"Congratulations"

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'd like to "thank" certain posters (Richius especially) for driving away Michael Z again; this time in all probability permanently. Mike had been here for a long time (he posted at the old forum) and while he could get a little heated at times was an intelligent and thoughtful poster who contributed quite a lot to the forum... and that's not something that could be said for certain people around here.
And now due to the actions of these morons, he's gone for good.
"Congratulations".

[Joe Republic]

What did they say/do?

[A18]

Great news!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Reason given in the thread that seems to have made his mind up for him...

God, I remember why I don't post here anymore. "Europe is socialist". "Europe will be overrun by Muslims". Yadda yadda yadda. It is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to have a civil discussion with these people.

[Joe Republic]

Well I agree with him on that.  Certain posters on this forum (you know who I mean) really are assholes and can't hold down a debate, but unfortunately that's the way it goes.  When a large portion of the forum community are younger than 18 years old, there will obviously be a ranting "You're a liberal idiot with an ugly face!!!11" minority.  But giving in and leaving is really pathetic IMO.  As the old saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat..."

[Keystone Phil]

Certain posters on this forum (you know who I mean) really are assholes and can't hold down a debate, but unfortunately that's the way it goes. 

[Joe Republic]

LOL, I wasn't talking about you, Phil. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But giving in and leaving is really pathetic IMO.  As the old saying goes, "If you can't stand the heat..."

The problem is he was here before the 2004 Presidential campaign really kicked off (which is when the morons first came in droves rather than one or two).

[TheWildCard]

Well I'm sorry but if you can't take the heat get out of the kitchen.

You know if I got real angry every time someone attacked the Republicans on here I'd be gone. Remember this isn't like real life. You don't have to read every post.

Michael Z was a good guy I'm sorry he left, but hey, if you can't handle what a few idiots say then maybe you should not be debating politics.

[Peter]

The problem is he was here before the 2004 Presidential campaign really kicked off (which is when the morons first came in droves rather than one or two).

Thats the sort of line I've come to expect from my father - its a logical fallacy, closely related to Appealing to Antiquity. So what if he's been here a long time? He's no more right to visit the site than they have.

Certainly we've gained our own band of pretty radical libertarians, many with a strong isolationist bent who pretty much despise the concept of "welfare" thats present in Europe, and for one reason or another there's a group on the forum who almost pathologically hate Islam. What do you want me to say? You know, I could go away and read a load of books and then pose as an archetypal American-hating left wing socialist to counteract the effect (actually, I'm really covering that up with my present persona), but I don't think that'll do any good.

I'm obviously sad he's gone, but you've just gotta put up or shut up with whats here. He made his choice, and I wish him well, but there's not much anybody can do about it.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

He's no more right to visit the site than they have.

I didn't say he did and if I implied that I didn't mean to. I'm just annoyed at the moment.

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No, it'd just make things worse. What would be nice would be if the whole "I hate Muslims more than you do" backslapping thing stopped. But I don't expect any miracles

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True

[Joe Republic]

He just popped in, ranted about how the other posters there were "c**ntrags", and left.

LOL

[Sam Spade]

WTF? It was his decision to leave. If he didn't like what some people said, or couldn't handle other opinions, that's tough. If everyone left when they didn't like a post or two, I imagine the Forum membership would be zero.

BTW, I looked in that thread, and Michael Z had made no previous posts there. He just popped in, ranted about how the other posters there were "c**ntrags", and left.

haha

[Filuwaúrdjan]

WTF? It was his decision to leave.

True. But it's also true that if the areas he posted in weren't full of a lot of extremist rubbish he wouldn't have left. But it was o/c his decision. 

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There's a difference between not handling other opinions and getting sick of the sort of smug bigoted backslapping that's become perhaps a wee bit too common in that forum recently. Whether actually leaving as a result is the right thing to do is debatable, although seeing as the point of this place is to debate I can understand why he left. Personally I just ignore the worst excesses of a lot of posters, but different people react differently to that sort of thing.

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He had actually been here for a long time so I don't think that's an especially fair remark at all

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Like I said he does get a little heated at times (a lot of times actually). But I know he'd been reading through most of the new posts on that forum before he made that post to see whether there was any point in him staying around anymore. That was his decision. I think it's a shame that he left, but there you go.

[WalterMitty]

i think richius makes a lot of sense on most topics.  he is right on the money on most things.

[J. J.]

Al, I would hardly classed as an anti-Muslim, but I wouldn't call the posts by Richard anti-Muslim either.

Will Europe be much less "European" in ancestry than it was in 1975? Yes.  I don't particulary feel that this is bad.

If Michael Z is offended by that, he shouldn't stay here.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Richius is a crazy apartheid apoligist.

[Peter]

Will Europe be much less "European" in ancestry than it was in 1975? Yes.  I don't particulary feel that this is bad.

If Michael Z is offended by that, he shouldn't stay here.

Thats a misrepresentation, because Richius either implicitly or explicitly states that he feels that the "de-Europeanising" (for want of a better term) of Europe is a bad thing, and its that sort of bigotry that I think MichaelZ is offended by, not the fact that Richius thinks that de-Europeanising will take place.

[J. J.]

Will Europe be much less "European" in ancestry than it was in 1975? Yes.  I don't particulary feel that this is bad.

If Michael Z is offended by that, he shouldn't stay here.

Thats a misrepresentation, because Richius either implicitly or explicitly states that he feels that the "de-Europeanising" (for want of a better term) of Europe is a bad thing, and its that sort of bigotry that I think MichaelZ is offended by, not the fact that Richius thinks that de-Europeanising will take place.

I'm sorry, but I looked at Richard's two posts, and the only thing I saw that was offensing was the "P-word."  An American might see it as an abbreviation; I wouldn't take it as bigoted, just like I wounldn't take "Anglo" as bigoted, though I'm sure some people would.

I think he is right, demographically, that Europe will become more Muslim in the next 25 years.

[Gustaf]

From what I've seen Richius appears to be an idiot. And the forum has declined due to the immaturity and idiocy of many posters.

[Peter]

I'm sorry, but I looked at Richard's two posts, and the only thing I saw that was offensing was the "P-word."  An American might see it as an abbreviation; I wouldn't take it as bigoted, just like I wounldn't take "Anglo" as bigoted, though I'm sure some people would.

He has certainly stated that in the past he has an aversion to Muslims, and I personally can see an inferred distaste of a growth in Islam in Europe in his posts in that thread. He doesn't need to be offensive directly for him to be saying that it is a bad thing. We rarely get any proper discussion of what a growth in ethnic minorities would bring (assuming ad arguendo that such a growth does take place) - and to infer that its automatically going to be a bad thing without any proper reasoning is going to annoy people, and certainly provoke the "intolerant" line that we saw from MichaelZ.

[Joe Republic]

From what I've seen Richius appears to be an idiot. And the forum has declined due to the immaturity and idiocy of many posters.

Richius is far from an idiot.  Abrasive, rude, and infuriatingly patronizing perhaps, but he's certainly not an idiot.

[??????????]

I love it when some inactives come back, play 'chicken little' for a day or two and then disappear again!

[WalterMitty]

i love how the liberals call everyone who disagrees with them an idiot.

so richius, youre in good company, eisenhower, reagan and bush, theyre all 'idiots' too, according to the enlightened left.

[minionofmidas]

Eisenhower? Why Eisenhower?