Can we have a 'British' Political Madness forum?

reply to post by Parallex


I have no personal problem with you.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

My issue is with your "debating" style, as on display here and your constant branding of people with names such as "bigot" and "fascist". Your the one with the problem, not me. If you could just engage in adult discourse for one minute witout the branding, we'd get along fine.

Believe it or not, me and Freeborn may seem like pea's in a pod on some issues, but we disagree quite stringly with each other on such things as Thatcher, for example. Yet it doesn't descend into name calling or what have you as we have an "adult" conversation about it.

So, lets start again. What exactly would the criterion be for such "political madness" topics? Who decides? Why are some issues ok to discuss in "mainstream" threads and others have to hived off?

Surely we have a system in place for removing offensive posts? Surely there is no need to go round and arbitraily selecting whole topics to be consigned to a dustbin?

Someone merely saying something you disagree with doesn't necessarily make it offensive. In fact, it wouldn't be a debate unless someone disagreed with you.

Or is it simply because you want certain issues pushed out the way as some sort of moral victory over those you deem as "fascists"?

Well I thought this thread was about having a British "Political Madness" forum, perhaps we should just have a "Madness" forum

Maybe an "Adults only" debate room.... not in the X-rated adult way, but perhaps one where certain rules on insults and conduct are more relaxed

That would be pretty cool.... and I for one would sign up.

Well I must say that Britsh politics has become a lot more interesting since the election. Maybe we have reached the critical number for a forum. If not we just keep the OPs coming.

reply to post by Parallex

Surely the whole point of the "US political madness forum" is the idea that the US political scene has gone seriously wrong, in a potentially society-destroying way, and that this needs to be examined and explained. I'm not convinced that the UK is really in a parallel situation, as of yet. All we've got is "politics". The situation is novel, but the place is not falling apart.

reply to post by Parallex


Hmmmm... and this is coming from someone who's Avatar clearly says that he hates Religion..... O....

Changing the US political madness to just political madness, sounds reasonable. I also like the little flag idea.

reply to post by Parallex


I don't like you either because you brand anything and everything that doesn't agree with you as a racist, hell you'd call blacks and arabs that don't like fundamental muslims racists, all the while not even realizing muslims come in all colours.
You're one of the many reasons racism can't even be taken seriously anymore cause you keep flingin' the race card like you own it.

OK.

Firstly, I don't know about political madess but there is som poster madness going on here - the childish bickering stops now please.

You guys need to think about this one some more. British politics is no where near as partisan, and does not reach the levels of fanaticism and, frankly, rabid insanity displayed by some posters during the last US election period that led to the formation of the US political madness forum.

Secondly, our election period lasted 6 weeks. The US campaign trails last nearly two years. Big difference.

Now I know that stuff is an unpleasant truth, but its there. Frankly we do things differently and (sorry to say this US politico's) most of the time its less extreme and more civilised - and I hope it stays that way.

Originally posted by neformore
OK.

Firstly, I don't know about political madess but there is som poster madness going on here - the childish bickering stops now please.

Thankyou!

You guys need to think about this one some more. British politics is no where near as partisan, and does not reach the levels of fanaticism and, frankly, rabid insanity displayed by some posters during the last US election period that led to the formation of the US political madness forum.

You're right - there is certainly a massive gulf between the two electoral systems. But I would put forward the idea that we are in still in an election campaign. Having a hung parliament in the UK is like suspended animation of the election - sooner or later, it's going to fail, and when it does an election will be triggered. During this time, especially with the new spirit of politics this has engendered, we are going to see political vitriol constantly about the different factions.

Then there's the issue of the low-level trickle effect of racist hate-speech. I know intimately how this is performed, because I'm involved with a UK political party that propounds this sort of behaviour. They dress up anti-muslim and xenophobic sentiments behind the guise of anti-political correctness statements and legitimate concerns about immigration - much like we're seeing in the US now. The problem we have on ATS is that this is never addressed as the underlying racism that it clearly is. If the 'politics' of the situation was discussed, I'd be inclined to debate these people - but it never is, because they're mad with rage that (according to the Daily Mail) their so-called 'culture' is being eroded singularly by Islam.

THIS is why I think we need a British Political Madness forum - because the people participating in political discussions don't seem to be able to seperate their hatred of Muslims away from the politics of the situation.

This is MAD! Moreover, it needs to be ring-fenced, and moderated.

Now I know that stuff is an unpleasant truth, but its there. Frankly we do things differently and (sorry to say this US politico's) most of the time its less extreme and more civilised - and I hope it stays that way.

I agree - in many circumstances, but the problem is that the British are more eloquent at hiding what they actually mean. For example, the laughable situation with this Mosque in Birmingham that has recently been cancelled because the white supremacists and anti-Muslim folk intimidated the owners into cancelling it. The pro-cancellation groups tried to hide their racist sentiments behind the planning issue and also 'local democracy'.

I actually privately agreed that the mosque shouldn't be built if the local government said no, and that more consideration should've been given to local concerns. However, there was no point in agreeing with these people when their main argument was - "Dirty Muslims in their burkha's with their 'effin Koran causing all us good, moral Christian white folk trouble!"

THAT is madness! And THAT is the sort of speech that I see time and time again NOT being dealt with or labelled as 'off-topic' or contained within a British Political Madness forum. Of course there will be other topics and subjects that can go that way as well - we don't have to limit it to hate-speech, anti-muslim craziness and white-supremacy talk.

I'd sincerely love to be able to talk about the nuances of immigration policy and education, and welfare, and a plethora of OTHER politics. WITHOUT hearing about how it's all the Muslims' fault, and what the good, moral Christian white people of 'Little-England' would like to do to them. But we can't, so surely there's a need here?

Parallex.

reply to post by Parallex

I tend to access this site through "recent threads", so your proposal doesn't really affect me. I do wonder, though, how a new forum would achieve the "separating" effect you're looking for? Surely the discussions you're hoping to promote and the discussions you're hoping to avoid would still be in the same place? Or they would be in practice, whatever the theory was.

reply to post by DISRAELI


That's an interesting point - I think we need some moderator expertise on how the staff define the conversations that go into the US Madness forum, and those that don't.

What I would REALLY like to see is more stringent policing of posts that display UK Political Madness - as I've seen elsewhere for US topics. This would then limit the 'crazy-talk' on ATS from UK members just like the US members have requested for themselves.

Parallex.

Originally posted by Parallex

Thankyou!

Don't thank me - simply stop bickering.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion on ATS, as long as its framed within the sites Terms and Conditions.

The staff will act on racial hate speech if alerted to it.

A differing opinion to yours does not necessarily equate to hate speech just because you deem it to.

A Flag for you OP simply to be fair. I tend to stay away from the political madness forums, and hadn't noticed it was US political madness.. as fitting as it is.. fair is fair.

'Political Madness' sounds inclusive..

Originally posted by neformore
A differing opinion to yours does not necessarily equate to hate speech just because you deem it to.

Agreed, and I would never suggest that to be the case, although others would have it that I do.

Could you give us an idea on how the speech division in the US madness forum works? That would clear a few things up.

Parallex.