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This might be a good topic for a separate thread, but after working in politics for 25 years, I suspect party alignment is a very strong part of the identity of a large number of partisans, and not just within the NDP. Why wouldn't it? It goes to personal values, friendships, shared experiences and common causes. It may not be obvious to people who don't like partisan politics, but for those who live and breathe it - it's almost as big as family, geography, and personal history. For some people, their party IS their family.
Don't dismiss the role of personal identity in a persons partisan choices. It's a huge issue.
Yes, I'm the one doing the attacking. :rolleyes
Whether one agrees or disagrees with any particular post of his, Unionist writes some of the best repartee worth reading on this board.
Where did I say you couldn't?
You can say just that - it's well within the rules. That's my whole point.
Edited to add: I don't think I've ever run to the moderators about personal attacks on me. I generally don't have time for it. I didn't start this thread - but as a frequent reader of babble, I have developed a few opinions on these issues, and I have as much right as anyone to express them. Sorry Unionist if you don't like them - but I'm not going to be browbeaten into keeping my opinions quiet.
How did this thread, all of a sudden, become all about Unionist?
Here is an example of how it works. You see the claim is it is just questioning the NDP, when in reality it is a personal attack on Lou Arab
Yes it is a personal attack on you when you finally get called on your bullshit (rolleyes here)
It's apparently only a personal attack if I feel attacked. I'm still waiting to hear back from Brad Lavigne before I make that call.
*ahem*
as a relatively new babbler who got into a bit of dicey territory early on i poked my head into this thread hoping to find some insight into how personal attacks, appropriate comments are viewed and judged here on Babble.
It hasn't helped.
I have just emailed the following to the moderators:
Unionist, I am and I do.
"The thing is, you see what you want to see, and you hear what you want to hear." — Rock Man, The Point
Edited to add: this board is not being very friendly to me today, and my posts are taking forever to process - or not processing at all. FWIW, I agree with your message to the moderators, and your decision to post it in public.
Honestly Unionist, how many times a day do you complain to the moderators?
If that's about me, it's flat out wrong. I don't want to ban severly critical anti-NDP posts. I'm just pointing out that the 'no personal attacks' rule is impossible to enforce, or at least impossible to enforce evenly. I've made that point several times already.
So who wants to vote that the whole "some babblers" way of dealing with things around here does more harm than good?
Who's talking about "some babblers"? (At least recently?) This looks like a pile-on against Unionist to me, and I quite agree with him that that's unfair.
It is also flat out wrong about me. But of course that never matters. The comments made in this thread are not personal attacks at all, they are examples of a kind of behaviour nothing more. Except post 68 which was clearly meant as a personal attackt, but I will bet will be overlooked when the moderators show up.
I don't want to stop criticism of the NDP, far from it, what I want to see stop is the uneven way attacks are dealt with. Because as I have said the stuff that gets a pass aren't really attacks on the NDP, they are written in such a way as too seem like they might be when it is clear in context they are directed at specific babblers
Okay I just read the thread and am closing it.
I'm truly at a loss as to how to moderate the few meta themes that are here, mainly: how will criticism of the NDP continue on babble without it being construed by NDP party members, NDP supporters, and general fans of the NDP (and to reiterate I'm at least one of three of those), how does "fairness" factor into this, and the notion of what a personal attack is or isn't.
Sorry, no answers right now. I simply can't be brilliant every day, and this moment in time isn't one of them.