Moderator(s)

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.