Moderator(s)

Such a slippery line.

This is a site about buying things. Buying things involves economics. Economics brings in policies about economics. That's politics. 

The idea that "politics is bad" is, I think, a bit crude. It's how discussion is carried on. Civil discussion about political issues and differences is, well, the basic idea of a democracy. Celebrating the disappearance of (civil) talk about politics is an anti-democratic sentiment.

@hilde45  Respectfully rebuke that premise.  Time and place is all I ask.  It would truly be odd for a cooking show to suddenly break out into the political perspective of the Crusades.  The Dunning-Kruger Effect seems proven daily here by antics of some, not confined to audio gear.

Spent 25 years working nationwide in ER settings which carry lots of dysfunctional baggage.  I’ve no need for more of that in an advocation driven forum.  Thank you.  Ciao

@hilde45 + 1

Discussing how, for example, tariffs affect the prices of the audio gear that many of us buy is hardly a cooking show breaking out in a political perspective of the crusades. Just about every facet of life is affected by some kind of politics, like it or not. Sometimes it is worth discussing. 

@celtic66 

Mostly, we come in peace, in search of enlightenment, exposure to a bit of wit, not an inquisition.  

Beautifully expressed.

@hilde45 

Civil discussion about political issues and differences is, well, the basic idea of a democracy.

Respectfully submitted, I unfortunately don’t ever remember reading a civil discussion involving politics on Audiogon in the 20+ years I have been a member.  Do you?  

It’s one thing to discuss government but it’s another to discuss politics. Of course the two subjects intersect but they’re still two different things. However, there are some people who are simply obsessed with politics and see everything through a political lens. With them, it’s impossible to discuss tariffs - or virtually anything else - without veering into politics. They really can’t help themselves. 

Politics is about putting ideas into action, how can that not affect virtually every activity humans undertake. If those political actions  directly or indirectly affect the audio endeavor they rightly belong here. Seems there's a growing sentiment in favor of censorship in this country/world, disagreements, sometimes vehement disagreement is a sign of a healthy democracy. Civility is the key, the mindless personal attacks should be censored, at least in this forum, far too much of that today.

sns

Politics is about putting ideas into action, how can that not affect virtually every activity humans undertake.

That's an interesting definition. I'm not sure it's commonly accepted.

If those political actions  directly or indirectly affect the audio endeavor they rightly belong here.

Of course you're entitled to your opinion. Mine is that politics don't belong here. It never ends well. There are plenty of other places to debate politics.

As I mentioned, some people see everything through the lens of politics. They can't see it any other way.

All of us, product of life experiences.  Taking the Citadel tour in Quebec City, the guide explained that three subjects have always been off limits to active soldiers; politics, religion and girlfriends/boyfriends.  Because of the divisive nature.

12 years living in Seattle, WA showed how destructive rabid politics is.  No civility.

In Europe, most of the lower echelon football teams are politically sponsored by parties.  The sponsoring party is listed on billboards at the bottom.  Lived in Innsbruck, I believe the team was sponsored by the SPÖ.  Where does it end?  There's more to life than endlessly Sisyphusly pushing the rock.

Now back to my apolitical audio system and apolitical music.  Tchau

there's a reason the ruling class likes it when the rest of us avoid talking politics. I've also found the "I'm not into politics" usually really means "my position is indefensible."

Not sure what prompted the thread but have a couple observations: I come here for discussion of audio/music reproduction related matters and not to engage in commentary over the hot button issues of the day. There are places for that-- where if you suddenly posted about turntables or tubes for amps, it would be out of place. 

I can see where a serious discussion of music history would involve the context of what was happening in the world at the time- how culture influences music (or in some cases, the other way around).

But, for me, this board is not the place to voice views about the state of the world and the policies and people behind them. Sure, I could see that the tariff issue could lead to that kind of discussion, but it could also be addressed with facts about the cost of bringing in a piece of gear from a particular country without getting into a discussion of the wisdom or persons behind or opposed to such things. That would be pretty slippery, though. 

Beyond that, I helped out a specialty board years ago and the moderation was a thankless task. Often, it resulted in banning members on a temporary or permanent basis--given the provocative nature of the posts. 

Putting ideas into action is called policy, policy informed by ideas/ideology. 

Gvt. policies likely impact audio endeavor more than it would appear on first glance. The problem with most discussions involving gvt policy is people reflexively retreat to their ideological corners, arguments ensue, so much nuance lost. There are far more than two sides to vast majority of issues facing us. Win win game theory gets us somewhere, zero sum games predominate today.