Posted this in one of the many threads here, but I think it deserves not to be buried...
I haven't been around this forum in a while, but coming back and seeing all this makes me sad.
First off: People have to be able to live with each other, and that means people they strongly disagree with and dislike. People have to be able to live together. If we give up on that idea, lots and lots of people will be killed. And it seems like lots of people are now opposed to the idea of living with people they dislike/disagree with.
Second: I thought this would be the last place with people shouting totally opposing worldviews at each other. What I mean is, Left-wing media and Right-wing media (and there is no in-between anymore) are both busy editing everything they show and omitting facts of their choosing in order to put forth a particular perspective on things -- and this perspective is delivered as pure, unadulterated, objective truth. That simply is not the case, but people still believe that this, that, or any media outlet will give them the "truth" and nothing but.
So we have people who rely on media for their picture of the world -- and to be very frank, I've noticed that people have relegated what they see in-person, with their own eyes in deference to what the media tells them; in other words, people seem to be implicitly of the belief that what one sees with one's own eyes is unimportant or simply "anecdotal" if it conflicts with a mainstream narrative. When people rely on media for their picture of the world, it only makes sense that people who are given two different, opposing pictures of the world will be at each other's throats, blaming each other for everything bad, and ready to condemn/demean/dehumanize and eventually, in a matter of time, imprison/beat/steal/burn/destroy/kill the opposition whom they blame.
Coming and seeing that that not only has made its way into a community of stoners and growers -- but has ostensibly gripped it very tightly -- is maybe the saddest thing I've seen all year. It really diminishes the hope I have for humanity, and I am very sorry that this is what I found here.
Indeed, Foucault was right after all:
"Politics is war continued by other means."
I haven't been around this forum in a while, but coming back and seeing all this makes me sad.
First off: People have to be able to live with each other, and that means people they strongly disagree with and dislike. People have to be able to live together. If we give up on that idea, lots and lots of people will be killed. And it seems like lots of people are now opposed to the idea of living with people they dislike/disagree with.
Second: I thought this would be the last place with people shouting totally opposing worldviews at each other. What I mean is, Left-wing media and Right-wing media (and there is no in-between anymore) are both busy editing everything they show and omitting facts of their choosing in order to put forth a particular perspective on things -- and this perspective is delivered as pure, unadulterated, objective truth. That simply is not the case, but people still believe that this, that, or any media outlet will give them the "truth" and nothing but.
So we have people who rely on media for their picture of the world -- and to be very frank, I've noticed that people have relegated what they see in-person, with their own eyes in deference to what the media tells them; in other words, people seem to be implicitly of the belief that what one sees with one's own eyes is unimportant or simply "anecdotal" if it conflicts with a mainstream narrative. When people rely on media for their picture of the world, it only makes sense that people who are given two different, opposing pictures of the world will be at each other's throats, blaming each other for everything bad, and ready to condemn/demean/dehumanize and eventually, in a matter of time, imprison/beat/steal/burn/destroy/kill the opposition whom they blame.
Coming and seeing that that not only has made its way into a community of stoners and growers -- but has ostensibly gripped it very tightly -- is maybe the saddest thing I've seen all year. It really diminishes the hope I have for humanity, and I am very sorry that this is what I found here.
Indeed, Foucault was right after all:
"Politics is war continued by other means."
:friends:
ROTFL, ROTFL, 
