Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General Losing conservative friends

When I first came to Reader Rant the balance of participants was decidedly mixed, but leaning right. Over the years, most of those participants have left, or could not abide civility strictures. On other fora, there is little overlap of political/social views, and little tolerance of opposite views, so that is one of the things I treasured here. We had lively, but civil, debates.

Ás political divisions in Congress have become more disparate, it seems political views in public have too. That seems true here as well. Not only do I have fewer friends here with contrary views, I have fewer in the real world as well. I have always enjoyed the mix, and seriously miss the give and take. I seek out those with different views, but they are becoming harder to find. We are becoming enclaved.

Are o there finding this true in their personal lives as well? Do you miss the banter? Are we more afraid to express views? Can we counter this trend?

I am on a few(very few) sites besides this one, that have civl discussions amongst many political leanings. But there are more and more where discussion becomes more of taunting and name calling. The anonymity of the internet and not having to face other participants face to face is a large contributor to this, even though it can also bring people from different places together. It is very sad.

I'm of the opinion that Republicans have gone off the deep end. They are no longer able to converse civilly on the issues of the day and no longer base their arguments on evidence and fact. They would of couse say the same thing of Liberals but the Democratic party has consistently moved to the right in self defense while the Republicans have raced madly in that direction taking evermore radical and fanatic stances on each and every issue. I miss the banter we were once able to have but also I am fully aware that we will not ever be able to speak civilly again. There is simply no common ground anymore.

For the most part the moderate conservatives had their heads handed to them by their own party over a decade ago.
That led to a redefinition and reinvention of conservatism, which has become much more a cult of personality and a fundamentalist faction used as a bludgeon by large and wealthy corporate concerns.

With that achieved it then became a simple matter of using the old familiar weapon, fear, to propagate hostility toward outsiders, and civil discussion soon started to resemble the Orwellian Two Minutes Hate.

Now as "men without a party", the lure of comfortable suburban anarchy in the form of libertarianism loomed large, and the newly coined "independents" found it comfortable to smoke their bongs and chime in about tiny government. After all, Ron Paul thought weed was okay and Ayn Rand said it's hip to be selfish and greedy.

Where did all the reasonable conservatives go? It's more a question of "who sent them packing" and what do these new true believers really represent?
That question is easily answered because the new folks aren't shy about sharing.
And all those "satire" news sites on the internet are scrambling to stay ahead as reality surpasses sarcasm at neck breaking speed.

RIck's buddies from gretawire, Daddyo and Jess Fuchinwicha, share Greger's assessment of Righties, with the addition that they are angry and militant to boot. Perhaps not far from ISIS in general attitude. Jess and Daddyo had the shocking revelation that such people are the makings of another Civil War. Trying to interact with them, civilly or rudely in-kind, actually seems to feed them, justifying them to themselves. My friend morning cigar saw the same thing on Where Liberty Dwells.

They appear to be insane.

I had forgotten, specifically, about the Two Minutes Hate. When I re-read that, however, I had a sudden sensation of watching FOX. Ailes is the master of it. I think he used Nineteen Eight-Four as his mantra, and modeled FOX on the Ministry of Truth.

After looking at the links, I'm not sure I ever read "1984", though I'd have sworn I did.

I like that a version of GOP ROT is fundamental to the Ministry of Truth. "WAR IS PEACE," "FREEDOM IS SLAVERY," "IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH."

That's the theory I'm going with....mad beyond redemption. Locked into extremist propaganda winding out of control. Conservatives are anything but conservative these days, or perhaps the same sort of conservatism that rules ISIS.

We should keep in mind that there are lots of people who are getting paid to comment on the public fora. Their comments may have little connection with their actual beliefs. They just need to follow the "script" to get a paycheck.

I've spent much of today pondering what distinguishes Robert E. Lee from Benedict Arnold. I can't think of what, but dozens of parallels.