Shep Smith: Journalists are not the enemy of the people

And that gives you the right to drop napalm on Vietnamese children.

It doesn't matter where you come from, all that matters is your character. And yours is that of a fascist bigot.

Mengele was a medic too.

reported

8) No personal attacks
No personal attacks on other members. Heated arguments are okay; mudslinging and calling each other names is not.

This is getting out of hand and it’s unnecessary. The outrage over ‘namecalling’ seems to exist if someone is called Anglophobic or anti-American.....I think they cancel each other out.

It’s hard to miss the fact that some posters cannot stand each other. Just showing up can provoke another poster as if everything written is an insult to them personally. I’m not going to pretend I haven’t indulged in angry exchanges, but all of us need to be honest about our participation here as well.

So unfortunately, people who tend to agree on core issues become blinded by some misguided animosity, and as these personality battles rage, racists, anti-semitcs, homophobes, white nationalists, provocateurs and absolute demented zealots are dominating the topics that originally showed some promise.


I don’t know really know how to turn around a hostile environment other than to just avoid it. I come here for entertainment and for whatever I find interesting. If the political topics become too outrageous I hit the game threads. What outrages me may be tame for others and vice versa. Over the years I’ve gotten to know some very interesting people, I feel a friendship with many just not everybody. I’m guessing that’s true for all of us.

I’m not the spokesperson or self appointed voice of reason for A2K, I have zero authority on this forum. I’m not angling for such a position, it just would be nice if we could all bend a little and resist fouling the forum......if it gets ugly enough or unwelcoming enough people find another way to spend their time. We already have an ex-pat group on Facebook for folks who can’t take the contentiousness any longer. I fully admit that I’ve lost my temper and have gotten very sharp with a few people here...personally I’m going to make an effort to be less judgemental and avoid as much as the petty sniping as humanly possible.

The site has a rule about name-calling.

Just don't call people names. It's not that tricky.

There is no upside to name-calling. Doesn't make people look smart or witty.

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I'm getting a bit tired of having to step over the name-calling, pretending it's not schmutz on the site (at least the way it was set up to be).

If name-calling and personal insults are fine, they should drop the rule, people can then make a new assessment of the pros/cons of the site.

Certainly there is little attraction in the site if people can call one such scurrilous and vicious names with impunity. What kind of maturity is there in someone who thinks that's OK?

Maybe I expressed it in a less than graceful way, but my intent was to agree that name calling is counter productive. It raises the level of hostility to a boiling point and fouls the conversation.

I don’t know another way to state I understand what the rules are, and I’m not trying to rewrite the guidelines. At the same time I admit that I have used intemperate language, I’m not happy with myself about that but I plan to make an effort to improve.

I’m not attempting to influence anyone else’s attitude or censor other adults. I’m trying to concentrate on my participation, not on anyone else’s style or behaviour.

I leave for a few years and nothing changes.
The same people are still here and the same name calling, childish behavior is still occurring.
Nice to see some things haven't changed.

Oh well, I'm back now, I sure missed most of you.

Actually, for quite some time, a prohibition on name-calling has prevailed--but with volunteer moderators, the response time is slow. Childish behavior is something which it would be impossible to police.

Hi mysteryman. I've missed you. Are you still driving (for work)?

Welcome back.

Forever with the rank propaganda. The USA has well over two centuries of the most effective brainwashing ever so it can pretend that it holds some virtue, which it most assuredly does not.

Can you explain, ehBeth, why the USA always installs dictators in all the myriad countries it has illegally invaded under the pretense of freeing people?

There sure are a lot of incredibly gullible westerners, aren't there?

What kind of brain washing were you a victim of?

I am no longer driving, I am on disability now.
I had to have surgery on my feet because of a bone condition, and I cant spend more than about 15 minutes on my feet.
I left a2k because it had gotten to the point where it wasn't fun anymore, so I decided to take a long break from it.
But, since I cant do much else now, I decided to come back, to hel pass the time.

I did notice that all of my old posts are gone, I couldn't even find them using the search function.
So I guess that means I am truly starting over.

Thanks, its good to be back.

As is the case for most westerners, US brainwashing. But all a body has to do, a body that has a brain of course, is look at the facts, the science, real history to know that the US is Propaganda Central.

Nah, they are here, all 11,393 of them.

Thanks, I thought they were all gone.

Sure you are, Shep. There are billions of people who count, that is to say, USians aren't "the people" and you rank propagandists for successive US governments have always put them in great jeopardy.

Tens of millions have been slaughtered by US governments with you cheerleaders out there with your pom poms and brainless verbiage, aka propaganda.