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And a Happy 4th to all!
158 responses Add your response
@thecarpathian - I agree with you, and send prayers to the folks in Texas. |
@thecarpathian Ditto! It kind of puts all the petty bickering here in perspective! |
@viridian NICE!!!
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@mitch2 +100 Back in 2012 I was on a business trip to Denver, a city that had welcomed a number of refugee communities. It was the evening of one of the Romney-Obama presidential debates, held in downtown Denver, and I asked my taxi driver -- who was clearly an immigrant -- what he thought of it. His answer: "I think it’s great! I came here from Chad. If you expressed your opinion in the streets of Chad, like Americans do here, you would be killed." I cherish the free exchange of ideas and viewpoints, but recent events have me wondering if we have become so tribal that we can’t do so any more... I hope there is a way out. I’m old enough to remember the rhetoric, the assassinations, and the general chaos of the 1960s, and was really hoping not experience a repeat in my lifetime... |
Governments are the reflection of the people, certainly we are divided, and think about why we are so divided. We have a two party system, winner take all, and this the way it'll stay until we get rid of winner take all. So we have this reoccurring pattern, Dems in power, they do such a good job of it, voted out of power, Repubs in power, such a good job they're voted out, and so on and so on ad nauseam. We move in circles rather than progress. I believe this entire process is broken, I'm well aware of all the failures by both parties. Our gvt. no longer serves us, too many listen to all the propaganda and believe it, the other side is the devil. But then I suppose this is to be expected, people prefer zero sum games to win, win scenarios. Perhaps democracy is not inherently a preferred form of gvt, too many compromises for most. |
Happy (Belated) 4th: Politcal rants and other "free" speech: Being involved in various "unite" groups (including my own) for the past 8 years, I’ve discovered a relevant question: Are you are warrior? Or, are you a sniper? A warrior is one who puts on their armor and stands face-to-face battling for their deeply-held beliefs. A sniper is one who hides in the bushes from a safe distance and takes pot shots at others. For those who "warriors" who want to take part in REAL political debates can do it here: I promise you’ll have a full 3 minutes to make your point -- without interruption -- and will be treated with dignity and respect. The organizers and administrators are a 50/50 spilt between "reds" and "blues" and this is done on purpose. The group is also granular and broken down into various caucuses. Annual membership is only $20. Did I mention that the group actually wants to resolve problems between us and not amplify them? To those Unapologetic Fire-Breathing Partisans in our group who like to ambush audio topics, other members, and/or harmless goodwill wishes with distain and contempt do have the option of the RIGHT place to discuss --- politics. It’s prudent, relevant and a good use of (everyone’s) time to take those discussions there. If we had a member that consistently (and passionately) spewed the superiority of a particular American-made, air-cooled, rear-engined, opposed piston, 6-cylinder vehicle, we’d be wise to direct them to a Corvair forum. Not everyone on an audio forum is interested in following your deep dive into (highly skewed) automotive history. Same with politics on this forum. In closing, I can’t overemphasize the value HERE of our common links and connections. An audio forum may not save the world. But, it can recognize our humanity and bring out the best versions of ourselves (and others) for part of our day. And, at the very least, suspend what we don’t like about each other for a brief period of time. - Johnny Youniteus |
I can make an analogy about audio opinions and politics... In audio, acoustics science matter the most as in politics geo-political "objective" situations matter the most for our understanding. Geo-politics is to acoustics what bi-party politics is to an upgrade, a necessary good or evil, relative to our acoustics understanding.. National bi-party politics is often small money for the blind. There is one party with two names. No democracy save for the fool... Celebrate your country with no bi-partisan opinions , they are already obsolete. Happy 4 july week to all Americans from a neighbour...
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@2psyop + 1 |
It is disheartening to me that a celebratory thread on this forum turned into an "us vs. them" rant. However, not entirely surprising given that the folks here represent the near 50/50 split in ideologies within our country at this time. Whatever your beliefs, the one thing that makes America great is our ability to elect our officials – we get to choose our own destiny! To those who don’t like Trump, consider that if the last four years had been utopia, and/or if the Democrats had nominated a more viable candidate, Trump may not be the president now. He is certainly not perfect, either as a man (too thin skinned) or as a leader (too divisive), but none of us are perfect, even our presidents. As a voter, I mostly hope that my candidate will deliver about 80 percent of the stuff I voted for and I expect to put up with about 20 percent of stuff I don’t agree with. However, as well-said by @ozzy62 , “You would think we could all be proud of this country and how awesome it is.” I have a pendulum analogy about American politics. Historically, when the pendulum has swung too far in one direction, the voters have always caused it to swing back the other way. The best times seem to be when the pendulum is closer to the center, not too far one way or the other. However, it could be argued that the most change occurs at the extremes. If you don’t like the way things are now, then take constructive action to facilitate change by backing candidates who better match your beliefs, lobby your elected officials, and/or become a candidate yourself. Fear mongering, name calling, and fighting with your fellow Americans will not get it done, and only expands the divide. |
This was a sarcastic response to the post just ahead of mine with the stupid King reference and rant. Ok. The ridiculous post was apparently removed. Happy 4th of July to my fellow Agoners! I am thankful for this country and yes even the fact that we don’t have a king. Enjoy family and friends this weekend. |
@ozzy62 +1! |
You know what the difference is. Any conservative I know was just as proud to be an American when that “other guy” was commander in chief. Yeah we didn't like who was in charge and were often embarrassed from time to time. But there has never been a moment in my lifetime when America wasn’t the greatest nation on earth no matter what party was at the helm. But when a thread is started wishing everyone in this country a happy Independence Day, some lament how terrible we are as a nation because they hate one man so badly. You would think we could all be proud of this country and how awesome it is. |
@grannyring happy 4th is not a non-political post. It is as political as if you said "free Gaza!" Your first post was also trolling and very political. You invited all the politically charged responses:
If you don’t understand that, you are living in a bubble. It’s not my opinion, it is what this divided county is experiencing now. There was a comment here celebrating Alligator Alcatraz. If anyone had relatives who died and/or survived the Holocaust (I do) they understand what alligator alcatraz is, and the 45 billion dollars that ICE is getting to terrorize blue states, build private prisons and labor camps. That’s also what the WH broadcast for days as a reason to feel great about the 4th of July along with the bill. It is true that the discussions should be audio related. Strangely, when Biden was president, no one cared about that rule. Anyone could call him an idiot, blame bidenomics for tube prices, that time it was all relevant, as everything affects everything. If an audiophile was in a bad mood because a democrat is in the WH, then it is audio related stuff. It is (current person in WH) off topic now, I can quote what the moderators wrote me. Not that political stuff is banned, That any negative posts about this president will be removed. That’s when free speech ended here. It would be nice to have an intelligent discussion about anything but it would take both sides to behave and communicate in a civilized manner. Safe to say it will never happen. Maybe after a massive collapse that is inevitable now. |
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As usual Jetter post are rare but always on the spot... Grannyring was right too ... And audiogon set of moderators are very efficient, cautious, listen to us and answer... If they remove some of my posts and they did for some in the past as a gentleman i will comply...I am not perfect but i admit it...
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I consider you a gentleman and always enjoy your posts. Regarding a post above that implies that the moderator is using a different set of standards to monitor which posts are removed between individuals, it is my impression that the posts that are removed have ALL of the following: Political rants or bad-mouthing other audio websites. Are exact repeats of prior rants written 10s if not hundreds of times by the same individuals. This would indicate the author has memory impairment issues. Are boring to tears Are buzz kills Insults the reader as the author not only does not recognize his memory impairment issues, but assumes that others have the same issues. Collectively, these individuals are known as the "Seagull Squad"; because they leave their guano calling card wherever they go. |
@freediver - thanks for the post, refreshing! |
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Curiosity killed the cat. I clicked on this last night and I have been getting popups from a site claiming to be McAfee since this morning telling me my computer is infected. I just finished off doing a factory reset, and the popups have gone away and hopefully they will stay away. My bad--I should have known better. |
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Site rules and why political posts are removed. This is easy to understand folks. Stay on the audio subject per the established rules. Nothing to do with free speech. Everything to do with the rules of this audio forum only. We don’t own it. Very easy to understand the rule to stay on audio issues. Will a nice post stating “Happy New Year” or “Happy birthday USA” get you deleted? Of course not. But if you’re consistently posting political rhetoric, then you can bet you’re gonna get your post deleted and even worse if it continues. This seems rather easy to understand and reasonable. Why A Forum Discussion May Be Removed
“We discourage rude or condescending behavior, but at the same time, we encourage active cooperation and passionate disagreement about audio-related issues, which can sometimes be a fine line.” |
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My prediction thread will be deleted was incorrect! Disappointing to read the now deleted posts and know WHO think/believe as the do. Oh well...reminder they're just mere humans too. Back to watching Tour De France. Suffering beyond belief. Looks like a rear tire gave way causing the 2 rider sprint oopsie-all for 1 point. Good think that wasn't a full pack sprint! Talk about a ridiculous expensive hobby-by the time I finish parting together my rig, I could have picked up a pair of REALLY nice pair of speakers or amp in the $10-20K range.
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My post was removed by a moderator, but it did not break any of the rules. Here are the rules: Prohibited content
If @thecarpathian can grouse about springsteen, which is a poorly informed opinion, I should certainly be allowed to disparage "America's Hitler", as he was called by J.D. Vance. |