# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/81 "2018-08-20T17:22:59Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > He’ll come crawling back sooner or later. They always do. Last activity was 6:10 this morning.(Pacific). So he’s peeking. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/82 "2018-08-20T17:28:49Z")
Soon he’ll learn how to disable auto-login for this site in his favorite browser and then the joke will be on us. On US, I say! ---
**Author:** ![Covfefe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@Covfefe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covfefe)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/83 "2018-08-20T17:32:46Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I think you should ask a mod to fix your account. Apparently, you’re unable to start threads about topics you’re interested in, and that should be fixed. > > See, on this board, threads don’t start themselves. If you’re interested in a subject, you should press the New Thread button in the appropriate forum. That way, others will know that you have an interest in a subject or debate and can comment as they wish. > > It would be cool if they could start themselves, but, alas, they can’t. So, if you’d like a thread on a limo company owner who had a car destroyed or about some Antifa thing you could start a thread, once you get your account fixed, of course. Ah, I had been wondering why I haven’t been able to find a single post here about that compound in New Mexico raided by police a couple weeks ago. ---
**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:** [August 20, 2018, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/84 "2018-08-20T17:47:33Z")
What complaints like these miss is that this board wouldn’t lean more left (or more towards social justice) if the opposition was producing decent counterarguments. Maybe that’s because leftism is more correct. Maybe it’s because those who would oppose it would rather leave and go to a safer space for their ideas. I’m not going to give my opinion on that. That said, I’m not sure I buy that the board has shifted at all. The thing about the left is that it’s always moving forward. What is left wing today is not what was left wing in 2008, when supporting gay marriage was still iffy. We’re past that point. On the other hand, what is right wing has shifted, too. What’s unusual is that it shifted rightward instead of leftward. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/85 "2018-08-20T17:55:49Z")
Meh, go…stay…whatever. IMO, the bulk of the Leftist rhetoric on this board has no strong ideological belief underpinning it. It is primarily about getting to enjoy being part of a group and it is, as such, self-reinforcing. It is a bit like the Two Minute Hate in the novel _1984_. Our POTUS, such as he is, provides an ideal Emmanuel Goldstein for our SDMB Hates. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/86 "2018-08-20T18:02:58Z")
Last year, right after the Charlottesville act of terrorism by a right-wing murderer (who attacked peaceful marchers on their way to lunch, by the way), Fox News ran a piece on the shudder-inducing, fan-yourselves-if-someone-is-looking violence of Antifa – they showed video of a couple of Nazi shitheels getting punched. Now, I don’t advocate punching Nazis – you might hurt your knuckles. But the “fair and balanced” station didn’t run any story on the other side’s counterpart those Antifa “atrocities”: Sixty-six million dead. [[Citation](http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm#Second)] That’s right, Naziism and fascist politics were the foundational cause of what statistician Matthew White calls the “hemoclysm,” the Second World War. So yeah, punching idiot racist dillweeds is bad. But it’s not like killing sixty-six million people, right? It’s not like [killing ONE HUNDRED people, as the Unite the Right groups have done](https://www.splcenter.org/20180205/alt-right-killing-people)? It’s not like killing even ONE person, is it? So make sure your outrage is proportional – however mad you are about Antifa, be sure to express _more than 66 million times as much anger_ at the “Alt-Right.” ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/87 "2018-08-20T18:05:37Z")
What I find interesting and a bit amusing when these threads pop up is the complaint about SDMB being “extremely leftist”. In many other countries, including mine - Canada - the SDMB is very centrist politically. I think the people who make the “too leftist” complaint, don’t actually know what that means. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/88 "2018-08-20T18:13:09Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > That’s right, Naziism and fascist politics were the foundational cause of what statistician Matthew White calls the “hemoclysm,” the Second World War. At least it’s an ethos. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/89 "2018-08-20T18:17:19Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > What I find interesting and a bit amusing when these threads pop up is the complaint about SDMB being “extremely leftist”. In many other countries, including mine - Canada - the SDMB is very centrist politically. > > I think the people who make the “too leftist” complaint, don’t actually know what that means. It means that they think that they are “center”…although the fact that there is little to nothing to the right of them doesn’t seem to register with them at all. ---
**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, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/90 "2018-08-20T18:21:33Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > What I find interesting and a bit amusing when these threads pop up is the complaint about SDMB being “extremely leftist”. In many other countries, including mine - Canada - the SDMB is very centrist politically. > > I think the people who make the “too leftist” complaint, don’t actually know what that means. Aye. I often make the joke that I’m a (slightly) right-wing Canadian, which from the American perspective makes me some kind of communist. To me the shift to the extreme right in the Republican party is very obvious because in the 80s, when I was a teenager, I used to agree with quite a bit of what they had to say. Now, the Republican party is completely alien to me. Now, I’ve definitely shifted somewhat to the left, especially on social issues, so that would be part of the reason, but a big part of it is that they’ve shifted to the right. Bigly. And from an information perspective, I don’t watch a lot of news because I feel like the news has become to commercialized (that doesn’t make it fake but they’re definitely trying to sell you on the idea that you HAVE to tune in or you’ll be UNINFORMED, maybe even in DANGER! Dun dun dun.). Anyway. As a non-partisan outsider, it is beyond obvious that a lot of the right-wing media has gone completely devoid of any sense of reality. When you have Hannity opening promoting Q Anon, you know it has bad. When you have some branches of the GOP openly promoting Q Anon, you know it has become bad. I mean Q Anon. A conspiracy theory so stupid it makes flat earth look like it is plausible. And that’s just one example, although perhaps one of the more egregious. Truth, fact, reality do not matter in right-wing media, and again, I think there are very fair criticism to be made about all media. The 24 hours news cycle has been the worst thing for journalism. The need to be first. The need to get clicks/views. All bad for journalism, and you can level those criticisms and call for them to be fixed while recognizing a major difference between most MSM news outlets (left and right esp. papers) and the more extreme right-wing sources. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/91 "2018-08-20T18:34:10Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > 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 And it’s another example of how the right has gone completely nuts. That quote, taken out of context like that, is a lie. The biggest problem with the right nowadays (and I used to consider myself to be much more closely aligned with conservatives/Republicans than Democrats), is that so much of what they say is just lies. I’ve recently been seeing Facebook much more, because the bicycle group I belong to is using FB to post conversations and updates about the bike trails. But I see posts from my other non-bike friends, and it’s amazing to me that so much of what gets posted by the politically right set of my FB friends is inaccurate, intentionally lying bullshit. And it’s just not that way on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/92 "2018-08-20T19:14:54Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > In many other countries, including mine - Canada - the SDMB is very centrist politically. Funny, because I’m a Canadian (well, a Quebecer) and I find the SDMB has always had a left-wing slant. I’m not sure if it’s _more_ left-wing now (or how to measure the leftwingness of things), but it seems more mean-spirited. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/93 "2018-08-20T19:38:05Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > He’ll come crawling back sooner or later. They always do. Begging for forgiveness? A contrite, Small and Sorry Rabbit? “Oh, Rabbit, I am so glad to see you!” ---
**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, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/94 "2018-08-20T19:43:50Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Begging for forgiveness? A contrite, Small and Sorry Rabbit? “Oh, Rabbit, I am so glad to see you!” Probably more along the lines of slinking back and hoping nobody remembers this thread. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/95 "2018-08-20T19:48:34Z")
> [@FloatyGimpy](#): > > What I find interesting and a bit amusing when these threads pop up is the complaint about SDMB being “extremely leftist”. In many other countries, including mine - Canada - the SDMB is very centrist politically. > > I think the people who make the “too leftist” complaint, don’t actually know what that means. I am unable to find a cite but within the last couple of years I read of a study that had liberals and conservatives read a news article. The article was crafted to be as neutral as possible. The liberals thought it had a conservative bias and the conservatives thought it had a liberal bias. I am not familiar with the posts of the OP but “you are too far to the left” usually means “I lost an argument based on facts.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/96 "2018-08-20T22:21:02Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I don’t even know what a Libertarian is, that’s how little I pay attention to politics. I’m sure I’ve looked it up more than once, but it never stuck. There seem to be two branches of the Libertarian party; some believe in small government, in some cases bordering on near-anarchy; and others are basically weed worshippers. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/97 "2018-08-20T22:46:12Z")
I wonder if he thought this would affect anyone’s life. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/98 "2018-08-20T22:50:34Z")
I wish for a happier world. A better world. A world where people who announce they’re leaving forever _actually do_. Promptly. Permanently. Every time, without fail. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/99 "2018-08-20T22:59:08Z")
> [@Desert\_Nomad](#): > > I’ve been on this board since 2007 and 2,852 posts. While living overseas for 12 years, this board was a bit of a connection back to the US, but in recent years this board has gone so far to the political left that it has become alien to me as a rural Nevadan, business owner and Libertarian. > > I enjoyed many intelligent conversations, but the time has come to close my account here. I’m not sure if there is a way to do that, but I’ve had enough. > > All the best, > > Desert Nomad Good luck in your future travels. ---
**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, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899/100 "2018-08-20T23:02:23Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I wish for a happier world. A better world. > > A world where people who announce they’re leaving forever _actually do_. Promptly. Permanently. Every time, without fail. You think it’s healthy for message boards to lose participation? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye-straight-dope/819899.md?page=6)