Political issues

Olsen

Olsen

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From Rover:
"Now now, only a few weeks to go before 1/2 of us are disappointed again.

In the mean time, no, we really will not have political threads, sorry, there are lots of places to do that other than our forum.

Oh, and check the facts.

http://www.factcheck.org/

There is lots of blame to go around for everyone, and unfortunately not too much truth being told by either side..."

That RFF shall be all cleaned of any political discussions reminds me of Sovjet Union, or China were people are (were) not free to discuss whatever they want(ed). Discussing political issues does not mean that we are flaming each other (if so, that's another thing).

Quite on the contrary; I regard RFF as a very civilized place with, for the most part polite and knowledgable participants. It is (was) interesting to exchange views with them.

It is RFF we frequent and it is photography we have in common. But we share also a common economical/political destiny. There are not many other places were people from both sides of the Atlantic discuss political issues (without being intrusively monitored). Strangely enough. Which is disturbing. Because we live in a time were it could be of common interest to be 'equally informed' and to discuss across the Atlantic.


On several domestic photo sites over here 30% of the discussions these days are political/economical - because we live in changing times that effect our lives and how to cope with our hobby; photography. But these are not frequented by any Americans... Pitty.

I find the RRF's attitude to political discussions intruding and disturbing. Are someone telling you to cut out any political discussions? If so, who?

Further; If I were you, I would be careful with declaring 'what's the truth' on the Credit Crunch before history is written. If you have an opion on 'what is the truth', let's hear it.
 
Politics, at both the national and the local level, can determine what, where, and when we are allowed to take photographs. I've read too many stories of photgraphers being forbidden to photograph buildings, bridges, etc. They look at you like a terrorist if you photograph demonstrations. We've all heard or read the stories. I've had my problems with the secret service several times on assignments, even when I was hired by and accompanying my local congressman at events where a presidential candidate was speaking, and that was years before 9-11.The paranoia has grown since the 1970's.
 
So you are basically against freedom of speech on this website ?

It is like being part of a football team and not be allowed to talk about politics or women. 90% of the chat will be football but the rest can be any topic.

As I said before, if people do not like these threads, just don't read them. I don't understand the need for many to intervene when they do not like a discussion.
 
Yanidel, this is a serious question, although off topic. Back in the 1960's I wore my hair like yours for several years. Now that I'm retired I've started to grow the unruley mop of curls again, lucky that I still have all my hair at 65. Do you get much crap from people about your hair? Thanks.
 
Olsen said:
From Rover:
(1) "Now now, only a few weeks to go before 1/2 of us are disappointed again."

(2) I regard RFF as a very civilized place with, for the most part polite and knowledgable participants. It is (was) interesting to exchange views with them.

(3) It is RFF we frequent and it is photography we have in common. But we share also a common economical/political destiny. There are not many other places were people from both sides of the Atlantic discuss political issues (without being intrusively monitored). Strangely enough. Which is disturbing. Because we live in a time were it could be of common interest to be 'equally informed' and to discuss across the Atlantic.

(4) On several domestic photo sites over here 30% of the discussions these days are political/economical . . .
Click to expand...

(Shortened and numbered for ease of reply)

1 Only half? More like 90%, surely. Elections are rarely won by the best candidate; more often, they are lost by the worst, leaving the other as the only choice.

2, 3 I completely agree. What makes politics on this forum so interesting is that people are NOT defining themselves by their politics; political discussions are incidental to a discussion of photography AND there is a broad spectrum of political opinion. On political sites, it's mostly either preaching to the converted or flame wars.

4 Interesting. What problem does anyone see with a similar proportion here?

Cheers,

Roger
 
I agree with Joe. I read political blogs, news sites, etc. Plenty of discussion there to join in. Really I come here to talk about cameras and photography for the love of it and to get away from the crap of the world. I do not want to know the political leanings of the folks here. The freedom of speech issue is bull. On the other hand someone said I can just hit delete or just not open that thread. So whatever....
 
Pitxu said:
No Olsen. Discussing politics on a camera/photo forum is "intruding".
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People only want to keep bringing up politics (in non political venues) to point fingers and place blame. As that old banal saying goes, point one finger at someone and three more point back at yourself.

So blame yourself. Yes It's intruding.
 
The more I think about this, the more important I think Olsen's point is. If you want to know about a country, you don't go to Party Headquarters (whatever the Party may be): you talk to the man on the street, to see how widely the Party Line is being swallowed. Substitute 'man on the forum' for 'man in the street' and you can learn an immense amount, even if it's 'Good Lord, people really do believe some of that stuff.'

Why do so many people have such an antipathy to politics? As others have said, politics is the very definition of how we live with one another. If we don't explore that, maybe we won't get on at all.

Cheers,

Roger
 
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Thardy said:
People only want to keep bringing up politics (in non political venues) to point fingers and place blame.
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I second that thought. When I was young we spent our summer vacation at a campsite on the French atlantic coast, where a quiet atmosphere was really valued: one of the rules posted at the front office said it was forbidden to discuss religion and politics. 😀
 
Al Kaplan said:
Yanidel, this is a serious question, although off topic. Back in the 1960's I wore my hair like yours for several years. Now that I'm retired I've started to grow the unruley mop of curls again, lucky that I still have all my hair at 65. Do you get much crap from people about your hair? Thanks.
Click to expand...
eh eh eh, you might have hair but you need glasses ... 😉 My avatar picture was the one of a 60's party with a wig. Completely fake ! The real one is much shorter and starting to disappear in some spots ...😀
 
Definition of forum :
a. The public square or marketplace of an ancient Roman city that was the assembly place for judicial activity and public business.
b. A public meeting place for open discussion.
c. A medium of open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper or a radio or television program.
 
The last time couple of times I read through one of these 'politics' threads (which I think got locked or somesuch) I saw a rather sad, ugly side to a few posters who I had previously respected for their camera/photo related wisdom.

Not sure what that means, perhaps it is something to the effect

"this is a RF forum where we talk about something for which we are all amateurs. This form of communication via the forum is crude and mis-understandings happen often. When discussion moves onto 'real' things, things get more heated and are perhaps better reserved for the pub with mates, where you're not left wondering whether a particular sentence should or should not have had some smiley or another appended to it."
 
back alley said:
olsen, we stay away from politics because we are a rangefinder photography site and because there are many other sites where politics are discussed.

it's very simple really.

joe
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Thanks Joe, you said it better than I could. I would add that these topics get very nasty, kind of like campaign commercials. Some of us come here to get away from all that nonsense...

And I'd modify rover's statement that 1/2 of us will end up disappointed. I'd up that to 2/3, Since usaully 1/3 votes for party "A", 1/3 votes for paty "B", and 1/3 just doesn't vote, so 1/3 will be disapointed not matter who wins...😉
 
endustry said:
It's also the former name of the arena that houses the Los Angeles Lakers. Should we start up a thread on basketball while we're at it?
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Why not? No-one is obliged to contribute to it. I certainly ignore all the other sports threads that pop up from time to time on this forum (and which some of us find vastly more offensive than politics). Odd how few complaints there are about those...

Cheers,

Roger
 
endustry said:
It's also the former name of the arena that houses the Los Angeles Lakers. Should we start up a thread on basketball while we're at it?
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Like this one :
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59416&highlight=celtics
😉
Seriously, look at the threads : people talk about happy birthday, where is Ruben, basketball, etc .... but anytime you mention economics or politics all the members that are not interested invade the thread in a moralizing wording. I don't go on the Celtics thread saying that this is a photography only forum. I enjoy that people talk about other interests they might have. As Olsen said, I feel the level of discussion on this forum is pretty good, but when it comes politics/economics, people become suddenly .... about it.
 
endustry said:
Okay, let's create a politics forum but keep posts made to it from appearing in the main "latest posts" index on the front page so that it does not intrude or take over the staple of this forum which is and always should be discussion of rangefinder cameras.

If users wish to participate in this forum, they can click on the link to it on the list of forums or bookmark it. There. RFF will have a politics forum and those of us who don't want to log into RFF to see the front page spattered with political discussions can very easily pretend that they are not there. Problem solved.
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that is a constructive suggestion!
 
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