ATS Political Roundtable Proposal

This is directed as a question to the Moderators of Abovetopsecret network.

Do you think creating a political roundtable, handpicked by the Mods themselves, who would gather once a week on a particular page and discuss the top political issues of the week would be a good idea? And would you actually consider it?

Let me explain to you my proposal.

I believe that a political roundtable, which is common amongst news organizations on weekends, would be a fantastic opportunity for the most experienced and knowledgeable ATS politically oriented members to gather and discuss the top 10 issues of the week. These would be very broad political issues ranging from the economic situation, November elections, legislation and much more. It is in my honest opinion that this would bring energetic debate, introduction of new ideas and proposals and a very mature area for debate.

This could be done on weekends for American politics and global issues, determined to be located on any section of ATS the mods choose, US Political Madness, would probably be the best choice. You could select roughly 5 members whom the mods have watched to check their political orientation so that we could have a very wide range of ideas stretching from Socialist oriented to Libertarian Oriented and everything in between.


Let me have some feedback whether or not you believe this to be a good idea, too time consuming or just not worth it. It is just a proposal.

P.S. Fellow members can place their input too, maybe the more 'YES' answers I get might help to convince the mods.

dont we do this very same thing already???
I mean just look at the Political Madness forum.
It's an every day thing around here.

Usually roundtable type discussions are for
the people actually involved with the discussions
like as in the ME Peace Talks. They actually represent
a side in the matter. The only thing we represent here
is public opinion.

I respect your suggestion, I just see no use
for it. No offense

While this idea sounds good on first thought, many members, to include myself, believe that political punditry is one of the root forces behind the ignorance that is crippling our country. Furthermore, to deny ignorance, one has to have at least a hint of critical self thinking skills, otherwise they are only going with what they are told, while ignoring what they aren't told. Punditry is not only an excuse to allow others to do the thinking for us, but it is also a tool to push ulterior agendas and as long as pundits are preaching to the masses, ignorance will be the warmth of breath that is spewed on any given topic. How can we deny ignorance if we are embracing pundits and denying critical self thought?

Now, I'm under no illusion that quasi-punditry isn't taking place anyway (though I ultimately have no idea), but to celebritize a group for their political views would only be encouraging such ignorance, in denial's stead

--airspoon

at first it look it is a good idea, but then what would the rules be? would this be for mods only? or for members? would it be open forum or a closed forum? i like the topic, it would be nice to have a "met the press" or "this week", where one topic would be picked puled questioned and debated til it is dead, would a topic like this be welcome.. "Was the pastor Jones lied to by the Imam, and what does this mean to there creditability." what is your take?, so we need more info for this.

reply to post by airspoon


I have to admit, it seems evident that we (as consumers of information) are singularly vulnerable to the punditry you point out.

It would be a shame if we couldn't find some venue where political dialogue can take place without proselytism, punditry, sophism, and nonsensical theatrics ....

While we only can try to achieve that goal ... you might want to listen to ATS Live! (or ATS Live! UK & Euro) for a sample of that kind of effort....

I can't promise success, but I can promise an earnest effort.

So far it's a big fat no. But no problem, it was only a suggestion. As for the pundit thing I get where your coming from, I didn't even consider that.

I just saw it as a rotation every week where different people would have their say in the limelight. Oh well...

It'd be fun to try out I think.

It should be set up as a closed forum.

The only problem real logistical problem I see is how do we take turns.

Ex: Member A is typing a response....while Member B is doing the same thing.

They'd essentially be talking over each other.

Now it could happen in live chat, but people could still easily be cut off...

Also, this kinda sounds like ATS Live...just a bit more "serious"

It could be pulled off via skype though very easily.

Like I said, it'd be fun to try (i'd be interested in participating) but I'm unsure of the logistics.

And as Mr.-saint said, it is kinda what we do already. So it'd have to be BIT more then just on the message board me thinks.

If you want to brainstorm, or the mods for that matter if they do pick this up, I'm down to help.

I like the idea and would be eager to participate. A live round table session via webcam could be a great forum to put forward ideas that get buried in many topic threads by the sided-bickering that usually takes place.

Also, it would be another video to be posted (like the conspiracy chicks) around the web adding to ABS's relevancy in search engines.

Originally posted by Misoir
So far it's a big fat no. But no problem, it was only a suggestion. As for the pundit thing I get where your coming from, I didn't even consider that.

I just saw it as a rotation every week where different people would have their say in the limelight. Oh well...

Just let them make it like jury duty...if people were hand-picked by the mods, truly exciting, innovative, unusual, evil, destructive, untoward views would naturally be filtered out, and the ATS members chosen would be just like the same ordinary acceptable political lying whore dogs we currently marvel at on television...the mods wouldn't want to be responsible for purposely selecting someone ("Mama, he's crazy !!!") who might make ATS look bad...

But if you do it randomly, something unforeseen and different could bubble to the surface...the septeloid-space-alien-Kurdish-realtor conspiracy theory of US political life...LET'S DO THAT...oh hell yes...

reply to post by nine-eyed-eel


Actually that's a lot better of a suggestion. Or maybe a straw poll?

YES!! i would love to here the more politically experienced peoples opinion on many current topics in order to expand my knowledge in that area. Its all about the information so what better way to learn than from the best.

reply to post by Misoir


Also, about the webcam...I know a lot of ATS members are in hiding because they are wanted for Bosnian war crimes, desertion from the French Foreign Legion, back child support, etc. ... it would be a shame if people who are being pursued by the Eighth Orbital Army and are thus naturally reluctant to show their faces were too afraid to participate...let us preserve our anonymity if desired and appear in Halloween masks and/or point the webcam at the refrigerator...That would be best, for sure...

Originally posted by nine-eyed-eel
Just let them make it like jury duty...

lol
do you realize how many people opt out of jury duty
cuz they just dont wanna do it???

I wonder if u'd get the same response here??

reply to post by Maxmars


Just this week, RainCloud sent me a U2U about ATS Live and before that I don't think I had really heard of it (though maybe in passing). From his description, it sounded like a lot of different people (changing each week?) take part in the discussion, which IMO, would [severely] limit any punditry from taking root, though admittedly I have yet to listen in (although I'm planning to on Saturday).

From what I understood about this proposal, it would be the same members every week, essentially celebritizing them through their political view points. As we all know, objectivity is not something that comes naturally, so we have a tendency to tune into our biases, while ignoring that which contradicts them. For this reason, those that lack the skill to think in an objective manner will tune in for certain individuals political leanings, as opposed to their actual knowledge. We all do it, as not a single person can be 100 percent objective, especially on issues we are passionate about (such as politics), thus we cling to pundits without even realizing what we are doing. Punditry is decided by the consumer, as apposed to the actual pundit and it is how we take in the information presented that decides whether they are a pundit or not. For instance, do we value their opinion because of their political view point or do we value their opinion because of their apparent knowledge? For this reason, punditry is inherently difficult to combat, though as you mentioned, a concerted effort sure does go a long way.


--airspoon

reply to post by boondock-saint


That's a funny notion... I think the Amigos would have to change the T&C to say - you might be selected for "duty".

Still....this idea has merit and there are many MANY ways to skin a cat (what a horrible turn of phrase).

Let's see if we can drum up a conversation with the senior staff about this.... you never know!

reply to post by airspoon


I'll be sure to give you a shout out... if you're up to it, you can participate as Nef is always eager to accept call-ins during the show...

Sometimes we get crazy, and Nef has his hands full trying to keep us from embarrassing the human race.

But when we get a good topic - WATCH OUT!

It's worth listening to at least twice .... that's my best advice.

reply to post by airspoon


Actually Airspoon the point of this would be to give more people the chance to express their views and let others know more positions and learn new things. It would not be a select 5 who keep doing it every week, the mods would try their best to pick 5 new people every week. No punditry, just a chance to learn new opinions and let people have their chance in the 'limelight'.

reply to post by Maxmars


I'm looking forward to it.

--airspoon