Most people who post on political threads do so because they are frustrated by the status quo. In other words, they start off being angry about something and, therefore, challenges to their positions are often taken personally. It is very hard to separate intellectual opinion from personal belief, and it is way too easy to assume that people with different opinions lack honesty, credibility and/or sincerity.
This will sound obvious to many, but IMO, our political threads are lacking in 1) civility, and 2) hope. There are way too many false assumptions, snide remarks and needless “button pushing” for my tastes. But more importantly, where is the discussion of positive, constructive political steps that can actually be taken to improve our lives? Mom always used to tell me not to complain about something until I had thought through a way to make it better. We seem to have a good number of folks here who see quite clearly that things are wrong, but far too few are offering any hope for the future.
Without hope, without realistic goals and a plan for achieving them, this is all just jaw jacking. And if that’s all it is, then there’s no sense in getting upset by it.
