I see what you mean and perhaps I phrased it badly but I think we should all try to keep away from petty political point scoring in our debates.
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It’s obviously a shocking event and yes things seem to have become a bit more extreme in recent years, and the vital skill of disagreeing but getting by is sparse. But your username suggests you are in the US, and as far as I can tell you guys are in the middle of a slow burning civil war. God knows what the results of the next election will cause.
It’s not that bad here yet. Covid hasn’t helped as it’s eroded the social structure of the country, but I’ve been heartened in recent weeks by the generally civil manner in which we’ve generally navigated things like extinction rebellion etc. From the outside looking in, the US looks like a powder keg waiting to blow, in particular due to the way that vaccination has become politicised (despite the Donald himself having the jab). We have serious issues to deal with and hopefully some of the issues around fair pay will come in to sharp focus now, but I think we are a long way off the death of civil debate here.
It is bonkers over here Mate.
The politicization of The vaccine and Mask Wearing just baffles me.
I do think though, that the whole Western World is emersed in the same Cultural Civil War.
It's no longer just a traditional Left v Right situation....you can throw the Intersectionality powder keg into the mix as well.
The language used towards others on this board alone (Myself very much included) is terrible.
Accusations of bigotry and facism are thrown about frivolously on Social Media.
Maybe the answer is to have to register with ID to use Social Media.
Think you’re right about ‘culture wars’ and the West.
Some countries are suffering more than others not surprisingly these countries have prominent politicians who use the ‘culture wars’ to maintain power and their own position, the states had Trump whilst we’ve got Boris Johnson. Probably the two most toxic countries where these processes have been sown and where they’ll now reap the awards.
Yes, I knew he'd been an MP for almost forty years, but Pearcey was right. My mistake was that I thought he gained the seat for the Conservatives in the election I talked about, hence why I said 1983, but he was a sitting MP who was expected to lose and it was his holding on to the seat which gave the first real clue that the Conservatives would keep their overall majority in 1992.
i'm not talking about you here Elwood, but, speaking as someone who does tend to bang on about party politics on here too much, I don't think the response in this thread has been bad at all, the only disagreement I've seen was very minor and related to whether David Amess was a left wing tory or not - of course, that may change in the coming days as more details as to the motives of the murderer emerge.
No the response in this thread has been very respectful Bob. But as we both know (because I think we have both been guilty at times though there are far worse culprits on here) it is all too easy to get too wound up about our views rather than disagree more courteously, which from what I have gathered about Sir David now, and from what I have read in the the past, is the way he did politics.
I know politicians of all parties are respectfuland complimentary when one of their colleagues dies, but the reaction to his death has been exceptional for the upset and respect on all sides.
I have to say I don't use this forum much at all any more for this reason. On the odd occasion I do check a few threads they seem to have descended pretty rapidly into name calling and vitriol. I'm not suggesting the other forum is any better but they do tend to focus a bit more on the football so that's where I tend to go for info and opinion.
If you Google and listen to his speeches you will be impressed even those as a strong right winger and Brexiteer .
As someone has pointed out he'd have hated healthy political debate to be effected by this tradegy and that of Jo Cox both good people.
Debate should continue as a right of free speech, but in a respectful way , and away from poor throw away four worded insults .
Politics and its verbal exchanges have become worryingly aggressive, personal and near to harassment and bullying at times .
There has to be a line though right? We can't sanitise debate to the degree where nobody can have a strong opinion because it might incite some twat to go and stab somebody. On the point of civil debate, yeah you wont find me arguing that people dismiss and belittle other peoples opinions by chucking around words/phrases that don't often apply when scrutinised (nazi, fascist, far left, far right) but sometimes they do apply and some opinions are abhorrent, shouldn't be viewed as legitimate counter-positions and don't actually warrant respect.
Nice gesture
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-58951768
A mural of Sir David Amess has appeared at a skatepark he opened 13 years ago