11 months without politics (2 Viewers)

[rockaction]

I just deleted what I thought was a good post because it was political.

I don’t know how I feel about the absence of the PSF. Never had a strong opinion about it. I do know when I feel political that this isn’t the place for it. That should be enough.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Jon Stewart on Crossfire was almost 20 years ago. It is worse now, doesn't mean it was a civil exchange of ideas before that.

The way it used to be was you didn't discuss politics that much, it was a private matter. Certainly not with strangers. That's why there's a little curtain for privacy????

It has been quite common for bars to have a 'no politics' rule as long as I have been hanging around them, so that's 30 years.

So when exactly in history are people pining for?

"Bring your whole self to work" was an exceptionally bad idea. We should go back to stigmatizing politics at work. (Same for religion, but I imagine that's extremely uncommon anyway).

 

[Joe Bryant]

That’s what is really troublesome. There’s vengeance in the air over simply holding a belief, opinion, or rational thought. That’s worrying.

Yes. That feels newish to me. Maybe not. But that's how it feels.

 

[rockaction]

Yes

Thanks, Joe. I deleted that because I thought it might be too political. So if you can’t find it to quote in its entirety, that’s why. I did that before you posted. Must have been at relatively the same time.

Have a blessed or good day, everyone. Peace.

 

[Joe Bryant]

"Bring your whole self to work" was an exceptionally bad idea. We should go back to stigmatizing politics at work.

I've wondered about this too.

For what it's worth, we have an extremely active discussion / project management platform for the Footballguys Staff. Lots of real work but tons of discussion similar to the Shark Pool on players as we work out our thoughts.

We have a similar area like the FFA where we discuss non football stuff.

But we also have a wide range of opinions on staff. And well before I stopped the Political forum here, I asked our Staff to not discuss politics. I don't know that's the right thing. But it's how we operate and it works well for us.

 

[Dr. Octopus]

So when exactly in history are people pining for?

There was always some dissension of course and differing philosophies,, but the forum for "hate" has surely increased due to social media and the division is getting worse and worse - even with the politicians themselves.

I'm honestly not sure how that's even debatable.

 

[El Floppo]

Tough one as I do enjoy using this forum for most of topics out there - its sad that some of the biggest topics in the country today simply cant be discussed here. But as someone whose been a fan of this place from close to the start, I respect Joe and what hes built here. If it creates too much chaos then I get it - still love the place!

As an independent is there any place to read unbiased news and/or discuss without it being severely slanted from one side or the other?

I read BBC and Reuters feeds daily... I find those less US right/left biased

 

[IvanKaramazov]

"Bring your whole self to work" was an exceptionally bad idea. We should go back to stigmatizing politics at work.

I've wondered about this too.

For what it's worth, we have an extremely active discussion / project management platform for the Footballguys Staff. Lots of real work but tons of discussion similar to the Shark Pool on players as we work out our thoughts.

We have a similar area like the FFA where we discuss non football stuff.

But we also have a wide range of opinions on staff. And well before I stopped the Political forum here, I asked our Staff to not discuss politics. I don't know that's the right thing. But it's how we operate and it works well for us.

It's really not that difficult and this isn't a lesson that we should have had to re-learn. It's just a bad idea to invite additional sources of division and conflict into a workplace, or any other team setting. There's going to be enough work-related conflict anyway, so why encourage people to go after each other based on extraneous factors like who they voted for?

Good-natured ribbing over last week's games, and healthy competition like an office FF league or NCAA pool pulls people together. Arguments about politics drive people apart. Nothing healthy comes from everybody wearing their politics on their sleeves all the time.

 

[dgreen]

"Bring your whole self to work" was an exceptionally bad idea. We should go back to stigmatizing politics at work.

I've wondered about this too.

For what it's worth, we have an extremely active discussion / project management platform for the Footballguys Staff. Lots of real work but tons of discussion similar to the Shark Pool on players as we work out our thoughts.

We have a similar area like the FFA where we discuss non football stuff.

But we also have a wide range of opinions on staff. And well before I stopped the Political forum here, I asked our Staff to not discuss politics. I don't know that's the right thing. But it's how we operate and it works well for us.

It's really not that difficult and this isn't a lesson that we should have had to re-learn. It's just a bad idea to invite additional sources of division and conflict into a workplace, or any other team setting. There's going to be enough work-related conflict anyway, so why encourage people to go after each other based on extraneous factors like who they voted for?

Good-natured ribbing over last week's games, and healthy competition like an office FF league or NCAA pool pulls people together. Arguments about politics drive people apart. Nothing healthy comes from everybody wearing their politics on their sleeves all the time.

We’ve had threads here about the decline of religion in our society. I’ve been wondering if work places are trying to step in to fill some of the voids that people no longer get from church. For example, I think my work has been pushing to become the primary place for our life connections. Senior leadership talks about how we are a family and they keep trying to come up with ways to forge those close relationships. Nobody has pushed talking politics, but I do feel like workplaces are trying to be people’s church in some sense.

 

[Harry Manback]

When grown adults can't resist flinging poo, they get treated like kindergarteners. The psf brought out the poo flingers.

I get it, people like their safe spaces.

Be sure to wash your hands, wouldn't want you to catch pink eye. I'll do likewise.

What does this mean? Are you insulting me?

 

[massraider]

I'm honestly not sure how that's even debatable.

I agree, and that's why I said this in the very post you quoted.

It is worse now, doesn't mean it was a civil exchange of ideas before that.

My post was simply to point out that discussing things with people was no picnic before 24 hour news media, or whenever people think it got worse. Discussing race with my grandfather, or abortion with 1980's evangelicals was not a treat. I don't think people have very good memories. In fact, I know they don't.

Probably funny coming from me, as someone who was a very active participant in the PSF--and didn't always play well with other-- but I think taking in information, and making a personal decision IS politics. Someone can discuss with me forever, in a reasonable manner, the opposite side of abortion or corporate regulation, and I will not agree. Which is FINE.

In a lot of political issues, some are moral opinions, and some are trying to predict what the decision will mean for the well-being of the country. The way I look at it, your moral opinions are your own, and valid. And the law of unintended consequences states that some opinion, that I agree with, is going to be the wrong decision.

PSF was valuable to me in that it taught me that arguing back and forth on politics isn't helpful, and it sure didn't brighten my day.
I want to hear opinions from bright people on the issues, and form my own opinion. Sure, everyone wants to be open-minded, but the goal should not be to change minds, but to educate everyone, and the wisdom of the crowd will hopefully be the best result.

 

[Harry Manback]

When grown adults can't resist flinging poo, they get treated like kindergarteners. The psf brought out the poo flingers.

I get it, people like their safe spaces.

Exactly! Just like that. Excellent example of what he was talking about!

Are you being serious? This hurt your feelings? It wasn't even meant to, which actually makes this ironic and quite funny.

What you are describing, an adult space with kindergarten rules to prevent "flinging poo" is literally the definition of a safe space for people. In the real world it is completely unreasonable to insulate yourself from uncomfortable situations or being offended by something/someone. On private websites that is not the case. This is quite literally a safe space for people who don't want to risk being exposed to that stuff.

Your hypersensitivity seems problematic if you carry this into the real world. Best of luck.

 

[the moops]

Your hypersensitivity seems problematic if you carry this into the real world. Best of luck.

It's not hypersensitivity to want a place where we can engage in silly, yet meaningful discussions about all things non political. As @Joe Bryant has repeatedly said, the PSF is not coming back, and there are plenty of other places in this world to discuss politics

 

[massraider]

Are you being serious? This hurt your feelings? It wasn't even meant to, which actually makes this ironic and quite funny.

What you are describing, an adult space with kindergarten rules to prevent "flinging poo" is literally the definition of a safe space for people. In the real world it is completely unreasonable to insulate yourself from uncomfortable situations or being offended by something/someone. On private websites that is not the case. This is quite literally a safe space for people who don't want to risk being exposed to that stuff.

Your hypersensitivity seems problematic if you carry this into the real world. Best of luck.

No, it didn't hurt my feelings. Your post actually made me smile. I thought your post was a fantastic example of why Joe knows he made the best decision to shut down the PSF.

 

[Harry Manback]

Your hypersensitivity seems problematic if you carry this into the real world. Best of luck.

It's not hypersensitivity to want a place where we can engage in silly, yet meaningful discussions about all things non political. As @Joe Bryant has repeatedly said, the PSF is not coming back, and there are plenty of other places in this world to discuss politics

THat's not the bit that's hypersenstivie, I hoped you'd decipher that from the context of my reply.

He accused me of "flinging poo" because I refered to this place as a "safe space". How is that not hypersensitive? You seem to a agree this is a safe space and you admit you want it to be so. So why does labeling it as such constitute "flinging poo"? Hypersensitive.

 

[Harry Manback]

Are you being serious? This hurt your feelings? It wasn't even meant to, which actually makes this ironic and quite funny.

What you are describing, an adult space with kindergarten rules to prevent "flinging poo" is literally the definition of a safe space for people. In the real world it is completely unreasonable to insulate yourself from uncomfortable situations or being offended by something/someone. On private websites that is not the case. This is quite literally a safe space for people who don't want to risk being exposed to that stuff.

Your hypersensitivity seems problematic if you carry this into the real world. Best of luck.

No, it didn't hurt my feelings. Your post actually made me smile. I thought your post was a fantastic example of why Joe knows he made the best decision to shut down the PSF.

It clearly triggered you and that's ok. You can't help how you feel. I'm just saying that wasn't my intention. Maybe work on that?

 

[opensourcebeer]

Man, this is some stinky bait.

 

[Harry Manback]

Man, this is some stinky bait.

I have to assume you're passive aggresively referring to me?

Bait? I was subtly called an ******* at best earlier by someone. I was accussed of "flinging poo" by observing people want a safe space here, which had no malice attached.

You people seem to enjoy bullying people just within the rules of the forum so you can act self-righteous about it and feel superior. Kind of a bad look. But you guys can high five each other with your likes and pretend you're back in high school, that is allowed.

 

[beer 30]

Do your own research,

I prefer the experts do the research and I read their findings

Ha! Find me one that you trust these days

 

[Uruk-Hai]

This last page is one of the many reasons why the PSF needed to be nuked.

 

[JAA]

Ive worked really hard to find a panacea of unbiased news. Ive tried pure Reuters, The Economist, BBC, and blending CNN/FOX where I would read both to try and find the middle. All of those were failures. For me, the best place I have found is abcnews. They are not perfect, def left leaning, but I do find it easier to tune out some rhetoric.

Im open to hearing how others find their news.

X. Everything else is propaganda. Legacy media/news is dead, and they did it to themselves.

I have limited exposure on X, but I find it very echo-chambery. You follow individuals and these individuals have agendas. Am I being too cynical?

Yes. The point is that with independent, individual reporting, they have no bias dictated to from above, and anything that is said can be freely challenged and debated and, if found to be clear bollocks, community noted. Someone like Tucker Carlson clearly leans to one side of the political spectrum, but I'd say the only "agenda" he has is to tell things like it is, as opposed to what his network wants him to tell

Understood. From your perspective, who else tells it like it is that you would encourage me to check out?

Explore yourself. Find your own truth. Look at lots of options, research what they are saying and implying, work out who is saying what you think needs to be said. Pick a subject that's important to you, go on a dive as to who is discussing and researching it. Question everything.

Im asking you, I want your opinion. I asked for unbiased news sources and you gave me one.

Yes. I gave you one. X. Find what you like, not what I like. I do not know nor care what subjects are important to you, and I won't spoon-feed you accounts that I feel are interesting. Do your own research, which you frankly should have been doing in a pre-social media era rather than taking anything that is presented as gospel

Thank you for the reply ... not sure why my entire comment got cut off.

Im asking you because I have already done what you have asked for. Im seeking guidance outside my sphere of understanding. If I was satisfied with my own research I would not be asking for help.

https://join1440.com/

This is great, ive never seen it before. Thank you

 

[JAA]

Because we have a familiarity with one another here.

But you can get that with other places.

It's the same way new people can join the FFA and fit in. Takes a little bit to know people but if you care, you can soon know your way around.

I'm sure there are good forums to do the same thing with for politics.

 

[JAA]

I'd also encourage as much as possible to seek out real life friends for this.

ouch

Why?

How about I explain my situation this way: as a public servant, I must exclude my personal political feelings from how I govern my constituents. 99% of my friends are my constituents.

Also, I rarely find someone who I can discuss completely transparently and expect to receive multiple different demographic (income, geo-location, political leaning) other than here. In addition, I know a number of the posters heres opinions and greatly appreciate them, even more the folks I disagree with.

 

[JAA]

Ive worked really hard to find a panacea of unbiased news. Ive tried pure Reuters, The Economist, BBC, and blending CNN/FOX where I would read both to try and find the middle. All of those were failures. For me, the best place I have found is abcnews. They are not perfect, def left leaning, but I do find it easier to tune out some rhetoric.

Im open to hearing how others find their news.

X. Everything else is propaganda. Legacy media/news is dead, and they did it to themselves.

I have limited exposure on X, but I find it very echo-chambery. You follow individuals and these individuals have agendas. Am I being too cynical?

No. That's exactly how it works. That's how twitter works. That's how facebook/instagram works. That's how tik tok works. That's how youtube works. The algos are suffocating facts and reality. The best (maybe saddest?) part is the people who think they have it figured out and somehow aren't susceptible to those algos. They are often times further gone than some of the loons.

hence me wanting to discuss here it here. No agenda's other than icred and possible sig bets

 

[Uruk-Hai]

I remember a thread here in the FFA many years ago where we had several board members (maybe we voted for them?) from across the political spectrum form a U.S. Government. That was one of the best threads this MB ever had.

Any of y'all remember that?

Sadly, I don't think we could pull it off nowadays.

 

[Harry Manback]

This last page is one of the many reasons why the PSF needed to be nuked.

Such a shame the laughing reaction is gone.

 

[JAA]

I'd also encourage as much as possible to seek out real life friends for this.

I have several text group chats where we can cautiously talk politics. I have a very long history with these friends and they know me and trust me. The range is from adamantly strong on both sides of the aisle and some in between. It's a healthy discussion that I've found to be invaluable. But it takes work to find it. And work to maintain it.

Tried this and a military member in our fantasy football immediately wanted no politics in our group chat. Someone made an innocent joke about ranking Harris and Trump along with football players and he got all bent out of shape. He was only here “to talk football with his boys”.

Horrible how divided this country has become and how far some people have gone with their views.

It was definitely more cordial 15 years ago. I wonder why.

The "why" is control.

The mechanism is media. Here's a couple of examples, both from the left and the right.

Stephen Colbert, through the Colbert Report, spent 4 nights a week for 9 years dunking on conservatives nationwide. It helped to normalize the idea that it's fine to make fun of anybody that doesn't share your political view.

Rush Limbaugh, through his daily 3 hour nationally syndicated radio show, spent 33 years vilifying liberal ideas. It helped to normalize the idea that there is a "us vs them" within our country.

Our country has been on its current path for a while now and I don't have optimism about our future. I do know that consuming less media , including social media, and being more critically minded about what I do consume has been a life improvement for me.

Great post, but Limbaugh doesnt get credit, it is Newt Gingrich and how he leveraged cspan and empty rooms. All that said, today's situation cannot be attributed to a single person, Newt was just the start. Everyone is at fault now, even us for subscribing to it.

 

[Joe Bryant]

I'd also encourage as much as possible to seek out real life friends for this.

ouch

Why?

How about I explain my situation this way: as a public servant, I must exclude my personal political feelings from how I govern my constituents. 99% of my friends are my constituents.

Also, I rarely find someone who I can discuss completely transparently and expect to receive multiple different demographic (income, geo-location, political leaning) other than here. In addition, I know a number of the posters heres opinions and greatly appreciate them, even more the folks I disagree with.

Sorry. Didn't mean encourging seeking out real life friends to be an "ouch". Obviously, I love the forums. I wouldn't put the effort, time and money into them I do if I didn't.

But I will always put a gigantic value on real-life connections and conversations. Always.

 

[JAA]

I'd also encourage as much as possible to seek out real life friends for this.

I have several text group chats where we can cautiously talk politics. I have a very long history with these friends and they know me and trust me. The range is from adamantly strong on both sides of the aisle and some in between. It's a healthy discussion that I've found to be invaluable. But it takes work to find it. And work to maintain it.

Tried this and a military member in our fantasy football immediately wanted no politics in our group chat. Someone made an innocent joke about ranking Harris and Trump along with football players and he got all bent out of shape. He was only here “to talk football with his boys”.

Horrible how divided this country has become and how far some people have gone with their views.

It was definitely more cordial 15 years ago. I wonder why.

The "why" is control.

The mechanism is media. Here's a couple of examples, both from the left and the right.

Stephen Colbert, through the Colbert Report, spent 4 nights a week for 9 years dunking on conservatives nationwide. It helped to normalize the idea that it's fine to make fun of anybody that doesn't share your political view.

Rush Limbaugh, through his daily 3 hour nationally syndicated radio show, spent 33 years vilifying liberal ideas. It helped to normalize the idea that there is a "us vs them" within our country.

Our country has been on its current path for a while now and I don't have optimism about our future. I do know that consuming less media , including social media, and being more critically minded about what I do consume has been a life improvement for me.

But there was a time when both sides got along relatively peacefully. Think back to the times of John McCain, Mitt Romney, etc. It really wasn’t that long ago. We can get there but it’s to the people.

And yes, media of all forms (especially social media) has amplified the divide.

Sometimes it feels like we've been weaponized against each other.

Great read by Lou Dobbs: https://www.amazon.com/War-Middle-Class-Government-Business/dp/014311252X

 

[JAA]

Although I didn’t post but a handful of times in it, it is where I went for all of my news, as I try to stay off the grid otherwise, so I do miss it. I get why Joe closed it though. Country is way too divided now to discuss this topic civilly.

My neighbor caught me putting the trash down lastnight and I kind of cringed as he loves politics. It went good for the first 15 or so minutes of our talk and I thought I dodged a bullet, but didn’t get so lucky. When I told him I went the opposite direction that he did, his face became red, eyes and veins bulged and I spent another 30 minutes in the yard listening to a tirade. I like our neighbors and think they are good people and told him as such, but we just aren’t going to agree on this subject, so it did end more decently than where it started, but the times are too hostile between sides with a lot of people I have seen, so I doubt it would be any different here.

Thank you for trying with your neighbor. While this neighbor may be unhinged, you are leading by example and people/kids are watching/listening.

 

[Joe Bryant]

"Bring your whole self to work" was an exceptionally bad idea. We should go back to stigmatizing politics at work.

I've wondered about this too.

For what it's worth, we have an extremely active discussion / project management platform for the Footballguys Staff. Lots of real work but tons of discussion similar to the Shark Pool on players as we work out our thoughts.

We have a similar area like the FFA where we discuss non football stuff.

But we also have a wide range of opinions on staff. And well before I stopped the Political forum here, I asked our Staff to not discuss politics. I don't know that's the right thing. But it's how we operate and it works well for us.

It's really not that difficult and this isn't a lesson that we should have had to re-learn. It's just a bad idea to invite additional sources of division and conflict into a workplace, or any other team setting. There's going to be enough work-related conflict anyway, so why encourage people to go after each other based on extraneous factors like who they voted for?

Good-natured ribbing over last week's games, and healthy competition like an office FF league or NCAA pool pulls people together. Arguments about politics drive people apart. Nothing healthy comes from everybody wearing their politics on their sleeves all the time.

We’ve had threads here about the decline of religion in our society. I’ve been wondering if work places are trying to step in to fill some of the voids that people no longer get from church. For example, I think my work has been pushing to become the primary place for our life connections. Senior leadership talks about how we are a family and they keep trying to come up with ways to forge those close relationships. Nobody has pushed talking politics, but I do feel like workplaces are trying to be people’s church in some sense.

That's a good observation. Lots of workplaces do try to further that sense of "team". But it can be a challenge. Not everyone has the same desire for "teamness" at work. I get it.

 

[the moops]

Do your own research,

I prefer the experts do the research and I read their findings

Ha! Find me one that you trust these days

I trust my doctor when it comes to my health. I trust @Joe Bryant and staff when it comes to fantasy football advice. I trust the national weather service when I want to know what the weekly weather outlook is. I trust my accountant to handle my taxes. I trust my kids teacher when it comes to their schooling. I trust my vet for my dog care

Should I continue? This mistrust of experts is one of the weirdest things of the past several years. Experts aren't infallible. They get stuff wrong. But I sure as hell want them doing the things that I have little to no knowledge about

 

[djmich]

Someone like Tucker Carlson clearly leans to one side of the political spectrum, but I'd say the only "agenda" he has is to tell things like it is, as opposed to what his network wants him to tell

You could probably find a better example

Megyn Kelly.

What exactly are we trying to find examples of with these two names?

I thought the original intent was examples of people that broke away from legacy media, where each entity (Fox, CNN, ABC, CBS, AP) had their own corporate narrative they wanted to support...and these people are now independents that can say whatever they want.

Thats not to say these people have ownership of facts, do not have their own opinions or biases...just that they're not muzzled by a three letter media conglomerate.

 

[Joe Schmo]

A curiosity of mine...how often do you talk politics with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc? For me, most of my family and friend group has enough other interests that politics is only rarely discussed and often only is something particular is going on. I do have some family members that are more politics oriented and I do my best to not feed into that when I'm around.

As for work, we have a couple of people here who feel its okay to blab their thoughts but thank god they don't often find someone willing to take the bait. It's cringey actually. I never, ever come close to politics at work. It's a stupid idea, imo.

 

[Harry Manback]

A curiosity of mine...how often do you talk politics with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc? For me, most of my family and friend group has enough other interests that politics is only rarely discussed and often only is something particular is going on. I do have some family members that are more politics oriented and I do my best to not feed into that when I'm around.

As for work, we have a couple of people here who feel its okay to blab their thoughts but thank god they don't often find someone willing to take the bait. It's cringey actually. I never, ever come close to politics at work. It's a stupid idea, imo.

Do you insult people at work?

 

[beer 30]

Do your own research,

I prefer the experts do the research and I read their findings

Ha! Find me one that you trust these days

I trust my doctor when it comes to my health. I trust @Joe Bryant and staff when it comes to fantasy football advice. I trust the national weather service when I want to know what the weekly weather outlook is. I trust my accountant to handle my taxes. I trust my kids teacher when it comes to their schooling. I trust my vet for my dog care

Should I continue? This mistrust of experts is one of the weirdest things of the past several years. Experts aren't infallible. They get stuff wrong. But I sure as hell want them doing the things that I have little to no knowledge about

Well, really wasn't talking about experts off topic so thanks for that.

Thought this was about politics & media? Least I know who to come to when I need to know who to start on Sunday

 

[Joe Schmo]

A curiosity of mine...how often do you talk politics with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc? For me, most of my family and friend group has enough other interests that politics is only rarely discussed and often only is something particular is going on. I do have some family members that are more politics oriented and I do my best to not feed into that when I'm around.

As for work, we have a couple of people here who feel its okay to blab their thoughts but thank god they don't often find someone willing to take the bait. It's cringey actually. I never, ever come close to politics at work. It's a stupid idea, imo.

Do you insult people at work?

Great question. No. I do not. I also don't have people trying to bait me into a challenge by being dickish, we all kind of act like adults.

 

[djmich]

Do your own research,

I prefer the experts do the research and I read their findings

Ha! Find me one that you trust these days

I trust my doctor when it comes to my health. I trust @Joe Bryant and staff when it comes to fantasy football advice. I trust the national weather service when I want to know what the weekly weather outlook is. I trust my accountant to handle my taxes. I trust my kids teacher when it comes to their schooling. I trust my vet for my dog care

Should I continue? This mistrust of experts is one of the weirdest things of the past several years. Experts aren't infallible. They get stuff wrong. But I sure as hell want them doing the things that I have little to no knowledge about

I personally have had a number of experiences with Dr's where my own research has proven valuable (admittedly so by some of the doctors). More relevant to this conversation, clearly the health community has lost some credibility when it comes to their views on implementation of political/social policy the last five years as well.

Trust is a weird word as well as what is the definition of "an expert". Why do I want to put absolute trust in any person or thing that is, as you say, fallible. If we actually bring this forward into politics and not vet care...why would I want to trust a single person on their assessment of the current state of the Israeli - Palestinian conflict simply because they graduated with a PhD in middle east a few years ago. I can find hundreds of those experts, with different opinions, many of which dogmatically fit into their political worldview.

 

[massraider]

Thought this was about politics & media?

https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Good place to read both sides of an issue.

 

[Schmeabs]

only a week away from greatness and having this all over with

 

[SWC]

Tough one as I do enjoy using this forum for most of topics out there - its sad that some of the biggest topics in the country today simply cant be discussed here. But as someone whose been a fan of this place from close to the start, I respect Joe and what hes built here. If it creates too much chaos then I get it - still love the place!

As an independent is there any place to read unbiased news and/or discuss without it being severely slanted from one side or the other?

I read BBC and Reuters feeds daily... I find those less US right/left biased

same here and i watch a ton of britbox and i bet none of you had swc is a huge anglofile on your bingo cards take that to the bank brochacho

 

[Ministry of Pain]

A curiosity of mine...how often do you talk politics with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc? For me, most of my family and friend group has enough other interests that politics is only rarely discussed and often only is something particular is going on. I do have some family members that are more politics oriented and I do my best to not feed into that when I'm around.

As for work, we have a couple of people here who feel its okay to blab their thoughts but thank god they don't often find someone willing to take the bait. It's cringey actually. I never, ever come close to politics at work. It's a stupid idea, imo.

I have to share this with everyone, last night a commercial comes on for the Big T and I try to usually have commercials turned down but I see a stock photo type thing and I nudge my wife and say hey isn't that "Joe" that you work with? She looks at the commercial and does a double take and affirms it's him. This guy mentioned at one time he did some stock photo work with his wife and son and its been used in a lot of ads, commercials, it's a standard looking Latino family and so it's been used often and it's from maybe 4-5 years ago, hate to say this but he is actively getting a divorce so this photo is from a different time

-We are almost sure that if either of the two candidates were going to use this photo/video for their campaign, this would NOT be the person he associates his political views with
That has to be a terrible feeling to see your face and likeness being used by a political candidate you have no intention of voting for.
My wife was going to ask him about it, I told her I wouldn't bring it up.

 

[the moops]

only a week away from greatness and having this all over with

In one week we will still be in this same boat

 

[fruity pebbles]

A curiosity of mine...how often do you talk politics with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc? For me, most of my family and friend group has enough other interests that politics is only rarely discussed and often only is something particular is going on. I do have some family members that are more politics oriented and I do my best to not feed into that when I'm around.

As for work, we have a couple of people here who feel its okay to blab their thoughts but thank god they don't often find someone willing to take the bait. It's cringey actually. I never, ever come close to politics at work. It's a stupid idea, imo.

Do you insult people at work?

Sometimes

 

[JAA]

Tough one as I do enjoy using this forum for most of topics out there - its sad that some of the biggest topics in the country today simply cant be discussed here. But as someone whose been a fan of this place from close to the start, I respect Joe and what hes built here. If it creates too much chaos then I get it - still love the place!

As an independent is there any place to read unbiased news and/or discuss without it being severely slanted from one side or the other?

I read BBC and Reuters feeds daily... I find those less US right/left biased

I tried both of them and overtime I placed them pretty far left, maybe half way to CNN. Upon reflection I was pretty disappointed.

 

[Harry Manback]

A curiosity of mine...how often do you talk politics with friends, family, co-workers, neighbors, etc? For me, most of my family and friend group has enough other interests that politics is only rarely discussed and often only is something particular is going on. I do have some family members that are more politics oriented and I do my best to not feed into that when I'm around.

As for work, we have a couple of people here who feel its okay to blab their thoughts but thank god they don't often find someone willing to take the bait. It's cringey actually. I never, ever come close to politics at work. It's a stupid idea, imo.

Do you insult people at work?

Great question. No. I do not. I also don't have people trying to bait me into a challenge by being dickish, we all kind of act like adults.

Maybe at work you aren't so hypersensitive that you perceive innocuous comments as bait. That's good to hear, that type of behavior at work probably wouldn't play as well as it does in front of this audience.

 

[beer 30]

Thought this was about politics & media?

https://www.allsides.com/unbiased-balanced-news

Good place to read both sides of an issue.

You know it might have been you but somebody recommended that site to me about a year ago so I downloaded the app and it didn't really do much for me. Maybe I'm too far gone to still be objective I'll give it another go

 

[Sand]

Someone like Tucker Carlson clearly leans to one side of the political spectrum, but I'd say the only "agenda" he has is to tell things like it is, as opposed to what his network wants him to tell

You could probably find a better example

Megyn Kelly.

What exactly are we trying to find examples of with these two names?

Laugh emoji.

 

[Nugget]

"Bring your whole self to work" was an exceptionally bad idea. We should go back to stigmatizing politics at work.

I've wondered about this too.

For what it's worth, we have an extremely active discussion / project management platform for the Footballguys Staff. Lots of real work but tons of discussion similar to the Shark Pool on players as we work out our thoughts.

We have a similar area like the FFA where we discuss non football stuff.

But we also have a wide range of opinions on staff. And well before I stopped the Political forum here, I asked our Staff to not discuss politics. I don't know that's the right thing. But it's how we operate and it works well for us.

It's really not that difficult and this isn't a lesson that we should have had to re-learn. It's just a bad idea to invite additional sources of division and conflict into a workplace, or any other team setting. There's going to be enough work-related conflict anyway, so why encourage people to go after each other based on extraneous factors like who they voted for?

Good-natured ribbing over last week's games, and healthy competition like an office FF league or NCAA pool pulls people together. Arguments about politics drive people apart. Nothing healthy comes from everybody wearing their politics on their sleeves all the time.

I'm torn on this. I enjoy work fantasy football leagues and we had a team building event at Chiefs game. I had a blast, but it also was evident who were the sports fans and who weren't. It was adventageous to be a sports fan, and I'm not sure if that is the intent. Asking someone to give up a Sunday or Monday night and pay for a baby sitter to be considered a team player is challenging.

I don't want to give up golf outings and Royals games, but these same events that i enjoy could but a strain on other employees.

 

[the moops]

Someone like Tucker Carlson clearly leans to one side of the political spectrum, but I'd say the only "agenda" he has is to tell things like it is, as opposed to what his network wants him to tell

You could probably find a better example

Megyn Kelly.

What exactly are we trying to find examples of with these two names?

Laugh emoji.

It's just a question. I don't find either of those names to be people who "have no agenda" so was curious if there was something I was missing