What's the best discussion board for talking to righties and others?

[yurbud]

Is there anything comparable to DU and Freerepublic that is open to all but somewhat filtered for abuse, spam, etc?

I do yahoo boards a bit, but that's spotty at best.

[Shrek]

1. Here's a new one trying to bring in more liberals

It has forums for all sides and others that are closed to the "other side."

http://www.neutralunderground.com

[yurbud]

4. I'm registering for that one, but it wants your NU name

[FruityNuts]

26. NU

I'm there and I like it. I use the same handle everywhere.

[rpgamerd00d]

29. I'm over at NU, its fairly decent once you put the neocons on ignore.

:)

Seriously, though, there are some decent centrist and even very conservative posters there.

[musical_soul]

32. I like that one.

Most of the discussions on there are civil and the few who aren't too civil can be placed on ignore.

I particularly like their best and worst of the right forum. That could be a nice place for some payback. :D

[City67]

34. normally I just read here

but I went and looked at that place. Its ummm very "different". Im not quite sure what to make of it yet. :shrug:

[radio4progressives]

2. There seems to be a plethora of righties on this board judging by

discussions on a plethora of issues... those 'damned "illegal immigrants' threads is a good place to find them..

[yurbud]

7. yeah, but the mere act of seeking out those they disagree with makes them

a cut above the average righty who thinks they will become a gay communist terrorist if they even read an idea they disagree with.

[Lib Grrrrl]

9. You Can't Judge People Based On Just One Issue

We liberals are even fairly divided on the immigration thing. Personally, me...I happen to be against it. Yet I'm still a liberal.

My reason for being against it is quite simple, really...fear. No more, no less. Simply FEAR.

Fear of what, you ask?

Well, when a limited number of jobs are available...and there are more people around to fill them...the wage one can demand drops. couple that with the fact that the immigrants are willing to accept less than Americans will, and you have a formula in place for "race to the bottom" on wages.

Maybe you think I suck for having this attitude. If you do, then I'll bet that YOU have a nice, stable, secure, steady, good-paying job already. I do not. I am unemployed, and have been for nearly a year. I am scared shitless.

Is it so rotten to want to look after your own self-interest first? Is it so rotten to not want others to do well AT YOUR EXPENSE?

Hey, I want everyone to do well...just not at my expense, okay?

that said, I'm against any kind of additional immigration. We have too many people here already. There is too much competition for jobs already. I see no benefit, whatsoever, to opening the floodgates and allowing even more of them in. I do, however, see great potential harm to the unemployed American desperately seeking work.

Now, does that make ME a right-wing nutjob, just because I don't want to be hurt so that others do well? Does it make me a right-wing nutjob to be against something that I believe will hurt me, economically?

See, you just can't judge people as being right-wing or left-wing based solely on one issue. As I pointed out, even we liberals are strongly divided on this particular issue.

Something I seem to notice a lot around here is people who point fingers at anyone who does not completely agree with them on a given issue, and start assuming that, because Mr. X does no share your view on an issue, that Mr. X must be a slimy right wing jerk. This is not true. But I find a lot of it and it bothers me.

For what it is worth, I feel bad for the immigrants...but that does not mean I want to see more of them here, driving down the wages I can demand...and competing with me for the few jobs that are available.

Now, am I a horrible, slimy right-wing jerk, just because I am afraid? Try being unemployed nearly a year, and see if YOU aren't scared.

[yurbud]

12. that's not fear, that's economics--we need to say what both parties won't

interests of business and the working joe conflict. Business like cheap labor which they can get with a certain level of unemployment and/or an influx of illegals.

If there is effectively no serious penalty for hiring illegals, they will increasingly go that route.

[Lib Grrrrl]

16. We Agree On This Point

but the fact remains, I am still scared. Very scared. I am scared shitless that I will NEVER get another job again, as long as I live...unless, of course, I accept sub-standard wages.

[Bridget Burke]

28. How can you live at all with no job?

Most of us would accept sub-standard wages if we had no other alternative.

[yurbud]

18. that's why we need a two pronged approach--protect jobs here and

raise wages and living standards elsewhere.

[City67]

35. I couldnt agree more n/t

[silverojo]

33. Amen to that!

I, too, am a liberal who's against illegal immigration for many reasons. For instance, in border states, there are diseases cropping up which we in America have considered eradicated for some time--tuberculosis, even leprosy--solely because people are coming here illegally and bringing those illnesses with them.

No, I'm not racist. Hell, where I grew up, I learned some Spanish from the kids I played with, and we teased one kid of Mexican descent because he was a native English speaker and his Spanish was awful.

But, see, their families came here legally and assimilated themselves into our culture. Nobody EXPECTED kids like me to learn Spanish--we did so because it was fun to learn something new. But now, illegals come over here and want US to learn THEIR language, want US to pay for their welfare/food stamps/medical care, and so on.

It's all very well and good to pretend these people aren't taking jobs away from Americans. It's real easy to be generous with other people's jobs, as long as you have one. But for every illegal who comes here, there's someone like Lib Grrrrl who suffers as a result.

[Armstead]

3. There are boards that are open to liberals but...

...It's hard to discuss on them, because it usually devolves into mutual name calling and gang-ups.

Some of them do have peopel that are actually interested in debate, but you have to sift through a lot of talk-show rhetoric from otehrs.

[Buck Laser]

5. Try Liberal Forum

I've been posting at Liberal Forum for a while, and there's a strong conservative contingent there, but more give-and-take dialogue than I've seen on most other forums. There are a few conservatives there who are actually brilliant, the expected number of utter fools, and some who make pretty good posts occasionally.

[lostexpectation]

6. where's a US wide one for anarchists?

seriously :) or for people who can imagine more then two or three or four big parties??

[yurbud]

8. people here believe there should be more than two parties

Despite what some shills say here, I think "Democraticunderground" is small D democratic, not the intellectual property of the Democratic Party.

[lostexpectation]

10. then

why im constantly reading about greens helping the repubs into office? imho the majority view here is the greens etc somehow aren't worthy of existence

[yurbud]

11. there's a range of opinion here--that's more the Chamber of Commerce,

DLC line.

They just want to bitch about it though. The rest of us would like to change the system to third parties aren't spoiler pariahs.

I like other countries where they have to put together ruling coalitions.

It would be hard to get past the either/or at the presidential level without having instant run-off voting.

[lostexpectation]

14. anyway

yeah so are there any nationwide busy forums for anarchists are active people not interested in party politics

[yurbud]

15. let me know if you find it. Got a good short summary of anarchism?

[lostexpectation]

20. a very short one

D.I.Y.
Do It Yourself

[Lib Grrrrl]

17. Because

a lot of us see the Greens as being a stick in our spokes.

They siphon off voters that would otherwise vote for the Democrat...and as a result, the Republican wins...because he doesn't have someone coming at him from his right flank.

Greens come at Democrats from their left flank, and siphon away some votes that might help the Democrat win.

Fact is, like it or not, only candidates of the two major parties are ever going to win in any national election...especially the Presidency. and it will be that way for a long time to come. No third party is going to win the Presidency. All a third party can do is muddy the waters, be a stick in the spokes, and siphon away voters.

The Republicans didn't much appreciate Ross Perot. He was a stick in their spokes in much the same way Ralph Nader was to us.

Seriously, all you guys who voted for Nader, you didn;t REALLY think he stood any chance of winning, did you?

So why'd ya vote for him, instead of Gore? If ya'll had voted for Gore, we wouldn't have this Dim Son in office now.

Now, if you REALLY want the Greens to get somewhere, you need to start locally...get some Greens elected to local offices, move up to trying to get a couple in congress, etc. It will be a slow process, but the only way that your party would stand any real chance in a national election. right now, the only thing the Greens can do, nationally, is screw over the Democrats.

[lostexpectation]

19. tsk

greens may screw the democrats you suck the populist democrats willies:)

[Lib Grrrrl]

21. ?????

that's your response?

[radio4progressives]

23. "Fact is, Like it or Not"

freaking condescending.

The Fact is, Like it Or Not...

The only reason why Greeens could possibly "syphon" off votes from the Dems, like it or not, is because the Dems are perceived as having said EFF YOU, we don't need you, and we don't want anything to do with you!..

The Fact is Like it or Not, that's straight up in your face ABUSE and DISENFRANCHISMENT.

Like it not, the fact is more and more are saying EFF YOU BACK ... and are DIVORCING themselves from the Right Wing Democratic Party Apparatus.

"as long as we have a two party system" (read phony) the progressives have no other place to go so they had better just accept that..

That shit doesn't fly anymore in case you haven't noticed. and as long this fucked anti-democratic system is "supported" and is allowed to continue - the more "Third Party" spoilers" will be a Fact of Presidential Election Life.

[radio4progressives]

24. A-Infos is one of the best site to link up

http://www.ainfos.ca/

[radio4progressives]

25. A-Infos Radio Project

http://www.radio4all.net/

[displacedtexan]

13. Have you joined freeperville? Rearrange the letters in your name...

... to make burydu (Bury DU), and have some freeper fun at freerepublic.com.

I wonder how long it would take to get banned over there? I hear there's
a real banning frenzy going on right now.

Anyway, good luck with your search for other discussion boards.

[Minnesota Libra]

27. I can fully understand why there would be a "banning frenzy" over at......

....FR, the average conservative must be getting more than their fill of "lying idiot boy" and "leaky shoot them in the face" Cheney. I think I'd be shooting myself if I was a die hard conservative these days.

[E-Z-B]

22. Here's a brand new one trying to get started:

http://www.democracyforums.com/

The owner is a Repub, along with some of the mods. But there's some Dem mods as well. The owner is trying to keep it fair.

[Left Coast Lynn]

30. LiberalUnderground.org

Been there a few times. Usually rational.

[sendero]

31. If you find one that works..

.... let me know. I've tried several and in my experience, it is impossible.

The two sides cannot even agree on the basic facts, let alone any interpretation or conclusion based on them.

It's a waste of time.