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U-S-A! The American Politics Thread. (Read 506614 times)

Oldmanmatt

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So just to clarify, a group of people who I’d offended got together and decided how you would go about dealing with it. This resulted in a series of mixed up personally abusive messages where on one hand you delivered insults and on the other reached out to me. Pretty much represents this forum, this all stems from me not agreeing with the opinions being pushed on here about lockdown and politics etc. I’m no angel when it comes to speaking my mind and know I’ve delivered a couple of regrettable insults (sorry reeve / Andy) but crikey?! Wtf

No. This is the last response to you. My family and I got together to talk about your appalling attitude and responded to you.
The only thing you represent is your own twisted mind. If you found the PM “abusive” despite being told why you were offensive, tough, the point is responding to the offence you gave. Give it, get it.
Now, go find someone else to piss off.

andy popp

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(sorry reeve / Andy)

Apology accepted. I've not always been my best either and I regret that, sorry. During your last incarnation I made a decision not to respond to you at all. I've broken that a couple of times recently, but really should have stuck to it.

Just to be clear I have never spoken to anyone else about your posting or "what to do about it." But I am frustrated. However, that's not because I disagree with you (I probably don't always), but your posting is frustrating: you repeatedly derail or otherwise drag threads off topic, you change positions, you're sometimes so obtuse that I struggle to even know what you're trying to argue, there have been insults, and - frankly - it gets really repetitive. I've found myself visiting less and definitely much more reluctant to contribute, including to threads that I'm genuinely interested in. That's my choice, of course, and you have every bit the same right to be here as I do. There's no hierarchy. But that's how I feel.

shark

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Loos3-tools / Dan’s account deleted at his own request.

Minimum 12 month cooling off period in place before re-registering

erm, sam

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Thank fuck.

andy popp

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I don't feel like that. I'm sad it got so bad and sorry we didn't all manage to fina a way to handle it at least a little better - not blaming anyone at all, or absolving Dan. Just a sorry, unpleasant state of affairs.

Plattsy

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I don't feel like that. I'm sad it got so bad and sorry we didn't all manage to fina a way to handle it at least a little better - not blaming anyone at all, or absolving Dan. Just a sorry, unpleasant state of affairs.
Agreed. A real shame.

Davo

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I haven’t commented on this thread before but have read most of it and have just scanned back.

A point to note is that although I disagree with 99% of the stuff from Dan and don’t exactly like his way of posting, it has never been unpleasant or rude. This is in sharp contrast to quite a few posts directed at him which in my opinion have crossed the line. Certainly several by oldmanmatt seem extremely aggressive and unpleasant to me and quite unnecessary. I can’t be bothered putting the relevant posts in quotes, a quick read back would be sufficient. I agree that some posts are frustrating and I don’t understand much of what Dan posts but I think it’s okay to have different opinions on the forum and for some of those opinions to be a bit unusual without it descending into personal attacks.

One of the reasons I read the forum is to listen to voices and opinions that are different from my own but well thought out.



Dave

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I didn’t engage on this thread - but he’s been rude/offensive to me on the cv19 thread. 

Previous usernames/characters of Dan  have been offensive/unpleasant to many people on this forum - and it’s unsurprising that this carries over to LooseTools.

Two wrongs don’t make a right etc... but given the track record I think he’s been dealt with pretty politely by many.

Oldmanmatt

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I haven’t commented on this thread before but have read most of it and have just scanned back.

A point to note is that although I disagree with 99% of the stuff from Dan and don’t exactly like his way of posting, it has never been unpleasant or rude. This is in sharp contrast to quite a few posts directed at him which in my opinion have crossed the line. Certainly several by oldmanmatt seem extremely aggressive and unpleasant to me and quite unnecessary. I can’t be bothered putting the relevant posts in quotes, a quick read back would be sufficient. I agree that some posts are frustrating and I don’t understand much of what Dan posts but I think it’s okay to have different opinions on the forum and for some of those opinions to be a bit unusual without it descending into personal attacks.

One of the reasons I read the forum is to listen to voices and opinions that are different from my own but well thought out.



Dave

Well, I’m glad you weren’t offended. He rubbed me up the wrong way and directed comments directly at me. I will always hit back harder and I will not apologise for doing so. Dan just tried to drown out everything in his path and became impossible to simply ignore across several threads. Did you miss his “Lattice patrol” shit (or whatever it was) amongst many others.
It’s not as if I didn’t try and converse with him over the last year in all his forms. Sorry, but a great deal of his shit was ridiculous conspiracy theory rubbish, particularly on the Covid thread and that’s not something I would leave unchallenged.
Apart from arguing heatedly with Alex early in the pandemic, about some hypothetical moral issue, for a couple of posts, I generally don’t get too worked up on here. I can think of a handful of occasions over the last ten years.
This got to the point where nothing could be discussed without Dan hijacking and dragging stuff off into “it’s all about Dan”.
As I said earlier, I had come to regret engaging with him and was quite happy to stop.
I’m sorry you think I was aggressive,  but if you think posting outright lies (such as “Biden has gone missing” “Book burning” etc) or trying to say that AOC’s political stance was equivalent to the GOP extremism (attempted coups, right wing terrorists, mass shooters etc etc) is “reasonable” then I can’t agree. Actually, he didn’t merely compare the two, he actually stated the roles were reversed and the likes of AOC represented something worse. I’m not even particularly fond of AOC.

Anyway, I was mostly holding back, so mildly disappointed that it seemed so harsh.

Andy W

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This ousting of 'Dan' (albeit, allegedly leaving voluntarily) with a 'cooling of period' what is that?, seems a bit of a witch-hunt. For the record I feel that if UKB can't stomach the challenges to the 'evidence' based hegemony of its self proclaimed 'arbitrators'. Then it has become a lesser place.

I also don't like reading posts that refer to a generalised 'We' or 'most of us' etc etc when talking about this chap Dan, it's patronising and alienating.




Davo

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I haven’t commented on this thread before but have read most of it and have just scanned back.

A point to note is that although I disagree with 99% of the stuff from Dan and don’t exactly like his way of posting, it has never been unpleasant or rude. This is in sharp contrast to quite a few posts directed at him which in my opinion have crossed the line. Certainly several by oldmanmatt seem extremely aggressive and unpleasant to me and quite unnecessary. I can’t be bothered putting the relevant posts in quotes, a quick read back would be sufficient. I agree that some posts are frustrating and I don’t understand much of what Dan posts but I think it’s okay to have different opinions on the forum and for some of those opinions to be a bit unusual without it descending into personal attacks.

One of the reasons I read the forum is to listen to voices and opinions that are different from my own but well thought out.



Dave

Well, I’m glad you weren’t offended. He rubbed me up the wrong way and directed comments directly at me. I will always hit back harder and I will not apologise for doing so. Dan just tried to drown out everything in his path and became impossible to simply ignore across several threads. Did you miss his “Lattice patrol” shit (or whatever it was) amongst many others.
It’s not as if I didn’t try and converse with him over the last year in all his forms. Sorry, but a great deal of his shit was ridiculous conspiracy theory rubbish, particularly on the Covid thread and that’s not something I would leave unchallenged.
Apart from arguing heatedly with Alex early in the pandemic, about some hypothetical moral issue, for a couple of posts, I generally don’t get too worked up on here. I can think of a handful of occasions over the last ten years.
This got to the point where nothing could be discussed without Dan hijacking and dragging stuff off into “it’s all about Dan”.
As I said earlier, I had come to regret engaging with him and was quite happy to stop.
I’m sorry you think I was aggressive,  but if you think posting outright lies (such as “Biden has gone missing” “Book burning” etc) or trying to say that AOC’s political stance was equivalent to the GOP extremism (attempted coups, right wing terrorists, mass shooters etc etc) is “reasonable” then I can’t agree. Actually, he didn’t merely compare the two, he actually stated the roles were reversed and the likes of AOC represented something worse. I’m not even particularly fond of AOC.

Anyway, I was mostly holding back, so mildly disappointed that it seemed so harsh.

Thanks for the reply. To be honest I don’t disagree with any of your issues with the content and way of posting by Dan. As I said I don’t agree with pretty much of any of Dan’s posts but I do in general think he kept it polite and the right side of the line. I can’t really remember any actual personal or unpleasant attacks from him to you or to TomTom but am happy to be corrected on this.

My main point is that I like hearing and reading different opinions than my own on this forum and I think it would be good to preserve this by treating other posters with respect. There is clearly a difference between challenging robustly what someone says and responding harshly and in a way that can only be construed as personal.

Anyway, I think that’s realistically all I have to comment on the issue .

Cheers

Dave


erm, sam

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For the record, when I say "thank fuck" I mean "thank fuck that ill focussed stream of near gibberish has dried up" I wish Dan/LooseTools/alteregoinserthere all the best and would like to see him posting in at least a semi coherent way.

northern yob

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Whilst I don’t post on here a lot I am an avid reader of most stuff. I can  imagine that getting involved with Dan on a thread can be highly frustrating.
Despite all the bollocks there’s often at least an inkling of an idea or an interesting point of view, it’s a shame he can’t turn the volume down a little. I will miss the madness and think we will all be poorer for the lack of his posting, it has certainly encouraged some interesting debates.

Bradders

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Is there a sweepstake going on when Biden will be deemed unable to continue? I heard September. Apparently he hasn’t been seen in a while.
I enjoyed this left bloggers post on Twitter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/leftiblog/status/1367506736202928131

Back on topic; I can't help but think Dan might have had a point. Certainly, Biden seems to be consistently leaving the goal posts wide open for people to speculate anyway.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/03/19/joe-biden-trips-stumbles-three-times-boarding-air-force-one/

Bradders

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Is there a sweepstake going on when Biden will be deemed unable to continue? I heard September. Apparently he hasn’t been seen in a while.
I enjoyed this left bloggers post on Twitter.

https://mobile.twitter.com/leftiblog/status/1367506736202928131

Two minutes (to open the Sky news app and then use the menu to navigate to “US news’) shows me his last public speech was on Tuesday, or two days ago, given time differences.
COVID-19: US aims to have enough vaccines for all adults 'by end of May', Biden says

Did you just make up your post, in your imagination, or are you following some “Alternative Media” source and not questioning their narrative?
You should do some research. Check out the “Mainstream Media”, they even have this thing called “Evidence” (like actually transmitting a speech live (can you believe that?)). The “Alternative Media” just want you to believe their narrative, if you check, you’ll see they don’t have any evidence to back up their claims.

Just on this; I've no wish to defend Dan, but I do think it's incredible the cumulative effect consuming news media which tends towards one perspective (whichever side) can have on an individual's eventual views. I follow this account on Instagram, which I find really helpful in shining a light on this issue:

https://instagram.com/groundnews?igshid=as01rh51i29y

Offwidth

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An article on the undemocratic nature of the Senate filibuster. States representing only 22% of US citizens could block legislative change. Obviously something very relevant to the new President.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/26/just-how-severe-will-americas-minority-rule-become

TobyD

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Although it seems to be an obvious choice,  I really wonder what will happen if Chauvin is not found guilty.  His defence only has to prove reasonable doubt; I'd be very concerned about the extent of potential for widespread riots, it seems like a really potentially dangerous situation. 

Offwidth

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An article on serious gerrymandering concerns due to risk of state abuse of the 10 yearly redistricting. The irony is demographic change that favours the Democrats is giving Republican run states more seats that they can redistrict to benefit their own party.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/11/putin-style-democracy-republicans-gerrymandering-electoral-map-democrats-census

Oldmanmatt

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An article on serious gerrymandering concerns due to risk of state abuse of the 10 yearly redistricting. The irony is demographic change that favours the Democrats is giving Republican run states more seats that they can redistrict to benefit their own party.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/11/putin-style-democracy-republicans-gerrymandering-electoral-map-democrats-census

I wonder why? Do you think the demographic changes might be “concerning” in some areas?

https://taskandpurpose.com/news/army-officer-windsor-police-video/?fbclid=IwAR3elKEtg7TRheuC30DmYMFlOKPuF5h63TFq4Zfk7XDj843l6YDRhsmCSjY


TobyD

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This is a really interesting read, on dystopia and contemporary international politics.  Its quite long, but worth reading. 

https://www.tortoisemedia.com/2021/06/04/dystopia-revisited/

TobyD

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#2445 Re: U-S-A! The American Politics Thread.
November 02, 2021, 07:24:01 am
Thread resurrection; is the possibility of Trump running for the Presidency in 2024 a significant threat to Western democracies, and any possibility of climate change being controlled to some extent?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fa9e69cc-3b3e-11ec-a9ce-48a11f44f00d?shareToken=5427a27ab6556a592eb0fedd75af449d

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/01/republicans-violence-save-us-poll?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other


Bradders

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TobyD

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#2447 Re: U-S-A! The American Politics Thread.
November 02, 2021, 10:03:37 am
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/01/republicans-violence-save-us-poll?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

That poll surveyed c. 2.5k people...hardly representative in such a huge country!

Isn't it? I really don't have the time to calculate the confidence interval, investigate their sampling process and things to know that,  I acknowledge that it may not be sufficient,  but theres also every chance that it is.
A bigger sample isn't necessarily more accurate. 
In any case the question stands: Trump looks very likely to have premeditated a campaign to overthrow the democratic process to cling to power. Its gobsmacking that this almost happened in the United States,  rather than a small country riven by violence where this has happened in the past. 
Its looking increasingly likely that hes up for another go.

dunnyg

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#2448 Re: U-S-A! The American Politics Thread.
November 02, 2021, 10:20:19 am
Word. Do yo stats.

jwi

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#2449 Re: U-S-A! The American Politics Thread.
November 02, 2021, 10:55:46 am
The population size is irrelevant when judging if a sample is large enough, as I am sure you all know. Two and a half thousand is a large, expensive survey if they used live interviews.

 

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