# Goodbye, Straight Dope **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 20, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899 "2018-08-20T02:31:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/321 "2019-03-01T13:24:16Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Hamlet, the dynamic you describe should support there being a disproportionate number of hyper-rational center-left types who are fans of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Bill Maher, etc. But that describes me to a T, and when I stick up for those kinds of viewpoints, I get roundly attacked by a swarm of “woke” politically correct types whom I would not characterize as being in the facts-and-reason camp, sadly. I fear that’s on you. Your … interesting? … personality makes it very easy to be aggressive, whether it be by someone on the left or on the right. If you’re interested, you could simply just ignore them. It seems, in my very brief encounters with you, that you actually enjoy wallowing in the mud with them. YMMV, of course. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/322 "2019-03-01T13:38:21Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > One thing I have noticed though is the recent loss of intelligent Republicans. It’s not like we were swimming with a ton of them before, but I haven’t seen Bricker or Scylla or really any rational Republicans anymore. I suppose UltraVires, but that’s no great shakes. > > I dont think that’s an issue with the board, though. It’s really hard to be a rational Republican now. Now that we’ve learned the reality of who the Republocan base really is and what their motivations really are, it’s tough to defend. Much easier to take a hiatus or find another place than to try to defend this horrid administration and its spineless enablers. I think you’ve summed it up pretty well. I agree that there doesn’t seem to be much space for moderate, thoughtful conservatism these days. I’d also add that it’s tougher to be a moderate, thoughtful progressive as well. Even when conservatives aren’t in power, they work the system to obstruct and make sure that not much changes for the better. Fox News and conservative media have allowed conservatives to live in an information cocoon, and that really is the problem. When I, as a progressive, that people are being willfully ignorant or are simply arguing in bad faith, then I tend to care a lot less about being diplomatic and persuasive. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/323 "2019-03-01T15:25:47Z")
SlackerInc: I can’t agree that you come off as a centrist Democrat. You bring in some beliefs that I would only expect from the alt-right. I never had any problem with you until you started pushing white Nationalist, anti-Muslim, race realist, and gender-essentialist beliefs. You use their talking points, like “identity politics” meaning something completely different than what it actually is. And while liberals don’t push the PC thing themselves, they aren’t anti-PC, either. That is at least a right wing thing. Maybe you listen to those guys you mention, but you also bring in stuff from the IDW side of YouTube, the skeptics and atheists who started a hard pull to the right and became the patrons of the alt-right. Centrist Democrat stuff is just liberal stuff, and people talk about that all the time. Hell, you do, sometimes. And when you do, I generally don’t disagree with you. And you only make me angry when you support some of the -isms out there. As far as I can tell, this board has become no more left leaning than the Internet in general. Reddit has embraced more left-leaning ideas, to the point that conservatives on there complain of getting downvoted by leftists. And the right wing stuff I do see is getting more and more ludicrous. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/324 "2019-03-01T15:32:48Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > **Bone**? I don’t think **Bone** is a Republican, though he’s a gun voter and thus probably largely votes (R). Aside from that, he’s pretty liberal. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/325 "2019-03-02T02:03:29Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Maybe you listen to those guys you mention, but you also bring in stuff from the IDW side of YouTube, the skeptics and atheists who started a hard pull to the right and became the patrons of the alt-right. I in fact do not. I listen to many podcasts, but as I’ve noted repeatedly I do so while I’m busy, on the go. I don’t sit and watch YouTube videos for similar reasons to those who object to podcasts, because they think they just have to sit down and press play, and stare at the wall while they listen for an hour or whatever. Sounds boring and a time suck, which is exactly how I feel about watching political videos. I do generally like the IDW people Sam Harris brings on his pod, though. And while the IDW is diverse, to call it a right wing movement, as so many lefties try to tag it with, is false and essentially a political smear. Most of the well-known IDW figures are solid Democrats who, even if they get frustrated with the “woke” left, are at little risk lof voting for Trump or Congressional Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/326 "2019-03-02T03:27:54Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Couldn’t you just read it on gocomics dot com? > > 😕 > > 😉 They wouldn’t let me have a computer either, much less one with a modem! ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/327 "2019-03-02T05:30:15Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I am, and while he was a Nomad he did indeed contribute many interesting points. For many years, he lived as an ever-moving expat because he had the kind of job which allowed that (self-employed IT dude) and because a medical incident as a child made him uninsurable in the US as a self-employed IT dude. > > ACA made it possible for him to go Back Home. The things he says in his OP make me think of all those immigrants who, as soon as their paperwork is fully finalized, start ranting, not against illegal immigrants, but against anybody who dares immigrate to “this country WE built!!!” Uh, you got sworn-in as a citizen last Saturday, I was there… Thank-you for the elucidation. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > …though he’s a gun voter and thus probably largely votes (R). Hopefully that’s not the case considering that single-issue voting, IMO, is pretty darned lame. ETA: [heh - and voting (R)] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899.md?page=16)