'm currently reading.) collecting and listening to primarily classic rock and blues CD's. I love to play trivia. I play on Sporcle.com, I play on a live trivia team each Tuesday evening and I play Buzztime trivia at my local Buffalo Wild Wings. It's a lot of fun and I occasionally win money or bar credit. I've never married, I came close once. No children that I know of. I enjoy life each and every moment. Well, that's all for now. I've probably revealed a bit too much about myself, but that's OK. Some on this site wanted to know a bit about me. I've got NOTHING to hide.
 
PoliTalker said:
I have changed my PIP.

I previously used my Ignore List as a thread ban list for nearly every thread I created. That has changed. I no longer do that.

Having a large thread ban list resulted in many posters being left out of those discussions. That was nice for me, and for people who appreciate subject-based discussions over insult-based discussions, but it was too frustrating for the ones who were left out. I enjoyed not having to scroll through page after page of Ignored poster place holders, and not having the tone of a discussion marred by petty disrespect and incivility. This created a problem because the banned posters would create copy-cat threads which made the main page confusing and the discussions became duplicated and difficult to follow.

So I have been experimenting with not using the thread ban feature.

It is not ideal, as the tone of the conversations often gets ugly, which is detrimental, but nobody can expect idealism. Ideal is merely a best case possible situation which is almost never realistically achieved. It provides something to strive for which has to be compromised in order to deal with reality. Approaching idealism requires more rules and updated rule making.

I now view the thread ban feature as useless unless it were accompanied with a level of moderation which would prevent copy-cat threads.

The reason our government is set up to allow constant modification of rules is because people find ways around rules. It is only logical that any set of rules faces the same challenge. JPP is no different.

Please bear with me on my threads as we accommodate those who don't necessarily want to take part in a civil manner, but also don't want to be left out.

I can only offer my wise advice as to how to deal with trolls.

Don't respond to trolls. Don't encourage them. Don't engage with them. The best way to deal with trolls is to simply place everybody who talks down to you on Ignore. The more people who do that, the less of a problem trolls would be.

The more popular and accepted the Ignore feature becomes, the less of a problem trolling becomes.

It is up to we the good people who want a good Forum to make it what we want.

We all have the power to do that.

Don't have any concern for putting too many people on Ignore. I can tell you from personal experience it is entirely possible to have a very rewarding posting experience with a large Ignore List. I've been building mine for over a year and it has worked out fabulously.

Enjoy!
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Fuck you, you high donkey asshole
 
Steven VanderMolen said:
OK, let's try this again. I posted here when I joined this site eight days ago. I posted that I was a conservative looking to connect with like-minded people on here. I was immediately attacked. NOT a nice welcoming, to say the least. So let's forget about all that political crap, at least for this post. I was born in Chicago, Illinois. Raised in Chicago suburbs and the Valparaiso, Indiana area. Moved to Phoenix, Arizona in 1977, stayed there over 30 years. I got tired of big city living, moved back here in Valparaiso in 2010. I love it here, can't see EVER going back to Arizona. I'm of Dutch, Italian, Irish and English descent. My father, who passed away recently, had a saying, "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much". I've worked in many fields, including working in a library (my favorite work), I worked in an animal shelter for about 7 years. That was rewarding, but sometimes sad, work. I worked in group homes for the mentally challenged for about 6 years. I moved back here to Valparaiso to get away from the big city living but also to be here with my sister and mother. After my mother passed away very unexpectedly in October of 2013, my sister took it very badly. She and my mother were good friends as well as daughter-mother. My sister gradually took more and more opioids until they almost killed her. I took an early retirement to take care of her for about a year. She recovered and is doing much better now. I have many interests other than politics. They including reading, (I need to get back to the two books I'm currently reading.) collecting and listening to primarily classic rock and blues CD's. I love to play trivia. I play on Sporcle.com, I play on a live trivia team each Tuesday evening and I play Buzztime trivia at my local Buffalo Wild Wings. It's a lot of fun and I occasionally win money or bar credit. I've never married, I came close once. No children that I know of. I enjoy life each and every moment. Well, that's all for now. I've probably revealed a bit too much about myself, but that's OK. Some on this site wanted to know a bit about me. I've got NOTHING to hide.
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Damn, it appears I posted this on the wrong thread! This should be on the "New here.....hello" thread.
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello good people at JPP.

I come in peace to discuss the issues facing the USA. I offer manners and respect for you, and a promise that I will never tell you off, or be mean to you.

I respectfully ask for the same in return. Actually I require it. If you share my values this should represent a welcome diversion from the common immaturity seen here.

I am into civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Anyone who flames on me will be placed on my Ignore List. My rules are more strict than the site rules. My Ignore List is PERMANENT. I never take anyone off Ignore. If you like to call other posters names and you want to blame me, vent on me, etc, please identify yourself by flaming on me promptly so I can add you to my growing Permanent Ignore List.

Anyone can tell me off one time. If I accept that and do nothing I invite more of the same; I become the enabler for this type of unwarranted aggressive behavior. I am not going to do that. I know it is quite common around here, but I am not going to put up with it. I could. I simply choose not to. That's what an Ignore List is for. I feel like if I take part in that kind of tit for tat, that I lower myself to do that.

I fully expect to have a very large Ignore List quite rapidly. This is my strategy for having respectful conversations about our national issues. In order to enjoy what I seek, I must filter out ALL of the trash talk. I don't care what form it comes in. It can be accompanied by a very intelligent post, very articulate. That doesn't matter. If it includes being mean, saying mean things about me, I will add that poster to my Ignore List. I don't say mean things about other people, and I am not going to lower myself to those standards.

Many will not understand this. Some will think I will have nobody to talk to. They are wrong. There are good people with manners who are tired of the trash talking. Not as many as the trash talkers here, but that is not a problem. There is too much activity on this site to keep up with it all anyway. So I am going to build a nice little group of friends here who want to be polite, like they really care about one another. That's what I have in real life, and that is what I will have here. That means I am going to have to make some examples out of some people and show that I mean exactly what I said in my Signature. I refuse to be the target of such venting. Nothing personal at all. I simply choose to remain above that. You can do that too, you know. We all can. I choose to.

Also, it does not escape me that when people are unable to argue their positions solely on points of merit, and feel they must resort to putting down the opposition? When people act like that, it usually means they are not really confident enough in their own position to simply state how they feel and let it be. As if they don't think their own position is strong enough to stand on it's own merit. A position is actually more convincing if you stick to facts, and point out where other posts deviate from facts.

I know there are many on this planet who have a genuine love in their heart for fellow humans. I know they exist because I find examples of it constantly. Sadly, there are also some who are filled with rage and frustration. They are just looking for someone to direct it towards. When we enable one another to do that to us, we perpetuate the grief and hatred. I am not going to do that.

All we have to do is find that love in our hearts for humankind and look for it. It is out there. It is inside all of us. We are intelligent beings, but we are creatures of habit. We Americans have some bad habits. Lately one of them is being mean to others on the internet. Very similar to being mean, dangerous, and overly aggressive as drivers, something which has existed long before the internet, but something which has become worse over time. I have to chuckle when I think that some of our worst posters here post like some of our worst drivers drive, but it's sadly true.

Habits can be changed if you try hard enough. That is a very powerful lesson in life. Do your habits control you? Or do you control your habits... Any habit can be changed or established by simply consciously acting differently for a period of 2-3 weeks. After that time period, it becomes second nature. Then you don't have to think about it, it just comes naturally. It is your new habit. Very powerful for self-improvement.

If you are not proud of your habits, and there is a small part of you, a nagging feeling, that it is not right? Listen to that. You can change your habits. Let it begin with enjoying a mutually respectful and long lasting exchange of ideas with me. You never have to worry that I am going to tell you off. I don't do that. I argue on the basis of merit. If you can do that too I believe you will find your credibility will be very high.

Welcome to a new era at JPP. Let that begin with me, and with you. Thanks for listening; thanks for being kind. Be kind to yourself; be kind to others.

Let's have some fun learning, exchanging ideas, and finding out what makes the other side tick as we get better informed and better able to be responsible citizens!

:)
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I highly recommend the APP section. There are still some trolls there, but they usually get banned for trying to start flame wars.
 
Hello StoneByStone,

StoneByStone said:
I highly recommend the APP section. There are still some trolls there, but they usually get banned for trying to start flame wars.
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I have tried the APP section. Not enough volume of posts. I like the main pages. More discussions. More activity. And I can hold my own just fine with the given tools.

You have replied to a post which is over a year old. It was one of my very first posts here at JPP. As I reread what I wrote over a year ago I now see that I was spot on with every single point. My approach has proven wildly successful. I didn't know if it would work here, but I can now say that it has worked quite well.

By stringent and prudent use of the Ignore Feature it is possible to be a regular at the cesspool of JPP and have a completely polite and clean posting experience free of the nuisance of trolls.

Placing everybody who trolls you on Ignore does not lead to having nobody to talk to. Rather, it leads to having more intellectual conversations which are focused on the topic of discussion and avoid the distraction of talking about one another. Check my page. I have lots of friends. I have also de-friended several posters who went off on me and got placed on Permanent Ignore. Those who remain are good people. Good to me. Lots of them.

I think there are a lot of posters who enjoy entering into discussions with me because they know I am not going to attack them personally. I represent a safe diversion from the normal risk of talking to trolls. I mean, let's face it. You know what you are risking when you talk to a troll.

Who is a troll? Well, a lot of people who don't think they are trolls? They are trolls. They just don't want to admit it. They get these long-standing feuds going. No matter what the subject is, many threads go downhill pretty quickly. There might be a page or two of actual discussion about the OP, but once those preliminaries are out of the way the gloves come off and the insults fly. The funny thing is that many trolls can turn it on and off at will. Some have better control than others. But it is amazing. I see people launch into really nasty attacks on others but when they talk to me they tone it right down because they know if they go off on me I will stop talking to them. And they like having a safe person to talk to. They know I am not going to attack them, so they can let their guard down and freely discuss a subject.

Discussing a subject is ostensibly the real reason we all come here, isn't it? I think so. I think all the trolling is just bad habits. Most people never think about trying to decide what habits they have. They just never think about it. Most people like their habits and they don't want to change. Maybe they lack the confidence to believe they CAN. I simply wondered if I could and tried. Once I found out the power of habit control I was hooked. What a feeling of empowerment! It felt so good I knew other people would enjoy it too. So I share my views on that here.

I know most people are not in the right state of mind to want to make deep personality changes in their own psyche. They are not receptive to this kind of message. That's fine. I just toss it out there once in a while in case there is one individual who is ready for some self-improvement. And it should be noted that this technique of editing one's own habits? Goes far beyond chat forums and online trolling. I did it to improve my fuel mileage, diet, fitness, personal spending, drinking, interpersonal relationships, work efficiency, lots of things. It's powerful. But it is only for those who want to use that power. Only you know who you are.

If you have a habit you want to change you can do it if you try. An effective method is to think of a better habit to replace the unwanted one. Then, every time you have the urge to do the old habit, you just consciously make yourself do the new one. Do that for 2-3 weeks and presto. You no longer have to think about it. Your new better habit is established. We don't have to let our habits control us. We can control THEM.

Good posting begins with good habits.
 
I have realized an unexpected bonus to having a strong PIP.

Since I don't internalize any of the common nastiness found here, I don't even think like that. My thought patterns are clean, so I don't take any bad habits from this place into real life. I don't do a lot of assigning of fault. I see differences more than fault. I don't get into nasty arguments with people because I have learned to identify where conversations move from useful to pointless. Sometimes a tactical change of subject or just shutting up is the thing to do. It's awesome. Arguing doesn't have to be mean-spirited. If somebody has a point, they have a point.

I can get into political discussions with real people in real life and really discuss different points of view without having it devolve into insults and bad feelings. The trick is to stay on politics and not begin talking about one another, not make it personal.

Not everyone can do that, so I can also tell, usually from the beginning, if others are uncomfortable with such a conversation. Some people just can't talk politics without getting angry. If it's instant and strong the thing to do is just walk away from that person or subject. Others just have a built in defensive habit, but if their fire is not raging it might be diffused with a non-challenging response. Something intriguing, but not blaming in any way, might get the conversation past the stumbling point.

Part of my logic for having a PIP with stringent rules is that I wish to make my time here as efficient as possible. I'm not here to just kill time. I have a purpose. My mission is to learn. I know I am not going to turn any conservatives liberal, so I don't even try. I think people appreciate that. What I want to do is learn what's going on in the world, and why others believe what they do. Cutting out all the personal strife cuts out a lot of wasted time. If I were to get into some name-calling flame war, I'm not learning anything. So to me, that's just a waste of time. By only reading mostly posts that really talk about politics, I stay on task to accomplish my goals more efficiently.

To all those whom I have on Ignore, I'm sorry we are unable to talk, but it's nothing personal. It's about taking care of my psyche and making best use of the time I spend here. I'm sure some of you wish I would give you a second chance. No, I am sorry, I can't do that. The one and done aspect of it for chances, coupled with having people talk about me and complain that I am 'unreasonable' serves a purpose to me. That lets others know that I am not kidding, that I am totally serious, and I stand square behind what I say. I make every effort to explain where I am coming from up front and warn people what is going to happen if we can't talk plainly and nicely.

I hope everyone enjoys their visits here as much as I do, whether I talk to you or not. I have my own way of doing this, and there's nothing wrong with that. I recognize that there is nothing stopping people from creating a new name and starting over with me, so if you really want to share a mutual respect and know what that's like that option is always available. You could even use it to tell me off, but that would be a lot of effort for one blast. As soon as it is clear there is no mutual respect I'll place anybody on Ignore, new poster or old. And the thing is that other people are able to do what I ask, so if you can't then it ain't my problem. Sometimes ya gotta just look out for yourself, and an internet chat room is totally one of those times.

I would totally invite anybody to adopt my approach and copy my PIP, put it into use. It's a big challenge, because you would have to give up your own bad habits if you demand others do the same. I think that is a big stumbling block for many, but ya never know what you can do until you try. And what do you have to lose? Some bad habits? You could change your life. I changed mine. Nobody else decides how you conduct yourself but you. Enjoy!

:)
 
PoliTalker said:
Hello good people at JPP.

I come in peace to discuss the issues facing the USA. I offer manners and respect for you, and a promise that I will never tell you off, or be mean to you.

I respectfully ask for the same in return. Actually I require it. If you share my values this should represent a welcome diversion from the common immaturity seen here.

I am into civil discourse. I will give you all the respect in the world if you respect me. Anyone who flames on me will be placed on my Ignore List. My rules are more strict than the site rules. My Ignore List is PERMANENT. I never take anyone off Ignore. If you like to call other posters names and you want to blame me, vent on me, etc, please identify yourself by flaming on me promptly so I can add you to my growing Permanent Ignore List.

Anyone can tell me off one time. If I accept that and do nothing I invite more of the same; I become the enabler for this type of unwarranted aggressive behavior. I am not going to do that. I know it is quite common around here, but I am not going to put up with it. I could. I simply choose not to. That's what an Ignore List is for. I feel like if I take part in that kind of tit for tat, that I lower myself to do that.

I fully expect to have a very large Ignore List quite rapidly. This is my strategy for having respectful conversations about our national issues. In order to enjoy what I seek, I must filter out ALL of the trash talk. I don't care what form it comes in. It can be accompanied by a very intelligent post, very articulate. That doesn't matter. If it includes being mean, saying mean things about me, I will add that poster to my Ignore List. I don't say mean things about other people, and I am not going to lower myself to those standards.

Many will not understand this. Some will think I will have nobody to talk to. They are wrong. There are good people with manners who are tired of the trash talking. Not as many as the trash talkers here, but that is not a problem. There is too much activity on this site to keep up with it all anyway. So I am going to build a nice little group of friends here who want to be polite, like they really care about one another. That's what I have in real life, and that is what I will have here. That means I am going to have to make some examples out of some people and show that I mean exactly what I said in my Signature. I refuse to be the target of such venting. Nothing personal at all. I simply choose to remain above that. You can do that too, you know. We all can. I choose to.

Also, it does not escape me that when people are unable to argue their positions solely on points of merit, and feel they must resort to putting down the opposition? When people act like that, it usually means they are not really confident enough in their own position to simply state how they feel and let it be. As if they don't think their own position is strong enough to stand on it's own merit. A position is actually more convincing if you stick to facts, and point out where other posts deviate from facts.

I know there are many on this planet who have a genuine love in their heart for fellow humans. I know they exist because I find examples of it constantly. Sadly, there are also some who are filled with rage and frustration. They are just looking for someone to direct it towards. When we enable one another to do that to us, we perpetuate the grief and hatred. I am not going to do that.

All we have to do is find that love in our hearts for humankind and look for it. It is out there. It is inside all of us. We are intelligent beings, but we are creatures of habit. We Americans have some bad habits. Lately one of them is being mean to others on the internet. Very similar to being mean, dangerous, and overly aggressive as drivers, something which has existed long before the internet, but something which has become worse over time. I have to chuckle when I think that some of our worst posters here post like some of our worst drivers drive, but it's sadly true.

Habits can be changed if you try hard enough. That is a very powerful lesson in life. Do your habits control you? Or do you control your habits... Any habit can be changed or established by simply consciously acting differently for a period of 2-3 weeks. After that time period, it becomes second nature. Then you don't have to think about it, it just comes naturally. It is your new habit. Very powerful for self-improvement.

If you are not proud of your habits, and there is a small part of you, a nagging feeling, that it is not right? Listen to that. You can change your habits. Let it begin with enjoying a mutually respectful and long lasting exchange of ideas with me. You never have to worry that I am going to tell you off. I don't do that. I argue on the basis of merit. If you can do that too I believe you will find your credibility will be very high.

Welcome to a new era at JPP. Let that begin with me, and with you. Thanks for listening; thanks for being kind. Be kind to yourself; be kind to others.

Let's have some fun learning, exchanging ideas, and finding out what makes the other side tick as we get better informed and better able to be responsible citizens!

:)
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Feel free to blast away. Politeness only makes light of a serious subject.
 
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