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In Reply to: Re: Argh posted by CB on September 03, 2008 at 17:04:00:
I understand what you're saying and I understand the hesitancy to open up this board to political chatter, but there is a side to this issue that I haven't seen addressed yet, though admittedly I haven't searched the archived posts on this subject.
That is, we have all been negatively affected by TFs ideology, eschatology and conspiracy theories, some more than others, with respect to the U.S., regardless of our countries of origin. Some of us may still retain remnants of that ideology (or even all of it) while others of us may have rejected all of it out of hand. But what we all have in common is trying to make sense of the world without the crutch of Berg's demented ideas.
I've always thought that part of this site's purpose was to help us with that process by giving us a sounding board off of which we can bounce our new found ideas. I know that I appreciate discovering in what ways I might still hold unreasonable ideas from Berg's ideology. Maybe those who post "extreme, paranoid and bigoted views that freak [you] out", would also benefit from such a discovery through interaction on this site. Ok, I'll take off my rose-colored glasses and admit that that ideal situation might be impossible to achieve here, since so many of us are so easily triggered and offended by the opinions of others. Maybe you're right that political conversations here will generate more heat than light.
I guess what I find just a bit offensive about your post is the suggestion that you will only read political posts here that are mindless regurgitations of sound bites or propaganda talking points. Some of us do think for ourselves now, and I try my best to critically analyze current political events. I get some help with that from Jon Stewart's Daily show, which is one of the few places on tv that cuts through the political bullshit no matter what party. His coverage of both the DNC and RNC demonstrates that. He has brilliantly exposed a lot of the rhetoric and propaganda at both conventions.
So, when I posted below my opinion that John McCain is not a war hero, for example, I was not spouting propaganda, reiterating a sound bite, fear-mongering, or expressing a paranoid, bigoted view. The opinion I expressed is not one I learned from Berg, nor is it one I heard on what barely passes for news these days on tv. There are no talking heads of any stripe in the U.S. that I'm aware of, including Jon Stewart, who would dare say such a thing (Bill Maher of Politically Incorrect fame might, but I don't have access to his program anymore).
Instead, what I expressed is a political opinion I came to through study and critical thinking; that is critically thinking about the repeated claim, by Sarah Palin and others, that McCain is a hero and "the only candidate who fought for America". I realize that is just rhetoric and propaganda, but propaganda works on many people. But when you deconstruct that rhetoric and realize that the Vietnam war was not a righteous war, you can then realize how obscene it is to hold up McCain as a hero, or that his war experiences make him more qualified for the presidency than Obama.
