Rant: Caring more about politics than baseball

[heyzeus]

I fully support what AD said. I don't want a politics forum, which would create isolation and thus less robust conversations. Plus it would create a lot of gray areas about what topics belong where for the moderators and posters to worry about - let's say we start out talking about the new Beyonce video, and then it veers into a discussion about BLM and officer shootings. Does the thread have to get moved?

I've seen a lot of political message boards on the internet. This is the only one that is governed by civility and any semblance of human decency. I don't want to see that changed. I don't want there to be a forum ghetto for anything smacking of current events or politics.

And back to an original point, is there a rule that GRB posters must care about baseball more than politics? It's kinda important, particularly in 2016. I don't spend any time ranking my interests, but I think it's good to have a lot of them - including the world we're living in.

[wart57]

Conservative posters are made to feel very unwelcome.

I have taken several self imposed time outs after feeling attacked and very upset after visiting the site. That is not a good thing. I don't report people, because I was taught to fight my own battles. So, I step away and gather my thoughts, sometimes I realize I was wrong in an assumption or a comment I have made and I apologize and try to move on. However, I feel that some people are allowed to spew hate without repercussions, and others are called out on the spot.

I have thought about quitting this place several times, but then the terrorists win.

[jim]

I've seen a lot of political message boards on the internet. This is the only one ...

This is a big part of my point, it's not bad or good I just wish it wasn't so.

[lukethedrifter]

I've seen a lot of political message boards on the internet. This is the only one ...

This is a big part of my point, it's not bad or good I just wish it wasn't so.

That's unfortunate bc the money shot to that comment is about the level of civility here.

[TimeForGuinness]

The political discussions are basically the same 7ish people discussing something...with a few other people chiming in at times. If political discussions were banned or moved, I don't think anyone would really notice or care.

I think Social has been the "catch all" for all other topics for some time now. I don't mind if it stays that way or changes, in my opinion it's trivial, the real gold has always been Baseball Talk and Minor League forums.

[wart57]

The political discussions are basically the same 7ish people discussing something...with a few other people chiming in at times. If political discussions were banned or moved, I don't think anyone would really notice or care.

I think Social has been the "catch all" for all other topics for some time now. I don't mind if it stays that way or changes, in my opinion it's trivial, the real gold has always been Baseball Talk and Minor League forums.

There is a minor league forum?

[jim]

I've seen a lot of political message boards on the internet. This is the only one ...

This is a big part of my point, it's not bad or good I just wish it wasn't so.

That's unfortunate bc the money shot to that comment is about the level of civility here.

(Sigh). Ok, here goes.

I've seen a lot of political message boards on the internet. This is the only one that is governed by civility and any semblance of human decency.

This is a big part of my point, that being that this is a political message board and not the part about civility and semblance of human decency. That latter part is a good thing. I'm only talking about the political message board part.

Better?

edit - oops, forgot to include that being political doesn't mean it's inherently bad, just that for me I'd rather see people focus their posts on baseball talk.

Ok, that's much clearer.

Right?

[lukethedrifter]

I understood the first time. And I get your overall point.
But there's no question this is a community of sorts and, for some of us, being able to share political ideas, thoughts on gun law, music, etc within that community in a reasonably civilized manner is valuable.

[heyzeus]

The offseason is like 5 months long. What are we gonna do, spend 150 days talking about Jed Gyorko? The nice thing about a general purpose message board is that people can suggest any topic they want, and everyone can either participate or not, based on their level of interest.

When baseball comes back, there will be more focus on baseball topics. I guess we could just shut down GRB the day the Cardinals are eliminated and take it out of mothballs during spring training, but I don't see the point.

[TimeForGuinness]

Conservative posters are made to feel very unwelcome.

I have taken several self imposed time outs after feeling attacked and very upset after visiting the site. That is not a good thing. I don't report people, because I was taught to fight my own battles. So, I step away and gather my thoughts, sometimes I realize I was wrong in an assumption or a comment I have made and I apologize and try to move on. However, I feel that some people are allowed to spew hate without repercussions, and others are called out on the spot.

I have thought about quitting this place several times, but then the terrorists win.

This is disheartening and reflects overall political "discussions" throughout the country, no matter your political background. I'd like to think I'm pretty open to hearing all sides to a story, and I really hope one my jokes wasn't take the wrong way (even if poorly constructed). I think I remember jim saying this somewhere on this forum, and I'll paraphrase, that this country is so diverse...it is amazing we agree on anything. It's true.

I don't like the concept of "winning" in politics...because if one side "wins" the other side "loses"...but guess what? We're all in this together. We all have to live under the same laws of the land. If you can't convince your political challenger to your idea, with cold hard facts, then both sides aren't trying hard enough to hammer out a solution. A compromise exists, effort is needed to find it.

When language or attacks are being spewed against you, one just needs to realize that their side of the discussion is on firm footing...as the challenger has no response but to get emotional. On the flip-side, if you start to spew hatred, maybe realize that your side of the discussion is weaker than you think, and spend some time to firm it up.

I dunno...I feel like I'm getting preachy here (and I hate that), and it will probably fall on deaf ears. I'm not here a lot, but I like to check in when I can to see what people think about baseball. Social used to be goofy, but it seems more caustic. I don't really hold any power in the solution other than trying to not be a part of the problem. I hope I'm not being problematic...I like being chill with all of you.

EDIT: Discussing baseball should always be more important (and more of the focus) than politics. Always.