Winning!

[Ashock]

This thread's a great example of how so many things get derailed so badly here.

• Original Poster comes in with an agenda, stating their opinion on something in a mildly incendiary way ("This is what liberals are fighting for. Grats!").
  
• Other posters of the opposite political leaning take the incendiary bait and challenge the Original Poster, not really over the issue, but because they fought with Original Poster in other threads.
  
• Someone at some point (in this case, me) jumps in and wants to discuss the point without including the incendiary language, separating the topic from the poster.
  
• Someone else suggests that the topic isn't worth discussing because they disagree fundamentally with the Original Poster.
  
• More posts flaming the Original Poster.
  
• Original Poster jumps back in, flaming the commenters and restating the original point in an even more incendiary way.
  
• Name-calling and flamewars.
  

Oh well. I'm not going to pretend this is a new thing, it's just that the Internet makes it a lot easier to play out.

*shrug* When responses come in having nothing to do with the OP, because no valid counterpoints can be offered, they deserve a particular type of response. I believe I was very tame. Stick to a topic and discuss it, or don't post at all. As far as a lack of sufficient intellectual challenge and intellectual dishonesty, please see above, at my first sentence. It is disappointing, unlike the attempt to teach me about how "we" do things in this country, which is laughable. This assessment is also not based just on this thread. As far as chess with a pigeon.... well, that's not a flame and it's not directed at any particular individual. It is simply a statement of fact. Again, please see above.

Signing off for the weekend. Just letting you know, so you don't think that I "jumped" back in next week, if there is a reason to jump back in.