ajthomas wrote:
1) I more or less enjoy having you around here
2) I wasn't even around when you lost the bet
Still I am wondering: my thought was your "justification" for rejoining the forum was the the new BK didn't talk politics. And yet slowly but surely you have delved in. So what gives?
Again I like having you around...
Actually, Mr. Mopdahl -- with whom I stupidly made a "one of us has got to go bet" -- over POLITICS! -- let me up off the mat and said I could stay, on a couple of conditions, none of which were really all that onerous (though one, where I couldn't scream out "BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"at the end of a post or rejoinder making fun of the "other side," I felt was soul-destroying ;-). But I decided to leave, as that was probably best for everyone. And I never looked at the room for nearly five years.
I don't know what happened to bring me back. One day a few months ago I decided to look and see who was still here. Surprise -- EVERYONE still was, though I see the same election year emotions took out my counterpart, Mr. Mopdahl this time around, which I really feel was a shame, as I always found his thoughts enlightening and valuable, even when I was gleefully jumping and down on them like a Tasmanian devil on crystal meth. For that, I sincerely apologize to everyone that was here at the time. Politics is a pernicious thing, and it can make people who involve themselves in it equally pernicious if they're not careful.
As to "slowly delving in" to politics, I hope I'm not and I surely don't intend to. I despise everything about it and I don't trust any politician, anywhere at any time. Unfortunately, there's almost not a single subject that isn't immediately captured and politicized these days, and so it's nigh-on impossible to avoid ending up in a thread, about almost any subject, that someone doesn't try to turn political.
I guess the biggest reason I decided to stay after what was meant to be just a one-day return was that the discourse here is generally among a group of people who are obviously very intelligent, which in my line of work nowadays is something I rarely come across. Also, a number of the folks here (including those with whom I've differed in the past) said they didn't mind if I did. Bonus! :-)
The one worrying issue for me while here this time around is the politicization of pretty much everything, and I see it happening in the LR as well. That may be a reason for why I tend to give a short opinion about something and then post an article about the subject:If it turns political after that (and it has on a number of occasions) I do my best to just not talk and to listen instead.
The Politicization of Everything - POLITICO Magazine 24/7 politics: it probably increases mortality rates. LOL!
"Politics is just show business for ugly people."