Quote:
Originally posted by skywalker:
Saz, a bit of what Cheetah says is quite true. Dio was one of us. You must understand that it just is not quite the same. Dio inspired many of us to take a closer look at the issues and see all the different shades of the grey rainbow that is Political Discussion. We do have reason to miss his POV and we do have the right to say so. No disrespect meant Saz. You ARE also one of the best!
Disagreement is what makes that forum tick. I think dat clock is broke! 
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I fully appreciate everything you have said, Mark. However, my point was that surely there are others among you who can do what Dio did as well. Do not all of you have the ability to examine subtle nuances or points?
Disagreement and the examination of that which leads to the disagreement does make a debate forum tick, I agree. It's only when disagreement becomes a personal attack that it goes wrong, and that it what did occur there. I think there was a lot of overreaction (heck, my leaving was probably an overreaction as well), but at the time, I knew of nothing else I could do; nothing else I had done was working. At least, that was my opinion.
Personally, I feel I have nothing that could offer that forum. I am a political moderate, feeling passionately neither about one side nor the other, nor am I a great debater or argumenter. I do not function well in such an environment. Others do, and I feel it is a travesty for them to stay away from something just because someone else is no longer there. Heck, if I felt that way about GD, I'd have been long gone before with all the people we've seen come and go here.
But a forum is more than one person. It's a group of people who are willing to come together and share things, be that information, ideas, opinions, jokes...it doesn't really matter. Hopefully that can be done with mutual tolerance and respect for others. When that tolerance and respect is jettisoned, then things like what happened in the WoT forum occur.
Give it time. We have a great capacity for healing as well.
Cheers,
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Patience, my BUTT...I'm going to KILL something!!!