Just take note of who is pushing to make it personal.
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I assure you that most of posters here are not demonizing you, as some other posters already did, especially after @lostinasia’s post.
This is an issue which has been talked a lot between regular posters on this forum, and your post just triggered another round of discussion.
anyway, welcome to the forum.
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I haven’t seen anyone on this forum advocate for violence.
Anyone can cherry-pick extremist violence (left or right). But using that for justification to shut down free-speech isn’t a valid argument. Extremism is the problem, not free speech and open debate.
As for masks, I haven’t seen anything but rational debates about their effectiveness.
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I don’t really consider you one of the rightward leaning mods. I’m saying, in general, that moderatorship here leans rightward on the political spectrum, and that in combination with a more authoritarian approach to moderating the forum at large would not be ideal.
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Good stuff.
Bears smell.
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I understand that. But in IP, USP, the only mod is @Mick with some @tempogain as he is an admin.
The rest of us don’t touch it. Not @ranlee, not @Rockefeller etc… not @urodacus
Gotta problem with Taiwan Politics and Food and Drink? That’s me. I participate in other forums but nothing more.
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But your judgement of whether something is “harmful” may well be completely subjective (not necessarily, but probably). Also, something “harmful” in one aspect can be a Good Thing in some other aspect.
I also think you overestimate the influence on society that a Taiwan-based forum of expats actually has.
There’s a whole bunch of stuff that I think is objectively wrong. Sometimes I argue with it for amusement value, or because I think people are giving out foolish advice that will harm other members (the calorie-counting thread was a case in point). But I’m under no illusions that I can influence (say) American politics from my keyboard.
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Maybe the OP can just start a Rowlandesque thread in which he just has a conversation with himself?
It certainly IS unfortunate that the growing polemics and political polarisation that is very evident in daily discourse in USA has infected this forum as well, but it’s not just us, and it is pretty much inevitable, given that Merkins make up a large fraction of expats in Taiwan, and by extension, on this forum as well.
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I thought the number of Merkins in Taiwan had gone down. Guess I was wr-wr-wrong…
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I love my Merkin
Didn’t we have a poll about nationality once? I can’t find it. I’m pretty sure Americans weren’t dominant, as it were.
Do we need a new poll?
15 years ago
2 years ago
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America wins! USA! USA! Gonna go start a politics thread!
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Yeah let’s do one. Of course the Trumpeters will claim it was rigged 
There were only 34 respondents to that last one. Weak positive.
And Kiwiland isn’t even on it. 
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@Hanna There’s a reason I stay out of the politics boards. And why I heavily enforce the no politics policy on A&E— you’d have to justify your reasons for bringing it up in relation to the arts if you do, and the discussion must be in service of the art. Otherwise a discussion becomes politically dominant/driven, and gets rehomed to the politics forum for continuation.
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In the second poll, America might not mean USA.
Tell that to Bruce Springsteen.
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