Heresy! Burn him!
I would suggest that they might just be fed up with the constant “You must support or you’re evil” messaging that seems embedded in just about everything these days.
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when the people who invented the term and used it to signal how much more virtuous they were than everybody else
realised their word-badge had become a figure of fun
and had to create insulting terms for those they disagreed with. Like “fascist”, “gammon”, “far-right” and “bigot”.
They’re a humourless lot, in the main.
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I can already sense the pearls being clutched by perpetually/professionally offended gang.
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The problem is that, for many people on the left (not on the right, though I’m happy to be corrected), what they believe about topics like Gaza, immigration, Brexit, black lives, statues, the slave trade and reparations, multiculturalism … is so inherent to their person that they think this is what makes them a good person.
It’s a post-Christian belief system which, because it’s morally relativistic, is largely indefensible (without necessarily being wrong in part) and so depends on the stridency with which it can be expressed. The more emotion you can feel and express, the more virulently you can attack the others, the better person you are.
I think.
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Thank you for saying so.
In common with other forums there are many more inactive members, or those who just read posts on the site than members actively posting. There are just under 13,000 TL1 and 1000 TL2 users - probably the latter group are the most likely to be somewhat regularly active on the site in terms of posting. We get about 220-250 posts per day so about 25% of regular users are “active” at any one time.
I don’t have the bandwidth to monitor everything but, yes, there is something of a “birds of a feather” group, again that is true of any meeting place from the regulars in the back room at the pub through to social media.
Personally I suspect this is because the whole premise of “gone to live in France” preselects a certain type of individual in the first place.
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It’s certainly all about the feelings these days, isn’t it?
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It’s interesting the consistency of the attacks on the people rather than the principles and how, in Trumpian fashion, every accusation has the air of a confession.
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Why would a moderator be taking notes on commentary that is legal and within the bounds of the forum’s policy? Are you suggesting that the moderators should be policing the politics of the members?
I would also suggest that no one gets “shouted down”. There are basically two types of political poster on here, those with a well-reasoned point that they have considered and can defend and those that don’t.
The former tends to have a positive experience where their views are challenged and debated, typically in good humour.
I can see that the latter might find this place frustrating when they’re challenged, haven’t done the thinking about why they hold the views that they do and therefore can’t develop a response to the challenge. Often they’ll then flounce away muttering about lefties* and freedom of speech.
P.S. the latter tends to end up in my ignore list but I do occasionally let them out if a thread develops.
*Other perspectives are available.
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Well, I was dealing with the word “woke”, which @kirsteastevenson had referred to in a personalised way.
But there is an awful lot of pearls-clutching which goes on. Remember when I posted a joke suggesting that there might be a link between Islamic terrorism and Islamophobia? You’d have thought the sky had fallen in!
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That sounds like a lot of work.
Being a lazy with a side order of ASPD makes life so much less fraught.
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It is good (from my point of view ) to see a selection of views on a point I raised that have addressed that issue, thank you to all that posted a reply .
I do recall it looking like you were deliberately trying to provoke at the time - the joke aspect only worked if ones views of the world lay along a narrow path.
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Say it ain’t so 
I was told to “lighten up” or see the funny side by several people, when I found it offensive that somebody was basically accusing me of being a Nazi because I had a Tesla…
Perhaps I shouldn’t have been offended, or because I found it offensive doesn’t mean it is.
So I am happy with those house rules, but they have to work both ways!
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No, it was a perfectly valid point. But it didn’t fit with the prevailing worldview on here, which limits subjects of criticism.
But defining it in that was indicates your own worldview, doesn’t it?
I accept that
but it often feels like I’m the only one who does
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There’s always going to be absolutists on both sides and I try not to take them too seriously.
Yes. There’s a lot I could write, but it’s only fuel on the fire.
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So could I especially to those with political and religious agendas. To keep the site pretty much away from those I keep Mum. I see what I see, I hear what I hear and I think what I think having seen, read and listened to mostly bollocks 
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There comes a point where, if you want to remain on good terms, this is often the best approach. But I’m also reminded of the (misquoted) maxim that for evil to succeed only requires good people to keep quiet.
I have good friends who were part of a Morris side that fell out (as in “I want nothing to do with you again”) over whether women should join the side. It wasn’t about sexism but rather maintaining disappearing traditions, but some were much more comfortable and able to argue strongly and at length, backing those into a corner who were inherently not like that.
It’s been instructive watching the steel roof thread, where everyone means well, but the result looks like a pile-on.