Hi!
Sorry I'm late.
As a reminder, please feel free to email me when you see a thread that's getting out of hand.
This is my busy season with work, and I'm away from the board for longer periods than usual. My apologies.
This is the first time I've seen this thread. One of the posters has deleted several of his messages, so I have no idea what was in them. And it's a long thread, so I've kinda skimmed through it.
This thread has been made all the more interesting by some language barrier hurdles.
A little story.
Let's say that I invite several friends over to my house for a relaxing evening of listening to music, eating good food, etc. While these are all people that know me, they don't all know each other. Now let's say that I happen to know that these people hold widely varying and quite passionate political and religious beliefs. But I also know they all love music, good food, etc. and they are all really nice people. Well since these are people I like, and since I want them to enjoy the evening and each other's company, my plan is to not start talking about stem cell research.
I am a very political person. Many of you have already figured that out. I am actively involved on a daily basis. I sign petitions and letters to my Representatives in Congress, the President, the Interior Department, the Forest Service, government officials in China and India, the United Nations, etc.; I call my Representative's office often and I visit his local office often with my political group; I write letters to the editor; I help organize and attend meetings, rallies, vigils, etc. I spend lots of time every day reading about the issues, educating myself, separating facts from opinions, etc. And of course I would really love it if all of you would suddenly passionately embrace all the positions that I passionately embrace.
If this forum were a political blog, I would have a lot to say.
But it's not.
Getting back to the little story I started. No matter what my position on stem cell research, some of my friends are just not going to want to come back to my house for another such evening if they know that I'm going to bring up stem cell research again. That's not what they wanted to come to my house for. They came because they thought that the evening was going to be about music, good food, etc.
When I get together with my bandmates to do a gig, I don't discuss politics because I know that it's a subject that my guitar player isn't interested in. Our thing is music, and we communicate on that level. It's a wonderful experience. That's why I love playing music with him.
This forum is also a wonderful experience, when we are all sharing, when we are treating each other like friends.
This forum is not a political blog.
I frequent political blogs, daily. Recently one of the blogs I frequent, and of which I count myself as a member, was verbally attacked on air by a cable tv show host. He called our group names that were very hurtful. I suppose he is as passionate about his politics as I am about mine. But the thing about being passionate about politics is that some people tend to say very hurtful things about other human beings.
This forum is not a political blog. There are a lot of people who come here as to a friend's home. There are people that come here to be among friends and to enjoy each other's company. We do not come here to have people say things about us, either directly or indirectly, that are hurtful. We get enough of that elsewhere in the world.
There are thousands and thousands of political blogs. If you really want people to know your opinions about politics, start posting in political blogs. If you want the people in this forum to know your opinions about politics, put a link in your profile to some other site where they can read your views.
Each of us can only be where we are right now. Each of us holds opinions that have been shaped by our own unique personal histories. You guys are my friends. Many of us have been talking with each other on a regular basis now for years. We are all different; each of us unique. But here, we can treat each other with respect, with compassion, with friendship. There are members here from all over the world; but through a common interest, we have built a community of friendship that transcends the boundaries of political and religious divisions.
So, it is my view, in my role as moderator, and given where I happen to be at this point in time on my path through life, and given what experiences I have to draw from, that in this forum it is generally a good idea to refrain from discussions about politics and religion.
And, it is my view that it is never really helpful to say hurtful and negative things to other club members. We have no idea where others are in life. We don't know what suffering they are experiencing in their work lives, their family matters, their economic situations, their health situations. When club members come to this forum, what they do not need is to have fellow club members add to all the other negative stuff in life that they are having to deal with. This place should be a place of refuge. I come here expecting to see friends; my guess is that others come here for that reason as well.
When the overall feel of a forum starts to change in a way that no longer feels comfortable, some people will leave. This place should be a welcoming place. After all, we're musicians and music lovers and we have an appreciation for high quality craftsmanship. That's what brought us all here to begin with.
In my role as moderator I try to help in ways that I think will be most beneficial to the health of our club, our community, to all of us, the members, and to our hosts, the Wickershams. I believe that the modest guidelines that I suggest here are true to that cause.
Thanks,
David
