# 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:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/21 "2018-08-20T05:01:10Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > That is not an accurate description of what your link says. “Muhammad Ashraf, president of Nationwide Chauffeured Services in Alexandria, Va., didn’t support Donald Trump during the 2016 election. That doesn’t mean he wanted a car in his nearly 30-limousine fleet torched by protesters during the inauguration.” Read again…it’s literally in the first paragraph…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/22 "2018-08-20T05:02:05Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I guess I must bow to your amazing and absolutely unbelievable core of absolute knowledge. I had no idea you had such profound wisdom and a degree worthy of such high respect. > > “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” -B. Obama > > And with that, I’m gone… Bye again (maybe)! Until next time (very likely)! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/23 "2018-08-20T05:03:01Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” -B. Obama A great example of a quote that’s been taken out of context (and repeated many times by conservatives) to attempt to prove something that wasn’t actually said by the speaker. Obama’s speech was about how we depend on what we, as Americans as a whole, have built together, for each of us to succeed, but when pared down, it can be made to sound as though he was accusing businesspeople of having not built their own businesses. [The fuller quote](https://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/): > [@](#): > > If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/24 "2018-08-20T05:06:07Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > A great example of a quote that’s been taken out of context (and repeated many times by conservatives) to attempt to prove something that wasn’t actually said by the speaker. Obama’s speech was about how we depend on what we, as Americans as a whole, have built together, for each of us to succeed, but when pared down, it can be made to sound as though he was accusing businesspeople of having not built their own businesses. > > [The fuller quote](https://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/you-didnt-build-that-uncut-and-unedited/): But…but…but, Desert Nomad will never see your reply, because this time he is really well and truly gone, and will definitely not come back to see what people are saying. He really 100% honestly meant it that time. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/25 "2018-08-20T05:07:06Z")
My understanding of why the board is now leaning more ‘left’ is, as mentioned above, the right has gone completely nuts: Many folk who might once have identified as being middle of the road are now reviewing their political beliefs…hence why more and more posters are disassociating from anything vaguely right-of-centre, just in case. When your national government is displaying fascist, dictatorial and lunatic characteristics, you need to really sit down and ask yourself which ‘side’ you want to be aligned with. It’s not the board dude, it’s the whole world now. Anyway, happy trails to you. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/26 "2018-08-20T05:08:34Z")
It seems to me that posters who start a thread to announce their departure probably want folks to urge them to stay, to stroke their ego. And as I type this DN is still onboard, I can see the green light by their name. ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/27 "2018-08-20T05:10:03Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Libertarianism is a generally considered to be right-wing, so I’m not sure what your objection is to that. Says who?? You?? Because you want it to be framed that way? Come on…:smack: ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/28 "2018-08-20T05:15:34Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Libertarianism is a generally considered to be right-wing, so I’m not sure what your objection is to that. There is left-libertarianism, but it is certainly not as commonplace as right-libertarianism. If you are left-libertarianism, then you really should have been more specific since again libertarianism is far more often to be taken as the right-wing form in modern conversation. > > I didn’t attack you at all. I’m not sure where you’re getting that front. I was acknowledging that right-wing people can be intelligent and reasonable, and supposing you were such a person (since again I’m not familiar with your posting history). I can see that assuming you were intelligent and reasonable has offended you, so I take it back. > > Ultimately, if you cannot acknowledge that an awful lot of the right-wing media (Crowder, Shapiro, Hannity, PrangerU, Brietbart, Rebel Media, etc.) has gone way off the deep end with outright lies and propaganda, well, I guess there’s nothing else to discuss. It is an unavoidable conclusion to be reached by looking at right-wing media with any kind of critical eye. > > There are some good right-wing media outlets left, mainly in the press, but again, an awful lot of hit has gone very extreme and left reality far behind. And I like how you completely ignore my Antifa references - so, Crowder, Shapiro, Hannity, PrangerU, Brietbart, Rebel Media, etc, are all awful, horrible entities, but Antifa is fighting the ‘good’ fight…intelligent discourse…sigh… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/29 "2018-08-20T05:16:37Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > “Muhammad Ashraf, president of Nationwide Chauffeured Services in Alexandria, Va., didn’t support Donald Trump during the 2016 election. That doesn’t mean he wanted a car in his nearly 30-limousine fleet torched by protesters during the inauguration.” > > Read again…it’s literally in the first paragraph…:smack: You described it as “… _his livelihood was destroyed by a bunch of ignorant fools_ …” He owns 30 Limos, so it is highly unlikely that his livelihood was destroyed. Also, his company did provide service for private citizen Trump fairly often in the past, so how “ignorant” those fools might have been is very much in doubt. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/30 "2018-08-20T05:33:19Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > I understand, I first discovered Cecil in the pages of the now-defunct Baltimore City Papers back in the mid-80’s, rediscovered the SDMB in early 2000’s where I occasionally lurked around…didn’t join until 2012, and really only started participating in the last year or so…I could spend hours lost in certain threads as the discussions were very interesting, generally well reasoned, and informative… > > Lately, since the 2016 election, it just seems to be a lot of groupthink, yes, I know, being a product of the Chicago Tribune means it has always leaned left, but one of things I’ve always lamented in life is, we are losing the ability to engage in intelligent discourse…and I see it infecting the SDMB which is very discouraging…when we have to demean and shout down opinions we disagree with, we’ve lost the art of communication, we’ve given up trying to understand a different viewpoint, and we’ve shut down our minds…and, yes, I know, I’ll get the, “But, Trump started it!” response, whatever, two wrongs don’t make a right, please, try to express a view that is constructive, not reactive… > > Being a libertarian such as yourself, I find myself cringing at so many posts, I don’t know what to think anymore here, if you dare try to counter the groupthink, it’s pitchforks and torches, the SDMB was founded on the minds of many creative, intelligent and constructively critical people, so I hope it will survive and prosper… > > We are all entitled to our opinions, and if we can intelligently elucidate them, then we should be given the courtesy of a respectful response…we don’t have to agree, quite the contrary, but we should be able to indulge in intelligent discourse with the intention of understanding each others’ point of view… > > With all the talk recently if the SDMB financial issues, I actually thought about buying a membership, it’s no big deal, a fraction of my monthly wine budget, then I got sucked into a bad side discussion where it was obvious Ignorance was not being fought, it was being tickled with a feather duster, and I realized, why would I spend money on something where I have to think twice before I post as I don’t trust the respondents to have the same approach as I do, i.e., intelligent discourse, respect and a chance to understand one another… You should read the madness in the pit. You will get people’s uncensored thoughts and they are scary. I’m not sure what it is about the present but irrational discourse and intimidation seem to be the new normal. ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/31 "2018-08-20T05:34:52Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You described it as “… _his livelihood was destroyed by a bunch of ignorant fools_ …” He owns 30 Limos, so it is highly unlikely that his livelihood was destroyed. > > Also, his company did provide service for private citizen Trump fairly often in the past, so how “ignorant” those fools might have been is very much in doubt. REALLY??? So, you are OK with those ignorant fools destroying his limo (even if it were one of 30) if he MIGHT have provided a service to Trump? Did you think those ignorant fools saw the limo, got together, um, “Let’s do a CarFax, can someone do a search on the tags to see if this specific limo was used as a service for the private citizen Trump, oh, what is that you say, perhaps it might have been? Well, torch it, I say…” BULL FUCKING SHIT, they saw a limo, they torched it, they had no regard for personal property, there is no excuse…once again, Ignorance is not being fought, just perpetuated…sigh… ---
**Author:** ![betterlifethroughchemistry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/betterlifethroughchemistry/32/3094_2.png) [@betterlifethroughchemistry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betterlifethroughchemistry)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/32 "2018-08-20T05:39:52Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You should read the madness in the pit. You will get people’s uncensored thoughts and they are scary. I’m not sure what it is about the present but irrational discourse and intimidation seem to be the new normal. Evidently, you don’t need to go into the Pit…yikes, it is scary… ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/33 "2018-08-20T06:05:39Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Oddly enough, this decision was made after I proved to him his libertarian heroes, Wilbur and Orville Wright, used $70,000 of government research to help them design their Kitty Hawk plane. Sounds like an interesting discussion, but I missed it. What thread was that? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/34 "2018-08-20T06:10:08Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Sounds like an interesting discussion, but I missed it. What thread was that? Starts right about [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21156563#post21156563) ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/35 "2018-08-20T06:12:09Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You should read the madness in the pit. You will get people’s uncensored thoughts and they are scary. I’m not sure what it is about the present but irrational discourse and intimidation seem to be the new normal. Or: “You should read about the madness in the White House. You will get Trump’s uncensored thoughts and they are scary. I’m absolutely sure the new present is about irrational discourse and intimidation. The NEW NORMAL. MAGA”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/36 "2018-08-20T06:18:09Z")
> [@betterlifethroughchemistry](#): > > REALLY??? So, you are OK with those ignorant fools destroying his limo … show me where I said that ---
**Author:** ![blob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blob/32/489_2.png) [@blob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blob)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/37 "2018-08-20T06:28:48Z")
Can’t you just talk about your dog and what you had for dinner and leave politics alone?😕 ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/38 "2018-08-20T06:46:12Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You should read the madness in the pit. You will get people’s uncensored thoughts and they are scary. I’m not sure what it is about the present but irrational discourse and intimidation seem to be the new normal. And not only that, they’re a bunch of potty-mouths, too! ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/39 "2018-08-20T07:10:44Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” -B. Obama This is possibly the most inaccurate representation of what President Obama actually said that keeps making the rounds of the internet among those uninterested in the truth ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/40 "2018-08-20T07:12:31Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > You should read the madness in the pit. You will get people’s uncensored thoughts and they are scary. I’m not sure what it is about the present but irrational discourse and intimidation seem to be the new normal. Heck, the Pit is mild, compared to other message boards on the 'Net. On certain other boards, Trump is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; who can walk on water. Everything he says is the absolute truth, unlike the “fake news” mainstream media; and if you disagree, you must be “antifa,” and deserving of a beating, or of being shot. Apparently also, Sweden has been lost to the Muslims, who have instituted Sharia law there; and the UK, France, and Germany (all apparently socialist, bordering on communist, countries) have no-go zones where police won’t even go for fear of Muslims, and are deliberately muzzling their media to cover up the number of rapes of British, French, and German girls committed by Muslim refugees. Thank the Christian God that the US has the First Amendment, so the media (at any rate, the right-wing media, like Fox News and Breitbart), can report on these heinous crimes. Of course, the mainstream left-wing media; such as CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post; has been bought off to not report such things. And so on, and so on, and so on. These are Trump supporters’ uncensored thoughts, and they are indeed scary. The Pit is rainbows and unicorns in comparison. Yeah, compared to some of the crazy I see elsewhere, the SDMB is still pretty sane, a place where reasonable debates between reasonable people can happen, and (to use a phrase that would infuriate a segment of the posters on other boards) a safe space where we can all be respected as long as we respect others. Works for me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899.md?page=3)