I was reading a thread I started a while back about trolls, and it brought up this thought I have been having.

So a little back story so you can understand my point of view.

Trying to keep this from becoming a political thread, but without mentioning the workplace politics, it wouldn’t make as much sense.

Everyone I work with, aside of ONE person, is a Democrat, Socialist, or Liberal. Most if these people are pretty good, and I made it clear that there are certain topics that are not workplace appropriate, politics being one of them. So for the most part, people keep this to themselves. But there is a fair bit of whining. Just the standard woe is me, feel sorry for me, look at me, attention needing, whiny pussies.

Sigforum is the place I come to, when I need to be around a bunch of normal men. Guys who are manly, with strong opinions, intelligence, and well, not a bunch of pussies.

I noticed recently I have spent a fair bit of time on the Toyota forum. I never hang out there much, as it’s pretty bland. I guess I have been over there more, because it is getting a little depressing here with all the melancholy.

Now I genuinely like everyone here. Seriously. Well, Fender Bender can fuck himself, but aside of him, I like everyone here. I’m not trying to take a shot at anyone, or hurt anyone’s feelings.

What the actual fuck is up with all the fear, doom, and gloom? It’s like the testosterone just went away in some of these threads. Like completely gone, replaced with a hefty does of estrogen, and fear. Everyone acting like the world will end with Alzheimer’s Joe at the wheel. Yeah, it sucks, and I don’t want that creepy old fucker and his dumbass sidekick as our leaders. It’s who we are stuck with.

We survived eight years of Obama. Eight fucking years of that piece of shit fucksock. We didn’t die. The country wasn’t taken over by the Chinese. We survived. We will survive four years of this. Maybe it’ll be four years of Joe, or Kamala, or maybe even Nancy. Many here (myself included) don’t remember Carter as President. But we survived four years of Jimmy the peanut. The point is, we will survive and we will get through this.

Stop with the damned doom and gloom.

Stop sitting in the corner in fear, shaking like a dog shitting peach pits.

Man the fuck up already.

Ok, I take offense at the hefty dose of estrogen comment.

Well said, Beans. Most of my conservative friends are pretty laid back. We all know what happened in November. There is nothing I can do about it but live with it. Yes, we will survive. Reminds me of this old song.

Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Well said Beans, well said.

Beancooker, please understand that my comments are, in no way, meant to piss in your bowl of Wheaties...or any other member's bowl...but, I'm going to take the opposite position on this issue.

There seems to be an assertion by some that I consider to be a straw man argument, that is, if someone posts about a political story, about a political hypothesis, or references various proposals by the incoming administration or departments/ agencies, that they have automatically caved in and cower in fear. To be fair, there are several members who have posted unsubstantiated rumors or concerns or even questions that may have been better suited to being posted in an existing thread, and it appears that they make bad decisions in their posts due to fear (or I suppose a rush to post, or perhaps just laziness). For those who do so, I think it is fair to politely urge them to calm the fuck down.

Having said that, there have been numerous posts in which a member who is concerned about an issue and wants to let others know about it so they can discuss it and perhaps take some coordinated action on it, only to have some members pipe in to accuse them of fear mongering and telling them to calm down.

Two sides to every coin, one side is the "chicken little sky is falling" fear mongering, the other side of the coin is "Hakuna Matata" nothing to see here, just ignore the nastiness by thinking happy thoughts while we stick our heads in the ground.

I believe that as reasoning adults there is middle ground. We can, or at least should be able to discuss unpleasant concerns about the country's leadership, proposals, bills, tactics, cultural deviations, departures from reality etc...without being dismissed as fear mongers or as ignorant ostriches with their heads firmly planted in the ground. I think of myself as a pragmatic realist, with hopefully a dose of optimism thrown in...and as a realist we should be able to discuss and deal with unpleasant concerns.

Here is a silly and imperfect analogy that I'll offer to illustrate what I mean:

Picture forum members on an an assembly line with a conveyor belt. On the belt are all manner of topics for discussion, including unpleasant or negative ones...lets call those shit sandwiches. When a shit sandwich comes down the pipe and a member who is concerned about the shit sandwich wants other members on the assembly line to know about it and perhaps help him deal with it he posts it. Those who are willing and able will discuss it, maybe even contribute to coming up with a plan to deal with the shit sandwich. Those members that don't want to or refuse to deal with the shit sandwich can simply press the button and advance the shit sandwich past their station and let someone else deal with it.

Personally speaking, I don't rely on the forum to bolster my beliefs or heal or set my emotional well being or mood...although, admittedly that does happen sometimes. I do sometimes come here for camaraderie, sometimes a little shared community, a little silliness and fun...but above all I come here to learn from those who know more than me, have different experiences than me, and who have information that I don't have...and hopefully I can contribute some small amount back by sharing what little I know.

I don't come here to piss in bowls of Wheaties, and harsh some delicate member's mellow, but neither do I come here to blow sunshine up someone's ass.

Again, speaking only for myself, I believe we should be able to come here and share many things, including our concerns, and when I share my concerns over say a proposed rule change or a piece of legislation, I do it with concern, but my posting about it in no way means that I've surrendered to fear. Just the opposite in fact, I'm posting it because I have not surrendered, have no plans to surrender , and will not surrender. I'm trying to fight whatever issue I'm concerned about, making it known to my fellow forum community members, and asking them to fight the issue with me.

We shouldn't have to endure being accused of fear mongering when we post about an issue that concerns us, and I'm sure as hell not turning in my "man card" just because some chowder head starts tossing out the fear monger label straw man argument.

Years ago, when I was flying, either myself or some of my fellow pilots would sometimes find ourselves in a real jam. When that happens you can't just pull over to the side of the road, pop the 4 way flashers, and pull out your phone, map, or Triple AAA membership. Pilots need to think their way through a problem, sometimes that calls for immediate action, sometimes not...but you generally can't think your way through a problem if you are panicked.

Those situations require being able to calm yourself down and think through whatever situation or emergency you are in...but that doesn't mean that you don't have any concerns or problems, only that you can talk about and coordinate them in a calm but urgent manner.

That's my one penny's worth on the matter and where I stand.

Well said, Beancooker.

The gloom and doom crowd only knows one speed. The “Stay Vigilant” crowd is the worst. They can’t stand for anyone to be happy.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
Well said, Beancooker.

The gloom and doom crowd only knows one speed. The “Stay Vigilant” crowd is the worst. They can’t stand for anyone to be happy.

+1

We literally go through this in one way or another every few years in the gun world. It's like nobody remembers the TEN YEARS WHERE YOU COULDN'T OWN HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINES.

I know it's bigger than guns, but c'mon folks, we're going to get through it.

Modern Day Savage,

What you’re talking about, I completely agree with for the most part. Where I said I come here to hang out with manly men, isn’t to “set my emotional well being”, it was meant in more of the way of camaraderie.

I have no problem with people bringing up issues with the incoming administration. I have read many of your posts on this forum, and they tend to be well thought out and very well worded. Those aren’t the posts I am talking about. It’s not a straw man fallacy, there are plenty of examples. In this sense I am not going to start quoting posts because as I stated, I like the people here. I don’t see the need to call out specific people and make them feel like shit. They’re already dealing with enough considering the posts they’re making.

I think you know the posts I am referencing though. Not well thought out, just people projecting the worst. These are posts I read and think “what a bummer to be so immersed in something you have no control over, to let it completely ruin your day, and send you on a downward spiral of being genuinely scared for your well-being.”

I’m not all Hakuna Matata and I don’t have my head in the clouds so far that I can’t see there are some shitty things on the horizon. One (albeit poor) example is that I love to go off roading. It’s pretty much what I live for. I can sit around and wring my hands and fret in the fact that gas prices are probably going to go up significantly. Land that I like to off road at, will potentially be closed off as sanctuaries of one kind or another, protecting something from the very few who venture out that far. Aside of an ulcer, I won’t gain much from that. I have more of a “well, let’s see where this is headed” attitude. I’ll support and donate to the groups that support my interests.
Posting that “Lobotomy Joe will close down the pipeline, and gas will be $5 a gallon. All the fun off road trails will be closed to protect the spotted, bald, barn, one-eyed flying foul, or the special microbial crust in the deserts. I may as well sell the off road parts to the Toyota, if I can even sell them, take the loss, sell the Tacoma, buy a Prius, find a new hobby, and count the days until I go meet my maker. Life is over.” Coming here and posting that type of commentary doesn’t do anything good for anyone.

Yes, I’m being melodramatic in my analogy about off roading, but it’s these types of posts I’m talking about here. Not the posts where people are having a well thought out discussion about the issues at hand.

I’ll finish this reply with my appreciation for not just what you said, but how you said it. Polite. Respectful. I’ll go as far as to say your reply was quite engaging. It provoked (in a good way) a response from me. One where I had to stop and think about what I am replying, and proofread it before I hit “post now”, not just a simple reply of a few words.

I’m only half a cup of coffee in, and the dog woke me up more than an hour early because he had to go outside. I hope this post makes sense.

It took four years of Jimmy Carter to get us Ronald Reagan.
We’ve had some pretty poor leaders but still prospered in the long run. Two years from now both houses can change and the courts are in much better shape than a few years ago.

Thanks for the collective kick in the pants.

In the Trump thread, theres an image of someone posting a pic of a a highball glass that says "Fuck Biden and FUCK YOU for voting for him."

I think thats something everyone should carry in their hearts when it comes to dealing with the new regime. Remember how the dims harassed Trump for four years, lied about him, impeached him twice, attempted a coup against him.

But be smart and be patient...if a man sits by a river long enough, the bodies of his enemies will float by.

Let the demonrats eat themself and show their true colors, which has already happened in spades and will continue.

I agree with you beancooker. Like you I come here to get away and hang out with a bunch of mostly like minded people. The past few months has been pretty dark. What’s even worse is that despite being told not to, people insist on injecting politics into threads that have nothing to do with politics. The thread about the Fire tablet by bigdeal immediately turned into a “fuck Amazon” discussion.

Since this is the "What's your deal" section...

I'm very tired of people saying, "I lost all my AR-15's and ammo in a tragic boating accident"

That was funny maybe the first time I heard it like 10 years ago.

These people are buried in a hole someplace and need to start becoming active and contributing to the cause.

If I want to get even more depressed , I can look out the window,
four days of sun out of 22 , so far.

then there is tv and the internet .

This would be a great place to bring any amount of positive, and hope.

I agree with the sentiment. My doom and gloom isn't over joe as much as it is how he got in office. I don't believe the election was anywhere near honest. So I can't take any relief in thinking we can vote our way out of this. If we got an honest media back in place then things would correct very quickly I believe. It's just my fear that the participation trophy crowd is coming of age and taking over. They won't think far enough ahead about the consequences of what they are doing today. And that is gumming up the works big time.

The only thing that is scaring me is people I never thought would are throwing in the towel. Don’t give up and be a slave. Fight!!! If we can’t overcome dumbass joe, we aren’t who I thought we were.

Time is being wasted. We quickly need to develop plans to secure a place and future where we have rights and freedoms to live a life of meaning for ourselves and our children.

Very frustrating time to be manly as so many 'actionable' moves to be truly manly can be surveilled and then you lose it all.

Far too many people on here and elsewhere are in denial and in the way.

I agree Beancooker. I just quit reading the Trump thread for all the reasons you just laid out. A while back Para said that our path will reveal itself. I believe that is true.

I’ve now cut out one friend of close to sixty years, he is so brainwashed I can’t stand to talk to him ny longer. Politics dominates every conversation with him.

Final straw was his telling me that if I knew what was good for me I would disavow any support for the Republicans. Once I heard that, it was over.

I have two other friends both of about fifty years. With both of them we can discuss, argue, whatever you want to call it, a couple “F you’s” back and forth, shake hands and walk away laughing.

The first one, I’m thinking about setting up a Go Fund Me page to send him to Venezuela, I know of a few that would probably ante up for that.

quote:

The first one, I’m thinking about setting up a Go Fund Me page to send him to Venezuela, I know of a few that would probably ante up for that.

^^^^^^^^
I like that! Made me chuckle.