It's not the politics I object to; I would welcome a board where politics was actively discussed, and CE would be the logical place to do it. What I find intolerable is the turning of every issue into a political discussion, the tendency of some posters to scrutinize every phrase for political content so they can jump on it and demolish the thread of whatever else was being talked about. And when that fails, there is the post that opens out of the blue as a deliberate challenge to half the people on the board when it purportedly is just a comment on a particular incident or event or idea. There is insult, demeaning insinuations, character assasination, accusations of (politically) immoral behavior, putting words in other peoples mouths, ridicule, derision, and every two-bit rhetorical trick in the catalog: painting with a broad brush, straw men, framing, cherry picking, the little snark slid in the most unexpected and inappropriate places, and the inability to say anything at all about anything unless it conceals a plug for their program.

And what for, to play some adolescent game of one-upmanship? To humiliate others, to take advantage of good people's natural reluctance to engage in conflict for no reason other than the strutting of egos? These people don't come here to learn, or even to persuade. They come here to engage in behavior with strangers they would not dare attempt face to face across a table with flesh and blood men. They don't just want to showcase their ideas, they want to monopolize the conversation so only their ideas are up for discussion. These people are bullies and snobs, and they would probably act the same way if it wasn't politics, but an argument on art, philosophy or religion. They simply have to get their way, and their way means someone skulks off hurt or overwhelmed. It's the rhetoric of Olbermann and Limbaugh, and they remind me of that officious little creep Draco Malfoy and his posse of toadies.

Well, they can go play on Flame all they want, and if anyone else feels the need to play with them, they can follow them there. And of course, they are free to vent their flatulence on the other boards, too, there's no way we can or should stop them, but we CAN refuse to play their game and feed their appetites. And if we do it as a group, we can do it without the guilt of feeling that we're letting the other posters down by refusing to stand against them. Perhaps after a few weeks of talking to themselves and getting in the last word every time they might just realize how shrill their whining sounds to everyone else.

I know they will be baffled by these remarks, "Who could he possibly be talking about, I don't do any of that...?" they will sincerely ask themselves. If we turn down the volume they might finally found out, and how they sound to others. They might also learn how to hold a real discussion where everyone benefits and everyone learns and everyone feels better, even if no one wins.