I am naive. I thought there were limits... places folks wouldn't go.

[Fairgo]

87. Losing the true base

Thank you for this thoughtful post. It reflects my position on issues and concern with the discourse. I recently joined to begin exercising my place in a community that I have been observing for years. I am decidedly left of left, but have always believed that the political soul of democracy, writ large and small, is in respectful but hard fisted debate. The inevitable cliquing has led to some colorful skirmishes of late, and the tiresome, predictable spiral of every thread into the black hole of STFU. But that's tolerable, part of the scenery. What is troubling is the ahistorical, postmodern, personal constructions of truth based on nothing more than a momentary need to be right...at least in one's own mind. It loses the connection to that fundamental democratic epistemology, based in values. If being right is the only value, might is the final response. We must have a safe place to spar with each other, made safe by a shared platform, and an allegiance to critical thinking, logic, and debate.