Must a civil discussion forum NECESSARILY evolve to include mostly liberals?

[Sebelius for VP, not Hillary]

Another way of asking this is: are right-wingers much more fond of using insults than left-wingers?

This is something I am very curious about and ask because I sometimes get the impression that it is mostly right-wingers getting into trouble. Maybe it's my own left-leaning politics that causes me to think this way, maybe not.

Some of the recent people to get into trouble did include a few liberals and several conservatives:

Listener (a German, and thus automatically a liberal)
Nmagination (a liberal)

YoungBrownConservative
Sgt. Bilko (conservative)
nullified (conservative)


I have seen various liberals (Coyote Says, Sherri and those two other liberal guys who came over here from another board) leave in a huff. I still get the impression that perhaps the most vocal conservative posters are also the most personally insulting ones, and thus when they are banned, you are left with a liberal board. I dunno, I am just sort of wondering if the nature of the forum rules (civility) or perhaps even the application of the forum rules discriminates against conservatives.

Thanks


WEB

[Salah ud Deen]

I think Conservatives tend to be a little more aggressive where Liberals tend to be a little more passive. I don't think its a rule but thats what I seem to have noticed. Just look at when the Republicans had power they were right in your face and the Democrats would say "we are against this, but we'll vote for it anyway." Now the Republicans are a little more pacified but still can get it going when pushed.

[choclosteve]

Well, as another mostly liberal, I have the opinion that we are rational and conservatives are not, and that a lot of them are very angry and ignorant. Listen to Rush or Savage Nation. Hate, hate and name calling. No attempt at understanding. Very anti intellectual. Of course that is why I am a liberal- we have more facts and good will towards our fellow women and men.

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

Originally Posted by choclosteve

Well, as another mostly liberal, I have the opinion that we are rational and conservatives are not, and that a lot of them are very angry and ignorant. Listen to Rush or Savage Nation. Hate, hate and name calling. No attempt at understanding. Very anti intellectual. Of course that is why I am a liberal- we have more facts and good will towards our fellow women and men.

I agree. Having been on a primarily conservative forum, I've seen this time and again. If confronted with an issue, the overwhelming majority choose to throw ad hominem and strawmen rather than discuss the facts. One thing I found particularly humorous is that more often than not, they completely ignored a topic until they received their 'talking points' and canned insults via Rush, Hannity and the like. They apparently were unable to simply provide an adequate argument for their views. Now I know there are excellent conservative debaters; but they do seem to be few and far between.

Something that right-wing media (Rush, et al) does is repeatedly take the most absurd, whacked out and extreme examples from the left and present them as the norm.

[Brother Oz]

There are bad posters on both sides of the American political spectrum. Of course, over here where we have 3 (Conservative, Liberal, and Socialist) it is of course evident to all that we Socialists are the most polite.

[top gun]

I think a lot has to do with how the topic progresses. Either side can start off fairly level and as posts go back and forth things sometimes escalate. It's my personal opinion that there should be a somewhat wide berth to let people express theirselves even if things get "a little" heated. Sometimes that's how you can tell someones really passionate and also sometimes e-mail communication seems harsher than what it really is meant to be.

If there is more heat coming from the right it's probably because they just like to emulate their favorite radio or TV righty.

I say don't draw the line so tight that people can't get things off their chests. The administrator has been pretty good about only coming down hard when things really start to spiral out of control.

[Seer]

Yes this is an interesting thought…

I’ve noticed a slight decline in discussions the past few days; or at least heated discussions (after they were kicked off). Though I wouldn’t go so far to say that all conservatives are irrational or uncivil… just the ones that listen to conservative talking heads… and religious fundamentalists, which is most of them, that I’ve seen. I don’t like to claim that ideologies are uncivil (or anything else) because it only polarizes. But I would admit that the n00b conservatives lately on this forum have been immature (I know at least one of them was a freshman in high school [not as if freshman are unable to discuss on forums, they are just new to this kind of discussion sometimes]). I do admit however that I can be more civil in discussions than I am…

[rakkasan]

I think both sides sling them ....yes I being more conservative do say it more to the point........the left slings just as many rude comments that are more on the suttle condecending, implying lack of intelligence whenever they are cornered

or being i post mostly on a liberal board......when ever you counter them with the same in kind comments, they cry and run to a moderator or more often than not when showing their tendency to post liberal only sources, and condemning FOX news as a source, then go into spell check mode

In the end both sides get fired up , but IMO neither has the patent on lowbrow rudeness

[vladward8]

:O !$#@&^%!!!XXX ......

[FRYandBENDER]

I'm hesitant to even get into this discussion, but I think that both sides are capable of being uncivil. Neither is worse than the other. Just look at Huffington Post. I've read stuff on that site, written by liberals, that I couldn't believe anyone would say. There were people cheering about Tony Snow having cancer again. At the same time you also have intolerant conservatives. I also don't think that you can say that either one is more or less rational than the other.