Over the course of the past few months I have initiated a number of threads about Politics.
In some cases I just sailed off the paper airplane and watched what happened.
In other instances I have provided interlinear encouragement to keep the thread active.
Th Debil made me do it.
During the same compass of time I have started threads that were solely about WoodDorking.
While the Political threads bloomed and branched, in sum total creating over a thousand responses - the WoodDorking threads yielded less than a hundred.
We pretend, us Wreckers, to despise the intercession of the Politic - yet we jump all over it like a starving dog on a meatwagon.
We lie to ourselves.
From November of 1994 until three months ago, I said nary a word about Politics on the Wreck.
On the odd instance that I referred to it at all, it was with disapprobation.
Still, we stewed in the discussions from time to time and all of us were culpable.
Do I think that the Wreck should be "Politics Free"? Of course not. That would be unnatural - and I have always found the Wreck to be the most natural realm of public discourse - given that its main intent is that of WoodDorking.
I have heard the Wreck described as a neigborhood tavern, mostly frequented by WoodDorkers.
I have seen it described as a simulacrum of a country store, with a fine pot-bellied stove, around which we all gather to spin our tales and trade information - mostly about WoodDorking.
Most of us had Mommas that educated us to the degree that we would not introduce The Big Three into conversations with either strangers or friends - Sex, Religion, and Politics. Lordy, were we not paying attention?
Y'all do what you want - my personal experiment with talking Politics on the Wreck is over.
You have my personal pledge that I will not initiate, nor will I respond to any thread that has to do with Politics.
However, it would be nice, if the next time that someone starts a thread about Design, or Joinery, or Finishing - that the Group, as a whole, showed it the same level of involvement that has heretofore been resrved for Politics, or Religion, or Sex.
MHO
YMMV
Regards, Tom.
"People funny. Life a funny thing." Sonny Liston
Thomas J.Watson - Cabinetmaker (ret.) tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)