Since The Political Madness Hasn't Settled Down..

originally posted by: olaru12

Well, that would be nice but eventually it will reach a breaking point and wide spread censorship will be the norm.
Only state approved free speech and free expression will be allowed. 1984 multiplied by a factor of X.

I think it's already happened look at the parroting going on with the propaganda that is released daily. Why censor or even need to censor when we can get people to parrot, pick-a-side, and argue about the few things that are dumped onto MSM daily.

Free expression = controlled propaganda imo, just choose your poison.

a reply to: Realtruth

I don't blame you at all. I have been staying out of the back and forth ones as well. Concentrating on more "lower level" daily bull-idiocy happening in our schools and universities in "social issues" along with normal interesting stuff.

a reply to: Realtruth

People seem to be more worried about being right, than being a decent human being

Yes. Yes. Yes.

a reply to: Realtruth

I've been here a long time too and political forums can attract people with the sole intent of spewing venom. I don't care for people like that in RL, always set to strike, best to avoid them.

I've never hit the alert button ever, free speech and all. I don't mind reading a well thought out post from either side of an argument, it gives me perspective/something to ponder. The constant one line posts from members who have nothing to add but hate, makes me wonder who they're really mad at? It's nothing but wasted energy/emotion, unwanted page filler that serves no other purpose than to push their own buttons.

We shouldn't get caught up in aberrant behavior. Instead see it for what it is and like road kill, don't poke it with a stick because there's a good chance something nasty will ooze out. LOL

ATS is still a good place, it's definitely worth the effort. There's really good people here and lots to learn. Ignoring those aberrant few isn't as easy as avoiding certain forums, people like that desperately need an audience and will turn up anywhere but we shouldn't allow that kind of behavior to influence ours.

Edit to add: Hope this current atmosphere doesn't put you off the site for good. I've enjoyed your contribution over the years. We've lost so many good members. Running off/silencing good contributors benefits no one except those with an agenda. Keep fighting the good fight.

a reply to: Realtruth

I quite agree. Id really like to see less partisan politics on ATS. Our society has gone mad though, and it cant be helped but to spill into all aspects of our lives. I avoid a lot of the political threads, or occasionally offer a non-partisan pov. Only thing that really gets me going is anything sjw, due to personal experiences. I wish theyd quit routinely pissing me off in RL. Id be less inclined to show my frustration on ATS.

a reply to: Realtruth

Free expression = controlled propaganda imo, just choose your poison.

I choose this guy. Got to admire a guy that can take BS and turn it into a multi million dollar empire. Brilliant performance and people buy it. Genius!

a reply to: olaru12

"I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's." –Mark Twain

I used to come to ATS for the large amount of intelligent content, however we seem to be dumbing ourselves down with spewed propaganda, on a massive scale.

If ATS members look at all the new threads, I'd wager that it's way over 50% for political posts.

There are still some intelligent threads and posts that capture my attention, so it restores my faith in the old ATS, and keeps me coming back from time to time to check in.

a reply to: Realtruth

Also,the fact they accumulate so many stars....its like an alt right hive mind who MUST star every pro trump, political thread, and loud mouth bash any opinion outside of their hypocritical, divine word.

Time to pop their collective, divisive havin' ego.

And no, i am not a leftist liberal antifa snowflake needlessly targeting them.

Im a human being with some #ing common sense.

I always go to "new" when I log on and 10 times out of 11 its politics. On the front page there are 24 political threads as top stories. Anyone coming to ATS for the first time would think it was a political forum certainly not a conspiracy site nor one for the quirky unusual supernatural etc

I rarely click on more than 1 or 2 threads lately. I've nothing to contribute to US political threads which makes for a boring evening

I really miss the ability to take forums off our recent feed. Maybe I'm just not seeing it.. But it helped bring all those threads I want to see to the forefront when they populate the feed.

Anyway, there are still plenty of threads out there that avoid a lot of it. It still seeps through sometimes, but specific posters are easily ignored even without a feature to ignore them. It seems like its difficult to see something that gets under our skin and just let it go, but sometimes that's just what the doctor ordered. Its so easy for such involvement to become habitual.

I think that as long as the two political sides remain relatively balanced, it should remain largely self-contained. The attitude might not, but content tends to stay put. The exception is those that cant seem to help calling out the other "side" anywhere and everywhere, but once you get in the habit of building a mental "ignore list," it gets easier and easier to just scroll on by. For me, for whatever reason, its easier to correlate a term as I scroll. I use "derp."

There are also some other boards out there that can supplement things. A change of scenery can be nice, though if you've been visiting a place for a while its hard to make a permanent change. And its not like this sort of "my team is better than yours" or "their team is the worst" behavior is exclusive to ATS anyway!

There used to be a time, not long ago where politics didn't matter to most of the alternative media folks, in fact it was often seen as the enemy.


Now everyone is on the hook. Ever since the Brexit vote and Trump running for president, the talks of civil war, etc.

The times they are a changing, we are probably heading for major changes in the world, therefore conspiracies and politics have somewhat started to mix. I believe it does have a part with humanity awakening and willing to dump the old politics and seek new ways.

a reply to: Shuye

Well, it is true that politics has always been a part of the conspiracy culture. However, only to the extent that both parties were complicit in an overarching NWO/Illuminati type scenario. However, if you look at most of the recent threads, that's not how it's approached at all. They're all very partisan and if you bring up the traditional conspiracy theorist's view, it's made evident that the view isn't appreciated by the partisans pretty quickly. That's where the conflict over all of the political posts are emerging here at ATS...

originally posted by: PhyllidaDavenport
I always go to "new" when I log on and 10 times out of 11 its politics. On the front page there are 24 political threads as top stories. Anyone coming to ATS for the first time would think it was a political forum certainly not a conspiracy site nor one for the quirky unusual supernatural etc

Yes this bugs me if you didn't know ATS and all it threads of the past that covered many cryptic topics your first impression looking at it would be that it is some sort of political site.
New users that are creating accounts because their first impression is that ATS is a political site where they can pick fights is only adding to the problem.