new thread
Hopefully you all can excuse me while I step up on my soapbox for a moment:
It has been my understanding that the purpose of this board is discussion and support of guys growing their hair. Can we please leave the political commentary at home where it belongs instead of mixing it into posts? I, for one, was always taught that politics was one of those subjects best left alone among strangers, and while many of the board users may share similar views, they are not universal. Just to quote a few examples:
1) Whether President Bush lied about Iraq and/or deserves to be impeached for the whole Iraq situation.
2) Whether invading Iraq/overthrowing Hussein was a good idea or not.
3) Whether marijuana should be legalized.
No matter what your viewpoints on the above subjects, none of them have the slightest thing to do with long hair.
Ok, enough of that. If anyone cares to discuss/dispute any of this off the board, feel free to drop me a line. My email is linked above.
Jim
Someone once said, "There's two things you don't discuss on a message board: politics and religion." Because both will just lead into neverending debates that sidetrack threads and have people just arguing nonstop with each other. "I'm right." "No, I'm right." They become like schoolkids arguing over who the better Ninja Turtle is.
It would be nice to visit the board for the purpose of reading about long hair care and tips instead of reading about how "evil" Republicans are or how "bad" religion is. The board is about growing long hair, and that's what the topics should be about.
I agree completely. Religious debates do not belong here either.
I agree, except that sometimes politics and religion (which is really just a branch of politics) delve into regulating hair length. In those cases, taking on political or religious views is appropriate here. When other groups pick a fight with us, we have a right to defend ourselves, and no better place exists to marshal that defense than here.
Bill
I couldn't agree more. Political/religious doings that involve hair length are completely "on-topic", and this would be a most appropriate place to discuss how to deal with them. All I'm looking for is to get away from the "off-topic" comments.
Jim
I 100% agree. Your three quotes are perfect examples of being way off topic. (Especially the one about marijuana....even longhairs themselves try to fit the stereotype of society...sad.)
The LHC has so many other topics other than long hair, it lost it's focus years ago. Especially their political section. Members just get upset at each other, which defeats what the purpose of the site should be.
This site in general has kept to the single topic over the years. I sure hope it stays inclusive of all the various types of men with long hair.
Hmm, A hippie rightwinger. You sure don't see that very often.
A few comments:
My experience across the internet message boards, email lists etc. has been that when people complain about off topic controversial things, their real problem is that they disagree with what's been posted. If this is not the case here I apologize. If not, then why not simply write what you really think, that for example, you don't agree with what's been posted and don't like seeing it, instead of using the "off-topic" club to generally silence people? I don't have a problem with anyone not liking a post and saying so, but I have a problem with not being given the straight dope. Of course if the board has some official policy about sticking to hair topics that's different. the "off-topic" thing cuts both ways. What if you're a huge Bears fan and someone posts a report from the Superbowl? Are you going to be ready to shut them up? These things generally have a way of spinning out of control and becoming oppressive. On the other hand, controversial topics usually flare up and fizzle out eventually and everyone gets on with their lives.
I haven't read every single thing here lately but I have not seen anything political in awhile. maybe 2, 3 or more weeks ago I posted some rant about post 9-11 militarism of society driving conformity and short hair. well, that may be kooky, but it's what I think and I'd rather be told I'm a kook than be shut down. One other thing--I think one of the fundamental problems in American society these days is that people *are not* talking about all these issues with each other. they are all retiring to their "anger communities" where they can tune in to the media of their choice, hate the other side, and receive no exposure to any counter opinions. Instead of not discussing this stuff, we actually aren't discussing it enough.
In any event, it's an interesting topic. thanks for your thoughts; no hard feelings and best regards...
Very perceptive, Robert. It's all in the subtext.
Off topic posts are discussed here (see items 12 and 15):
okay Bill this is a reasonable policy. I think for some of us long hair is part of a lifestyle philosophy that seamlessly includes social-political views and it isn't always easy to draw the line.
For me the problems concerning American policies are causing
me to pull my hair out! So in my views they are
somewhat on topic.
I will try to refrain from such posts though, but it grips me to
see someone start a post encouraging censorship. I feel that borders on communism.
I will try to refrain from such posts in the future, rule of thumb is if you don't want to hear it then don't bring it up.
If I have said political/religious stuff here or in the chatroom that may have offended people, I offer my apology. I guess things like politics and religion is things that each one of us may feel strongly about therefore when there are disagreements things tends to get out of control. However remember that the freedom to have these political and religious opinions is what makes America what they are, and I think it is un-American to simply silence anyone who has a political or religious opinion. This is what China is like by the way, you cannot talk about religion or politics because the govermnent will get you if you say something they dont like. So I think everyone should just you know, if you dont like how someone feels about something just ignore it, I mean he's still the same person as before... there comes a time where you just gotta love someone for who he is because if you pick something about someone then theres nothing to love about anyone.
Although I understand where you're coming from, I'll have to disagree with you. If all we talked about was just long hair, we'd quickly run out of things to talk about. Of course, we get a lot of the same questions all the time and often there are topics that loosly tie into long hair, but i dont see how it could hurt to have off topic posts as long as the discussion is done without getting out of hand.
a) There was never any link between SH and Al Qaeda, in fact the very idea is laughable to anyone who knew anything about either one;
b) There were no WMD, and this was verified by the UN.
The only doubt is whether he lied or was mistaken, or simply beleived what he wanted to. There never was any doubt in my mind from the very beginning that he was wrong about both these things.
Lieing to start a war is certainly more heinous than lieing about one's own sex life. The first can leave hundreds of thousands dead, whereas in the second scenario no-one actually dies.
Impeachment is not the beginning of the process, and is preceded by voting on articles of impeachment. The vote on the articles of impeachment was not carried in the case of bill Clinton, so to be pedantic about it, he was never impeached. AFAIK Andrew Johnson was the only president who was ever impeached, and even he was acquitted, and Tricky Dicky quit before anyone could start the process to avoid a certainty of becoming the second. Other cabinet members can also be impeached though, and I think maybe have been.
If you mean should articles of impeachment be voted on to begin the process, then as they were voted on for Bill Clinton they would have to be voted on for GWB, as he is accused of lies with far more serious consequences. That is, if congress operated like a court, but it doesn't, it's political.
If GWB were impeached, the outcome would rest on whether he lied or was misinformed, because there is ample hard evidence that he was wrong on both counts. I don't know which way it would go, but suspect it would end in an acquittal, as in the case of Andrew Johnson, which doesn't mean GWB didn't lie, only that it is difficult to prove (or indeed disprove)!
No
Yes
Not so. Many have long hair because they are hippies, which is associated with radical politics and smoking weed. OTOH, this is not actually a hippie board.
The point I am really making is that the best way to avoid poltitical discussion is not to start a political thread!
Alun
Yes, but once the subject comes up I have a hard time ignoring it, because I care about the people of the world and this shrub tyrant is jeopardizing all our lives. Ignoring this will not make it just disappear
government should not intervene should have been for statement #3