And I noticed at some point you stopped trying to build elaborate sand castles at the edge of the beach only to watch them washed away in a sea of unceasing demagoguery washing across these boards. I actually made an internal 'attaboy TB' and was happy for you.

Ayn Rand had it right. While they need your approval for your own self-immolation, just even engaging is its own sort of approval. It validates their world views to have a strawman to fight. When you left and the board became a complete liberal circle jerk, one could see no one was really happy at all.

Bowser still railed against America, even after two terms of "hope and change" from the man who deposed the monster GWB.

ER seemed to go off tilting at climate change windmills. The corporate boogeymen are out to destroy mankind! Back in the day he would be treated like Cydonauts or Barry D - a full anomalist. He's just as driven and fanatic as Johannes is about nuclear caused global warming.

At some point everyone has their epiphany on the Zone - what the hell am I doing here? Why should I spend time on a post that a handful will read? In the old days at least one knew a dozen, maybe even two dozen might read a post, but the site move, logging in and all the rest ended that

Robert loathed/loathes the conservative Zoners. That became patently obvious and I think subconsciously the Zone has become exactly wheat he wanted it to be - a dirt poor man's Daily Kos where people could come to reinforce and affirm their liberal worldview.

Intolerance in liberal thought is now self-evident all over the web. It's refreshing to see their brutal honesty. The modern liberal is racist, intolerant, seeks to destroy all those they view as threats, wishes death on others and feels no need for civility at all. Time spent on Tumblr, FB or some other such site can give one a quick education in modern liberalism.

The Zoner liberals are relics. They still write in complete sentences. They feel a need to actually try to justify their beliefs with reason. But give them enough time and they will fully embrace the "die oppressive CIS,white racist scum!" mentality of the liberal millennials.

It can make one bitter, seeing what the world has become. But getting back to Ayn Rand, sometime one just has to create one's own Galt's Gulch and not engage with those who seek to use you - even if just as a convenient boogeyman to keep them from having to live with their own unchallenged beliefs for awhile.

Reading that entire thread was a trip down memory lane. The pile-ons on remaining conservatives as folks left for the Gulch became sadder and sadder to witness. Haha!

Well, anyways I'm glad you and the family are doing well. Yes, the economy sucks still. And damn! College education now is insanely expensive. But more outrageous are some of the things you are paying to be taught. I still agree with Ken Robinson on how schools are now destroying creativity:

https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity?language=en

But I'm just rambling now.

Take care Tom!