Greetings from the land of rich hills, big skies, airwaves inundated with attack ads from those vaguely aligned with the Tester and Rehburg campaigns, and such! I'm basically new around here - as is the case at politicsforum.org - but over the past year or two have been working to get my B.A. in political science (which I now have) and getting caught up in all sorts of discussions and harmless shenanigans on the U.S. Election Atlas forums. Though not at all a stranger to talking with folks about political issues, I am most certainly not an expert and am always eager to hear out, analyze, and learn from the perspectives of others in a respectful and oftentimes even friendly manner. Yesterday it seemed this site was a bit burdened with activity so I could not access it, but my persistence apparently paid off and I do hope this will be a lovely community to immerse myself in during the weeks and months to come. In terms of my convictions, I tinker with and write about virtue politics during my spare time, draw heavily in my perspectives on social conflict from Pierre Bourdieu, identify as a democratic socialist despite my rejection of class struggle and noticeable blending of the aforementioned ideology with aspects of social liberalism, and reckon the state has an important role to play in mediating interpersonal and intergroup conflicts of interest for the good of the public and individuals alike. It is difficult for me to be succinct in posts, mind you, so I will refrain from elaborating further for now. Just be aware that I am always willing to answer questions to the best of my ability and am more often than not eager to both give advice to and receive it from other people so long as sharing their company is pleasant and civil. On a forum of this size I am not entirely sure where to go first. Yesterday on another forum I was urged to start off with opinion polls so I could get to know where folks come from a bit better, so perhaps I will start there. Aside from that, let me say in advance that I will warmly appreciate any welcomes offered here and look forward to offering as valuable of contributions to the discussions here as I know how!
Another Poli Sci guy, (I didn't major in it but I love to study it). Although it seems we're on opposite sides of the political spectrum to a certain degree, you seem like an openminded, intelligent, and well-informed person and I look forward to discussing politics with you. What area of political science did you study? (I assume at least some political theory base don your post)
The kind words are greatly appreciated, and you have my utmost respect. In response to your question, there were no concentrations available for my degree but yeah - Im into political theory, comparative politics, international relations, and sociology. I usually do not bother with rote memory and my posting style tends to be reflective and intuitive. Time restraints prevent me from balancing those things out with the kinds of citations and rigorous analysis I put into research papers for courses. Still, deliberation and criticism still manage to keep my creativity in check and point out unseen shortcomings in my ideas, and I am pragmatic enough to switch my positions (or at least tweak them accordingly) in response to compelling arguments. I have not read enough posts to have a solid grasp of who stands where on which issues. For the time being Im not sure we are opposites in convictions either, though relative to the quiz results seen in your signature Im seven points lower on the economic scale and nearly six points lower on its social counterpart. We certainly have different ideologies, yet on the other hand there is a stronger liberalist influence on my perspectives than is sometimes readily apparent in what I say! Im sure that sooner or later well have some pretty good discussions. Do you have any specific areas of keen interest in political science, by any chance? As for the community here in general, do you have any advice for me to bear in mind as I gradually become more active?
As far as advice there are some people who don't care about facts or logic and a very stubborn, some people on here can be very hateful. Don't waste your time arguing with these people they will just make you angry and waste your time. There is a lot of bashing in here, but there are also a lot of smart people which makes staying here worth it. Don't let the bad ones rattle you too much. People will label you all sorts of things for your views, but remember that the only person who decides their political or otherwise identity is themselves. Sorry for taking so long, sometimes I can't find the threads I post in.
