I Miss Forkie and Chilly

I wonder if they are still lurking?

I believe they are content letting you  and PJ carry the idiot leftist banner...

It's sorta like after someone has a wart removed; . . . you can't help but think about it no longer being there for a few days.

Wow, that's quite accurate.

Chilly was bullied every time he posted.  He stuck it out quite a while.  Sad.  

Candy, he was a super nice guy to talk to.  He even sent me a really nice PM once.  I don't know how long you have been around here but for a long time, anyone with a perspective that was liberal or even center-left was bullied constantly. My first day in the forum back in 2002 to 2003 someone picked a fight with me calling me obscenity after obscenity and then accused me of being some dude named Buick Riveria.

I got a PM from PJ (I think it was PJ) explaining to me how the "rules" worked here if you didn't agree with the right-wing point of view. 

Basically, anybody that wasn't right leaning was banned whenever they spoke up despite being called out by name in almost every political leaning thread. That was how it worked around here for a long time. Conservatives would post something they heard on Rush Limbaugh or saw on Fox news and have a little circle jerk over it.  When a liberal would point out how that wasn't factually accurate a gang of them would send PMs and emails to AC complaining about how the liberal was misbehaving and acting "inflammatory" because he/she didn't agree with their right-wing propaganda. Often the left leaner was banned without out any review of whom was actually behaving badly. 

Over the years I got so many PMs from people here at LVA thanking me for speaking up saying they were afraid to speak up because they didn't want to be bullied or kicked out the forum. A couple of them have since passed away. 

When the pendulum began to swing the other way and there was about an equal number of left-leaners and right-leaners suddenly conservatives very aggressively pushed for a ban of political talk since they could no longer dominate the pollical threads. They were successful until the tumbleweeds began rolling in.  

It is better now. I wish some of the folks who used to not feel welcome would return. 

They didn’t leave because they were bullied.   They left because there is no worthwhile debate here anymore.   Don’t kid yourself into thinking this forum offers an exchange of political ideas.   It has devolved into political trash talking.  And not much else.

i don’t recall anyone ever getting the better of Forkush in a debate...I do recall that in addition to be sharp on his feet that he made an effort to only provide information from credible sources.    He did not rest his case on a rumor, blog post, or propaganda website.    There used to be a guy on the conservative side here named mindbender who did the same.    Pretty worthwhile then.   Not so much now.

It’s interesting to me how many people here take the exact opposite position on an issue they held previously simply based upon who is in power.    That’s a sign of tribalism - not ideological beliefs.   And that’s all that’s mostly what’s left here.

Dont believe me?    Reflect on our boards’ Reaganite positions  4 years ago on:

- federal subsidies to the private sector

- meeting with dictators without preconditions

- the deficit

- the presidents authority to issue executive orders

- taxpayer funded golf and vacation days

- raising the debt ceiling

- shutting down the national parks during a government shutdown

- Christian famlily values

- rising government spending

- economic protectionism 

Talk about revisionist history!

First of all, don't for one second offer yourself up as an aggrieved party here.  You give as well as you get here. In fact, you are often the one starting things here!  When you insult people, you have to expect some blowback.  Second, even hinting that you are anywhere near 'center left' is ludicrous!  You sir are hard left, make no mistake about that.  I'm well right of center and have no qualms of where I fit in the political spectrum.

What lefties were banned?  After all, you say it happened often.  Care to share who these folks were?  Anyone who got banned here, earned the honor by flaming.  And I'm quite sure we all understand flaming.  

When any of us 'get political' and take a side left or right, you have to know half the country disagrees with your position.

As to your assertion that conservatives argued for no politics, i think that's a load of crap.  My view, there is a huge segment here who don't want to entertain either side.  For them, eliminating politics would be a good thing.......and I'm not so sure that I don't agree with every one of them.

Forkush held his tongue for the last couple of years he was here. He wouldn't start a thread.  Despite that, he and Chillcoot were constantly called out in threads by conservative members. 

I don't insult members here. Yet, I am frequently insulted by name. (check some recent threads) Whenever this happens I hold my tongue because I know how the rules worked here in the past. 

Anyway, you are always complaining about me but yet you can't seem to quit me. What is up with that?

I do think for the most part (forum wide) it is just us old dead-enders hanging on here. By that, I mean folks over 45 who liked the Internet of the old days before Social Media took over. Nowadays, people get their Las Vegas Talk and whatever other kinds of talk they want on Facebook and other social media.  It is kind of sad when you think about it. The Internet used to be a great equalizer where you could meet new people from all over the world and exchange ideas and experiences.  Nowadays, people have retreated to their old clicks chatting exclusively with people they already know from work, school, when they were growing up and so on. Nobody looks to exchange ideas or perspectives anymore because they are locked away in a self-affirming box.