I’m a quasi-libertarian, which means I am more receptive to libertarian views while not agreeing with all of it, I am not ‘far right’. I’m vaccinated, I wear a mask when appropriate, I believe in climate change as a serious problem, totally support gay rights and trans rights and for that matter the right of consenting adults to do whatever they want so long as they don’t coerce others. If you want to marry into a threesome, I don’t care, I support harm reduction over incarceration, and think drugs should be legal.
It’s a rather lonely place to be these days, because from my persoective the left and right have gone bonkers. When I post here, I get accused of being a crazy right-wing dupe. When I post on a site with primarily right wing people, I get accused of being a left-wing dupe who believes in the ‘myth’ of climate change and who thinks that Donald Trump needs to go away and never show his face in politics again.
I try to stick with the facts. However, I’m aware that I also have biases, so when I read something from the left or the right, I tend to go to the other side to read countervailing opinions, then make up my own mind. This always pisses off partisans. But I do the same thing when reading technical documents or 'look at this great new invention!" stories. Trying to find opposing viewpoints and take them seriously is the best way to find the closest thing to the truth. It’s getting harder.
I find personal attacks highly unpleasant and the enemy of rational debate, whether it’s directed at me, or when I lose my cool and do the same. The notion of ‘winning’ debate by abusing/shutting down one side with insults and unpleasantness, or declaring people to be so beyond the pale that their arguments aren’t worth addressing, to be antithetical to free expression and debate. Cancel culture and censorship are two of the worst developments in a free society. A free society cannot survive if information is kept from the actors within it.
The comments I made about Hunter’s laptop and the Durham report were both couched in a suitable amount of skepticism, and my questions about them were framed like, “IF this is true, what do,you think the implications are?” I was hoping to start debate, not a multi-page pitting for ‘gullibility’. Like it or not, both are real things with ongoing developments, and attacking people for even bringing them up is pathetic.
I think the Pit is terrible for this board, because it gives angry people or those without a rebuttal a mechanism for just lashing out at people asking sincere questions they don’t like, instead of engaging them calmly and fairly on the merits of what they are saying.