Debate on Political Forums

@ National Polemic Cultural Forums

Burning Giraffe:
Just a thought/question - but how do you all feel about the role of political forums in fostering quality discussions between people of differing political philosophies? Especially with people from other countries? Is the dialogue helpful? Is it informative?

Aubawok:In my limited experience political discussions on US forums that attract foreign input quickly break down into name calling and hostility. Briefly, reasonable members will point out that terms like liberal and conservative mean quite different things in other parts of the globe but then the discussion breaks down into how superior/inferior the US is. GWB is then painted as some kind of oil-snorting war junkie, the thread becomes locked, and members on both sides get banned. It rarely is pretty no matter how you feel about the issues.