Why waste hours/days/weeks of your life arguing with people on the internet about issues that will be little impacted by your discussions?

Let's hear it!

6/5/2008 7:06:56 PM

you know what, you're right...

I should be putting my nose to that grindstone so I can get that paper...

fuck intellectual stimulation

I don't need this shit or you people

peaze, i'm out

6/5/2008 7:10:44 PM

i don't

6/5/2008 7:25:34 PM

Because it's there!

^ PS: You just did.

[Edited on June 5, 2008 at 7:28 PM. Reason : .]

6/5/2008 7:26:40 PM

I really don't know tbqh

6/5/2008 7:33:11 PM

^my thoughts. one of these days i might stop caring why liberals even care to have a society when all they want is control over others or more money. no decency at all these days.

i hope that day won't come

6/5/2008 7:38:52 PM

blarg

THE LIBERALS ARE COMING TO GET YOU!

6/5/2008 7:39:52 PM

Hey Rat, some people just weren't raised right and thus they will never understand.

6/5/2008 7:44:08 PM

^^damn son, i thought i was pretty crazy in here. you're on a completely different echelon

6/5/2008 7:47:31 PM

no decency at all these days

i remember when we all wore hats with buckles and the ladies wore ankle-length skirts. i had an onion on my belt, which was the fashion at the time, and this colored fellow, geronimo, he taught us about raising corn and that's really what this country was founded on: raising corn and waging holy war against islam

6/5/2008 7:48:14 PM

Because I crave the intellectual stimulation lacking in the work-from-home environment. Despite my best efforts, neither the Cat, the Dachshund, nor the German Shepherd are interested in discussing current events, politics etc.

It's not about changing any body's mind... not to me anyway. But I very much do enjoy the rare occasion where someone brings something new to my attention (information, point of view, argument, author)

6/5/2008 8:03:17 PM

because i'm a big fan of surrealist comedy

6/5/2008 8:11:08 PM

cause im an effete latte sipping limousine liberal, and i love to get smacked around by all you manly conservatives.

6/5/2008 8:20:59 PM

My primary reason is it eases my feelings of being out of control - The political process spirals in directions I cannot control. I'm too small. It's frustrating. VERY frustrating. Tee Dub allows me to vent my rage. If I can't argue with the candidates (because what i think is so important ), arguing with their supporters seems to be an emotionally soothing proxy.

But, also, it is actually fun to talk with people about this stuff and to have something to contribute in such a discussion (blogging would not be fun). It's so fucking rare to find anyone that gives a fuck about shit....FUCK!

[Edited on June 5, 2008 at 9:11 PM. Reason : ``]

6/5/2008 9:08:49 PM

I gotta go with Socks. Hell, I like seeing the discussion, seeing evidence, and hearing both sides. You nutty conservatives have made fine points several times. Were I not a tree-hugging, Prius-driving, Starbucks-sipping, John-Lennon-minus-the-fun-Beatles-listening, card-carrying pinko, I think we could all be fine friends.

6/5/2008 9:26:55 PM

because mommy and daddy didn't raise me right

6/5/2008 9:46:24 PM

Boredom. Sheer and utter boredom.

6/5/2008 10:46:30 PM

Because it's orders of magnitude easier for me to bitch about the things that I perceive as unjust (whether they really are or whether I'm just arguing from emotion), than it is to go about doing something about them.

6/6/2008 5:47:39 AM

1) Something to do when I'm bored. It hones my critical thinking skills much more than plodding around through Digg or playing video games.

2) Confirms the fact that I'm right and all those who disagree with me are wrong.

6/6/2008 6:48:41 AM

6/6/2008 7:25:50 AM

i like hearing other people's opinions on things, and i'll admit it is fun to rile some of you people up once in a while.

i also feel like when i know something about a subject it is good to throw in what i know.

6/6/2008 8:22:59 AM

Civil discourse, regardless of the topic, is the heart of what America stands for. I post in the soap box because I believe that if just one person thinks twice about any position that I have held, then I have upheld my contractual obligation as an intellectual and a citizen under the constitution of the United States of America.

6/6/2008 8:37:17 AM

Like Socks``, it provides a forum to vent. It also provides a place to exercise some political analysis skills by building arguments and watching attacks from outside your own viewpoint.

That, and it's fun to hunt trolls.

6/6/2008 10:10:53 AM

since noone IRL wants to hear what i have to say, the captive audience here gets to read my vagrant thoughts...

6/6/2008 10:15:21 AM

Quote :

"It also provides a place to exercise some political analysis skills by building arguments and watching attacks from outside your own viewpoint."

That's true. As pathetic as this place is, it's 100x'smore rigorous than the average political conversation. It helps me to pwn irl if I ever need to.

6/6/2008 10:15:55 AM

Quote :

"That, and it's fun to hunt trolls."

if you want to catch a troll, you've gotta think like a troll.

Quote :

"It helps me to pwn irl if I ever need to"

unfortunately that can backfire. I "facepalmed" my dad via email the other day, in response to one of his tangential lock-step evangelical republican rants... he didn't "get it"




[Edited on June 6, 2008 at 10:40 AM. Reason : ]

6/6/2008 10:38:22 AM

The paragraph long arguments always get me. I mean no one on a message board reads anything longer than a few sentences so why write a fucking essay no one is going to read.

6/6/2008 3:52:30 PM

i read long explanations sometimes, especially from people who's opinions I haven't thrown completely out the door

obviously i just scan anything posted by people like hooksaw

[Edited on June 6, 2008 at 3:55 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2008 3:54:59 PM

^^^ we all know your a closet republican schmoe. just lift the curtains for a day and show your true american loving colors.

cmon, just let down the iran loving terrorist sympathizing personality for a few hours

[Edited on June 6, 2008 at 3:56 PM. Reason : .]

6/6/2008 3:56:19 PM

I went to a very liberal high school, where me and about a dozen other conservatives were locked in a state of constant state of immature, pointless debate with unending hordes of lefties.

Then when I got to State, it was like quitting cold-turkey. I went through withdrawal. I got the shakes, and I would wake up in the middle of the night screaming, "Move back to Europe you terrorist-loving freedom-hating hippie!"

It was pretty rough.

But then I stumbled across the soap box, which I now use as an enabler for my crippling addiction, which at this point has so much control over my life I don't even know which end of the political spectrum I'm yelling at any more.

[Edited on June 6, 2008 at 5:00 PM. Reason : That's actually pretty much accurate]

6/6/2008 5:00:11 PM

two words

hard nipples

6/6/2008 6:03:08 PM

thats so weird, dude. i was like totally stroking my man-nipples while reading this thread.... and THEN YOU SAID IT!!!!!!1




[Edited on June 6, 2008 at 6:40 PM. Reason : ]

6/6/2008 6:39:28 PM

My honest answer would vary by year. Some are borrowed, some are original:

2001
- To meet people (IRL) with whom I could argue seriously, and learn from
- To sharpen my writing and debating skills
- To argue with Bush by proxy, Biblical Literalists, and other fundamentalists

2002-2004
- People were WRONG on the Internet about the Iraq War
- I had practically nothing to do at work.

2005
- hiatus

2006
- Boredom. Sheer and utter boredom.

2007 - Present
- because i'm a big fan of surrealist comedy
- "Now this is for my own amusement."

[Edited on June 8, 2008 at 5:00 PM. Reason : ... ELLIPSIS ...]

6/8/2008 4:49:24 PM

NOW I am above it all!

6/8/2008 4:58:49 PM

LOUD NOISES

[Edited on June 8, 2008 at 5:05 PM. Reason : i see]

6/8/2008 5:01:59 PM

I MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL!

6/8/2008 5:02:45 PM

OMG, I CARE IF OTHER PEOPLE THINK I CARE!

6/8/2008 5:03:20 PM

Quote :

"Were I not a tree-hugging, Prius-driving, Starbucks-sipping, John-Lennon-minus-the-fun-Beatles-listening, card-carrying pinko"

a fine rant sir, well done.

we should all be friends

6/8/2008 5:07:45 PM

Quote :

"LOUD NOISES [Edited on June 8, 2008 at 5:05 PM. Reason : i see]"

lol

"Now this is for my own amusement." my ass

6/8/2008 5:09:46 PM

I assure you that your ass does not amuse me.

6/8/2008 5:36:58 PM

I JUST HAVE TO RESPOND!

6/8/2008 5:37:54 PM

The reason I post in the Soap Box is to witness the insanity of conservative hacks and liberal hacks as they b*tch incessantly to one another. And I pray that one day they'll all just grab their guns and start killing each other, it's not like any members of the sane part of the population will miss them.

6/8/2008 6:32:21 PM

ALSO: TO USE CAPS AND DERAIL THREADS!

6/8/2008 6:35:42 PM

Boredom.

I like showing others that there are people out there who hate liberals and conservatives.

6/8/2008 8:45:13 PM

PLEASE SUSPEND ME FOR LIKE 5 DAYS!

6/9/2008 10:21:06 AM

just to make fun of Rat
and to read what kind of nonsense Rat is rambling about
its pretty entertaining how someone could actually think that way

6/9/2008 11:34:45 AM

6/9/2008 11:44:05 AM

I used to respond to anything that warranted discussion but alas there is so much stupid in TSB now that I try to limit myself to only getting involved in environment related threads. However, I abstain from getting dragged into debates pertaining only to CO2 and its effects.

6/13/2008 8:43:33 AM

Occasionally someone says something worthwhile, but it requires wading through so much stupid (trolls, people arguing with them, others trying to pwn someone) it's hardly worth it anymore.

6/13/2008 9:14:45 AM

I come here to ensure that if I decide to stop being a productive member of society one day...say I start doing drugs, spoonge unemployment and stop paying taxes, there will still be plenty of people/idealistic college kids to call on who will support my habits and my laziness no matter my excuse or situation, who will in fact sympathize with me and call on the government to raise taxes on successful people to support me.

Its nice to know that I have that out should I choose to use it. TSB is comforting.

6/13/2008 9:59:23 AM