Political Discrimination on ATS

Hi ATS

This will just be a short and sweet thread

So, I've about seen and heard enough of the rubbish in terms of discrimination of political ideologies that are presently running biasly rampant on ATS.

You may be thinking right now "why should it matter which political party one chooses to affiliate themselves and how does this have any affect on you or anyone else? If you're offended, so what, nobody cares. If you don't like it then ignore it."

Right?

Negative.

Yes, we all have the right to choose which political ideology we care to indulge our general political mindset and points of views upon, and make it known to everyone that this is what we stand for through sharing POVs.

However,

The ATS community appears to not be freedom of speech community anymore nor and community where we have the freedom to choose what political stand we choose to affiliate ourselves with. Politics on ATS is turning/has turned into a means of discrimination and that is totally not right, and it's not OK.

Biased views and discrimination against liberals - right wing left wing, and what have you nonsense is affecting not only me, but various other ATS community members and it's hindering tolerance and acceptance
Mind you, I myself am non affiliated with any political ideology, mindset or agenda. This is coming from someone who does not even indulge in such counterproductive nonsense that in my opinion, only tears people apart instead of bringing them together. Political discrimination should have absolutely no place on ATS. There is a difference between civilly disagreeing with the concepts of someone's political affiliation, and biasly shunning them and silencing their voices all together. Dare I call it a conspiracy?

It's not only unfair and judgmental but it's destructive. It's destructive against some of our best members participating in what should be productive discussions only to realize they are being shunned and discriminated against for their words and views, therefore losing their inclination and desire to actively participate in the community any longer.

Do you, ATS, really want to lose the voices of members who have relevant, interesting, fresh and "awesome" material to contribute to the forum forever. Because at the rate I am seeing now it's already happening and some great voices are actively emerging into the darkness and turning silent.

When I first joined ATS I was ignorant as to the political discrimination that was biasly at play, both right in front of my face as well as behind the scenes. I thought ATS was supposed to be a place where various individuals from all backgrounds, religions, political affiliations, races, and all walks of life could come together, to civilly agree or disagree within a free productive and progressive environment of discussion and debate (while of course abiding to the, might I say, 'very' reasonable T&C's that are in place) in hopes that we could figure out this world together, as a team (through discussion and debate) to get to the bottom of things, and in so doing learn and gather both old and new insight and input from ALL members regarding the topics and issues that encompass and affect our every day lives.

This is what ATS is supposed to be about am I correct or no? If I am not please do correct me If I am wrong.

Regards,

83

You are absolutely right.

The truth on any issue is almost always somewhere in the middle between two opposing ideologies.

Two heads ARE better than one.

It was a very humbling moment for me when I realized I was not ALWAYS right. It took me about
fifty years to figure this out

reply to post by unb3k44n7


From what you say I can't really tell which way you think the discrimination is happening. I'm very progressive, if you want to label something as being fair and logical "progressive", and I haven't run into any discrimination. I don't post on the gun threads (although I'm a believer in the rights of the U.S. Constitution) so I don't know if that's the place you mean. There is plenty of anti-this and anti-who about people and presidents, but that's the diversity present here at ATS. Anyway, which way is the site leaning in your opinion, and where is the discrimination happening? Thanks.

The 2 things that hurt people's feelings the most - politics & religion.

My best advice for you, OP, is stay away from the politics forums. I could do a better job myself, but they suck me back in....

Sounds like you're trying to censor ATS, so

One of the main reasons I enjoy coming on ATS is because I know that not a lot of people will agree with my "liberal" views. I know that 90% of the people on the ATS political forums are conservative/republican. Honestly it would be boring to be on a website where the majority of people agreed with me.

reply to post by Signals


Hurt Feelings, no.
Censoring ATS, no.
Quite the opposite of what you perceive regarding both.

reply to post by unb3k44n7

Yes, we all have the right to choose which political ideology we care to indulge our general political mindset and points of views upon, and make it known to everyone that this is what we stand for through sharing POVs.

We do indeed. No matter how extreme to either edge of the political spectrum. Far right. Far left. Smack dab in the middle. All viewpoints are welcome, so long as they abide by the terms and conditions. Which are, as you pointed out, very reasonable.

I know that ATS, and by default the owners and staff, are accused of bias on a regular basis...by regular basis I mean virtually daily. But it runs in cycles. Back when Bush was Potus, we were accused of a liberal slant... Now? We are, as you might well imagine, accused of a conservative slant... Which, to my mind, means as a whole, we're exactly where we should be, smack dab in the middle, with a rather diverse cross section of the political spectrum represented.

Many will disagree with this, I know.

Originally posted by muse7
One of the main reasons I enjoy coming on ATS is because I know that not a lot of people will agree with my "liberal" views. I know that 90% of the people on the ATS political forums are conservative/republican. Honestly it would be boring to be on a website where the majority of people agreed with me.

They are??? Maybe I don't go on many of those, I like the science, news, Mars, other space, and ancient civilization forums, and do look at interesting stories. Although I can't believe I haven't posted on any of those, and have been involved in some of what you are talking about, but I can't remember doing so.

I never even noticed that I just thought that people were irrational, brainwashed, or narrow minded.

OOPs forgot jerks

reply to post by unb3k44n7


Do you, ATS, really want to lose the voices of members who have relevant, interesting, fresh and "awesome" material to contribute to the forum forever.


Of course not...but keep in mind - quite a few of those voices belong in the Tool shed. And this site is not about civility, though it does have its place.


ATS is Entertainment...


You need to learn to separate the wheat from the chaff, without emotion.


Other than that - your thread had great grammar and a well thought out format.

I personally haven't witnessed political discrimination here on ATS. I perceive that there are more conservatives posting than liberals but I could be wrong....but discrimination, I haven't seen it.
I consider myself a financial conservative and a social moderate and am not registered with any political party.
I try and keep an open mind when reading opinions that run contrary to my own. I figure I may learn something new.
Differing and well thought out, documented opinions is what makes this site so unique. I want to see both sides of the argument.

The execution of staff duties has its occasional flaw. This is largely due to what they may percieve as a violation of T&C inaccurately, which is bound to happen among such a diverse people on a dynamic forum.

However, as far as political censoring? No, not the mods. Now the membership is really good at shouting down an ideology. Since we have a Dem in the White House, it is all about conservative slant. When Bush was in the white house, the membership had a much more liberal slant.

But ATS seems to also be a stronghouse for libertarian ideals. I appreciate this, and hope that it spreads.

reply to post by unb3k44n7


Every week or so I threads like this and think to myself.



ATS has T&C if you don't like them cry a river on another sight. I hate censorship of speech. And I also hate politcally correct people sitting in towers made of salt.

reply to post by unb3k44n7


I'm relatively new so I know I'm missing something but that doesn't change the fact that I'm confused.

Can you please explain the 'political discrimination'? Are you saying that you are not able to express your views? Are your replies on a thread being deleted or are you unhappy because you aren't receiving the 'stars' or 'flags' you feel your posts deserve?

I was under the impression that as long as you stay within the T&C guidelines then you're free to post your views no matter how popular or unpopular your opinion. In fact is that not the point of a debate? How interesting is a discussion if all members agree on all topics?

I don't understand how you are be discriminated against are you saying you feel ostracized from the community?

reply to post by billy565


Mmm, No.
No.
And, um, no.
And also not at ant time did I say I was being discriminated against anywhere in my thread.

reply to post by unb3k44n7

Do you, ATS, really want to lose the voices of members who have relevant, interesting, fresh and "awesome" material to contribute to the forum forever. Because at the rate I am seeing now it's already happening and some great voices are actively emerging into the darkness and turning silent.

I just don't understand why you took it upon yourself to speak for other members. If they have a problem why don't they speak up?

I've read your thread a few times in an attempt to understand what your point is but it seems like a bunch of mumbo jumbo double talking nonsense.

I don't understand the basis of your thought which seems to be 'political discrimination'. How is it even possible on a message board? It seems like something for the mods to address not other members.

No matter what message you are about to deliver somewhere, whether it is holding out a hand of friendship, or making clear that you disapprove of something, is the fact that the person sitting across the table is a human being, so the goal is to always establish common ground.
-Madeleine Albright

I have found that the underlying principle in differences, especially in terms of an individual's political or religious beliefs, is one part socialization and information exposure, one part Pyramid structure, and one part the individual's economic lot in life. Of course that would only make 99%, and although these values may be interchanged based upon personal interpretation the final 1% is the desire to be recognized by our peers as competent.

The Pyramid structure denotes there being a "top". Every corporation, political party and religious organization adheres to this notion. Yet corporations make money off of individual labor, politics derive from individual participation through adherence to the de facto representative institution and religion teaches that God(s) laid the foundation of human behavioral characteristics, yet right and wrong is subject to individual interpretation.

This structure creates a system of competition that does not exist in a world of sustainable abundance. If half the efforts spent in positioning ourselves and setting imaginary bars of self worth in relation to one another was spent in "valueless" cooperation, suddenly anything imagined is potentially possible. Yet with 50% of all wealth being dispersed amongst each other, with the other 50% controlled by a select minority, regular people are unknowingly subject to this constant system of scarcity.

Whether you recognize it or not, every single individual's participation on this site alone, exemplifies our solidarity. Some of the greatest enlightenment's I have had in my personal, academic and spiritual life have stemmed from this very site.

We as individuals and as a collective group must strive to set aside our illusions of separation. If a social contract establishes that we are each capable of self-governance, then it is our participation alone which upholds this system.

Thomas Jefferson said

"It is strangely absurd to suppose that a million of human beings, collected together, are not under the same moral laws which bind each of them separately."

If we put down the sword which draws the line, then we adopt a policy of tolerance. I extend no invitation to the inherent truths we have each already known. but ask that fear and scarcity no longer force collective compliance. For if it is the individual who upholds absolute tolerance in their self-governance, the magnitude of what transpires after shall be found in the labors of cooperation.

Yes Op, I agree and have noticed there is abit of political discrimination - which they proudly seem to think is some how justifiable.

I would assume members at ATS have a wide range of political beliefs .
So frankly, they should quit already with the finger-pointing.

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
The execution of staff duties has its occasional flaw. This is largely due to what they may percieve as a violation of T&C inaccurately, which is bound to happen among such a diverse people on a dynamic forum.

However, as far as political censoring? No, not the mods. Now the membership is really good at shouting down an ideology. Since we have a Dem in the White House, it is all about conservative slant. When Bush was in the white house, the membership had a much more liberal slant.

But ATS seems to also be a stronghouse for libertarian ideals. I appreciate this, and hope that it spreads.

From one member who joined around the same date as you, I'd like to say one thing...

"I approve this message"

I have learnt to abandon my original political beliefs since being on ATS. Some sensible member has always stated that to make a decision based on political affiliation, rather than objectionable belief is not the way to go. Each issue should be judged on its own merits, rather than with a political ideological stance.