Marley--disagree with your modding

[mhendo]

@TubaDiva

You can be as judgmental as you like … in the Pit.

But we do want to keep to some level of civility in Elections. Trash talk is detrimental.

But at what point does criticism become trash talk?

Assume, for the sake of argument, that the incident leading to this thread was, in fact, “trash talking.” It’s still not clear to me how you’re drawing the line here. Nor is it clear, from your comment, whether you draw a line between “trash talking” the party itself, and “trash talking” all the people who support the party.

And does this apply only to parties? What about broader belief systems like “liberal” and conservative"? How critical can one be? And what actually constitutes incivility in discussions like this? Does it require swearing or allusions to child abuse? Is it different if you say “some [members of group] are [epithet]” rather than simply “[members of group] are [epithet]”?

What really amazed me, in that thread, was that Marley included silenus in his admonition. Here’s what silenus said that caused Marley to include his comment as an example of “over the top, vile commentary.”

@silenus

And Oak? Just about anything is better than pursuing the conservative agenda.

WTF? I see that silenus, with his habitual good humor, is rather unfussed about thie issue, but if that comment is now considered out of bounds for non-Pit discussions, you better get out a fucking large ban hammer. Der Trihs would be gone in a matter of moments, as would a few other leftists and liberals, and there are also quite a few conservatives who would have trouble passing muster.

Starving Artist has made a veritable career out of broad-brush assertions about how awful liberals are in GD and Elections. Here’s a small sample that took me about two minutes to gather:

@Starving_Artist

Hah! In point of fact, liberals are about the most intolerant people out there. Do anything less than follow in total lockstep with whatever they think or to whatever degree they think or favor it, and they want to SQUASH you, whether by judical fiat, legislative action or angry societal intimidation.

@Starving_Artist

Millions more people have died or had their lives ruined as a direct result of liberals making things “better” in this country over the last forty years than ever have as a result of conservative beliefs, which are generally in direct opposition to each of these.

@Starving_Artist

That will never happen! Never! Liberals will never, ever, ever admit they were wrong about anything, or that any bad things have happened because of what they’ve done.

@Starving_Artist

Each one of these characteristics is typical of adolescence, and each one is typical of liberalism. Certainly you don’t find them much in conservative circles. And just like you’d expect from turning the rudder of society over to a bunch of willful, hedonistic, fault-finding, idealistic, know-it-all adolescents, some things will get marginally better but most will get fucked up beyond all repair. And in my opinion that is exactly what has happened to this country since the days of the counter-culture revolution, and it’s the reason I blame liberals and liberalism for everything that has gone wrong since.