Travis has left the building...

Perspective. Sanity. Contentment.

None truly exist in the web forum setting, especially in one such as this which thrives off consternation and conflict. Few voices of true open thought, the majority of us (myself included) hard lined partisans, here not to debate, or to try and persuade, but to pontificate and run. To get our blood pressure up and to further own feelings of disgust for the other side. Whether or not that disgust is earned is moot; it doesn't matter if we are right or wrong, we are not changing minds, just arguing.

Sad, how many of us have seemingly nothing better to do during our time here. Pathetic.

There are quite a few decent people here and a lot of jerks as well; again, I think this subjectivity is a result of our political biases. There is one poster here who I think is truly open-minded and measured in his posts, and he is Really People. Other than him, we are all a bunch of loud mouthed barkers standing on our private soap boxes pointing fingers and puffing up our chests. I suppose there are some who enjoy this kind of mind altering perpetual circle-jerk of calling names, but I wonder if all of us realize the poison we voluntarily feed ourselves in this game of one-up-man-ship, political style.

I hate those final posts people use to say "look at me as I bleed from the stupidity of everyone else". That's not what this is. I'm leaving, but what I really want to say to you is "look at yourself", and ask yourself if there aren't a thousand other things you could better do with your idle time. Because nothing, I mean nothing you do or say here is going to accomplish a darned thing. But then again, who the (*)(*)(*)(*) am I to presume anything about any of you? All I can say for certain is that this kind anonymous battlefield of rants is truly not healthy for me. I would also like to apologize to anyone here whom I ever offended by posting in a flippant or demeaning manor. This arena brings out the worst in me.

Cheers all,

TB

 

I have days like that too.

 

Of course it isn't!! This is a bit of intellectual masturbation, or in the case of most of this forum's members, unintellectual masturbation. It is a hobby, not something to be taken too seriously. People who actually do take this too seriously, have issues they need to deal with completely unrelated to this forum.

 

I liked him. Why is it always the good ones...

 

It's a great hobby. Certainly it's a great deal more fun than reading dry political books by partisan authors that you can't reply to or tear apart their arguments.
I can think of better things to do, but time and money frequently get in the way. This is almost free, allows me to blow off steam between other work on the computer, and I've even made some interesting friends who I don't really know outside of forums but whom I may know for years through electronic correspondence. In some ways, forums make up for the lost art of correspondence, only it's far more immediate.

 

Seems to me that you also have some problems and issues, jmtcw

 

Ok...............

 

At least it's two-way communication.

The TV and radio , for the most part...(good luck with call-in radio), is one-way
communication. They talk, we listen.

At least this provides some feedback of sorts.

 

Always sad when someone decides to leave, but for every person who leaves, another person signs up here.

 

I agree - and laughs, good topics besides just politics.....

 

We'll miss ya Trav.

I'm set in my core values, but I learn a lot here and I can occasionally change my mind about things. I try to be NOT hard to get along with. With very few exceptions, I like all the members here.
Some I consider very good friends.

 

You can always come back.

 

The Mission Statement of this forum is:

Unfortunately not everyone seems to take notice of the last four words of the final sentence.

 

why is he banned?

 

Well if anybody knows where TB went, I'd like to know. He got his ass banned under his other names as well and always before I had time to have a decent convo. Pity straight talkers have to hide. He is one of the few real people here, I will miss him. Again.

Please stop banning him.

And Magnum

What do you mean, "stop talking about moderation or you're next for a banning"....

 

are already convinced that THEY are right. They cannot be convinced, merely countered. I post here to counteract people who base their posts and/or their policies on false premises. I hope to give anyone who hasn't made up his/her mind ammunition. I also, I think, try to reference what I say.

This has had, I hope, at least, a good effect on me in that I have had to define or further define my positions. It's also nice to learn that your opinions/beliefs are shared by others, especially authorities. For example, I've found that I have a lot more in common with Hayek than a lot of the people here who claim to follow his ideas but have never really read them.

Politics is a contact sport. As relates to hitting, I hit back - hard.

 

I think you're wrong. In fact I'm convinced of it.

 

LOL, is there anything more lame than the "i'm leaving the forums" post?

Go on, just buzz off FFS.

 

Who said that? I didn't see it.

I miss you too, Viv.

 

bye travis

 

I believe you are aware of this rule:

It's there for a reason - people who violate the rules perpetually, disrupting the forums and getting themselves banned are not allowed to just make up another name and start again. It isn't fair to all of the decent members we have who don't perpetually violate the rules, and just want to get on with discussing politics in the manner of 'repsectful debate', which is what the forum is for.

You know that rule, too, so I won't bother posting it. Needless to say, that rule is there for very good reasons too!

I'm closing this thread now, before it starts to go any further down that road.