Please Defend This!

[FishinCricket]

We talk some politics around the campfire and when it is harmless banter, it doesn't matter. This thread has been really lighthearted for the most part and the problems arise when things get personal and one member starts attacking another.

Around the campfire those conversations have a single context, they are put in the air, bantered around and forgotten.. No one can walk up to the campfire the next day and tell for sure what was being discussed.. Not so in a forum.. Things can be easily misconstrued when read (rather than heard/seen/etc)

[drew03cmc]

Around the campfire those conversations have a single context, they are put in the air, bantered around and forgotten.. No one can walk up to the campfire the next day and tell for sure what was being discussed.. Not so in a forum.. Things can be easily misconstrued when read (rather than heard/seen/etc)

You have a point, but when it is discussed without personal attacks and what not, why can't we have a little political satire?

[Phil Lilley]

You have a point, but when it is discussed without personal attacks and what not, why can't we have a little political satire?

Cause it's always taken the wrong way by someone on the forum, although most of us get a kick out of most of the satire.

YOu guys are entirely right- on both views. Wish we could discuss these things here because they are important for the most part. I do see a change in how at least this thread is progressing - you guys are getting to know each other and with knowing comes respect and less personal issues. If you know someone, you're less likely to say anything in a personal, negative way. Forums are impersonal and are fertile ground for all-out food fights with no benefit or good outcomes.

Over and over I've said no politics... but over and over I let new topics go and hope they say civil. This one basically has... but now what?

[FishinCricket]

Now you enforce your rules like the hardazz we all know you aren't...

BIG RED X

How's the fishing boys? If this rain keeps up I'm gonna be catching crappie in Wrench's front yard!

[jeb]

We talk some politics around the campfire and when it is harmless banter, it doesn't matter. This thread has been really lighthearted for the most part and the problems arise when things get personal and one member starts attacking another.

For myself, I did not express my views in this thread because I expected the thread to get locked or nuked, per Lilley's recent thread on this. I strongly disagree with some of the views stated in this thread, but kept my opinion to myself out of respect for his request.

Still a bit confused on political threads here, but will have to feel my way along, I guess.

Thanks for the input.

[Wayne SW/MO]

A lot of accusations, but little information. It is not necessarily environmentally friendly to use dishes either, I'm sure they heated a lot of water and used a lot of soap to clean them.

So if you recycle the plastic the impact may be neutral.

Justin there is a small group called the Third Way. They are Democrats who are liberal on social issues and financially conservative.

I have to laugh at the post that all landowners on streams are conservative, some will say anything to try and make a point.

[drew03cmc]

There is no rhyme or reason jeb, but with respect comes leniency. Most of us on here have gone around and around and back and forth for years now and know where each other stands without needing them to say it. Our views may not always be the same, but we all believe in conservation of our fish and game species.

[Mitch f]

There is no rhyme or reason jeb, but with respect comes leniency. Most of us on here have gone around and around and back and forth for years now and know where each other stands without needing them to say it. Our views may not always be the same, but we all believe in conservation of our fish and game species.

Well said!

[flytyer57]

I have to laugh at the post that all landowners on streams are conservative, some will say anything to try and make a point.

Never said all landowners on streams were conservative. I was mocking the other threads that have been popular here lately and used them as a context for my point about what is happening in Washington.

Sometimes ya gotta learn to read in between the lines and not take everything so darn literally.

[Al Agnew]

As I said here somewhere before, I consider myself a pragmatic conserberal. But when it comes to environmental issues, I would consider myself a pragmatic liberal. I believe in doing whatever is doable for environmental protection, but not everything that's desirable or perhaps even necessary is doable. Environmental issues are always tied up in economic issues. People are not going to advocate doing things that will wreck their own pocketbooks. It's as simple as that.

I have friends in the same profession as I am that are pretty staunch conservatives. I used to always wonder how you can appreciate wildlife and wild places enough to make your living painting them, and yet be on the side of those who tend to devalue wild country and wild critters. But I've come to realize it's partly a matter of priorities, and partly a matter of misunderstandings on both sides. If your priorities lie with huntable species and fishable species, you aren't going to be all for actions that might curtail your hunting and fishing opportunities for the sake of non-hunted and non-fished species, while if you are for unspoiled wilderness, you might want as few hunters and anglers as possible using it. And if you've been convinced, by past actions or by propaganda, that an environmental organization is anti-hunting or anti-angling, as a sportsman you aren't going to think much of that organization.

The value of discussions like this does not lie in changing people's minds, but in helping to begin to understand others who don't think quite like you do, and finding common ground with them. Since I would be considered a liberal on environmental issues, you might be quick to demonize me as wanting to wreck the economy of the country for the sake of a snail darter or a theory like global warming, since that seems to be the prevailing attitude among the media conservatives in regard to liberals. But I'm obviously a hunter, angler, and realist...my priorities might be a little different than yours but we both care about most of the same things.

Unfortunately, the politicians are far too quick to demonize (on both sides) and far too slow to even consider other points of view, let alone find common ground.