I know Tibs is a bleeding heart liberal
That's an insult!
His thoughts also cause me to shake my head
Now that really hurt my feelings, the nerve!
Jk, Steelerfan81, I appreciate your efforts.
Things seem to have been reaching an all time high of intensity here.
Truth be told there is nothing going on recently that's more or less intense than in the past. This board gets heated, simple as that. When opinions clash - like molecules - it causes friction. I too get caught up in the heat of the discussion and toe the line quite often. I like to think I dish out as much as I receive, or something like that.
I recently got a PM from a political adversary on the board that gave me hope that we can agree to disagree and show some mutual respect around here. I thanked him for his thoughts and concurred. I told him I was sure all this would go down much smoother over beers, as opposed to being nameless, faceless posters on a message board. I tend to think I'd get along with a whole lot of you in person, even though we're on different ends of the political spectrum. My older brother is a staunch conservative and we've got along great through thick and thin. Same with some conservative friends of mine.
For anyone keeping score, these are the things that get under my skin and since they're repeated over over, I tend to view them as personal attacks:
1. The notion that I'm any less American than anyone here since I live and work abroad.
2. The notion that I'm in a 'safe space behind a wall' in Hungary, mouthing off about immigrants and refugees. A quick tally of where I've been the past six months: London, Vienna, Sardinia, Florence, Prague, Bratislava, Berlin, Split (Croatia). I travel regularly, hopefully back stateside, sooner than later. Also, there is no wall on the border here, it's a chain link fence.
3. That I'm a Soros-paid instigator that trolls this board for some dubious reason. Utter bullshit. I've been a Steelers fan since the mid 70's and have been on this board, and it's predecessor SteelerWatch since the very beginning.
4. That I 'ran from the board and hid under my bed' after Trump got elected. No, I took a very purposeful 100-day sabbatical from the board during Trump's honeymoon to allow the Trumpsters some room to operate and to have air to breathe to celebrate your victory. Once the honeymoon was over, I came back and picked up exactly where I left off.
5. That I'm a bleeding heart liberal. Well, I guess I am but I'm also attracted to certain conservative values, ideas and viewpoints.
6. That I support in any way, or am an apologist for Muslim extremist terrorism. Quite the opposite. I simply do not agree with pigeonholing
all Muslims as terrorists.
7. That I blindly support the Democratic party. Not true, I consider myself an independent progressive. Out of the two parties, yes, the Democratic platform is closer to my views than the GOP's. But both parties are pretty much crap nowadays.
8. That I wallow in the shallow pool of liberal mainstream media and get my information from singular sources. I've posted on several occasions the wide spectrum of my political news sources, and go out of my way to research and cross-reference information.
9. That I'm somehow a 'socialist' or a 'communist.' This is the most insulting, as I lost several family members who were murdered by the Soviet regime, including my grandfather. My father and uncle fought Soviets on the streets of Budapest in the 50's before fleeing for their lives to the States, where they were welcomed with open arms. I am firmly against all types of totalitarian regimes, be it fascism or communism.
10. That I'm an 'out of touch' liberal who believes in hand-outs, big government and living off the state. I've been a business owner and manager for over twenty years. Built two separate companies in two different fields from the ground up. In time, both business employed over 120+ people, with multiple locations, strong sales and profits. Thus I'm a job creator and a businessman. Every penny I've earned through hard work, determination and perseverance. I know that should make me a conservative Republican, but I've never wavered from my progressive views in politics.
I think that basically covers it, lol. At the end of the day we're all Steelers fans and I appreciate this board, and the members of this board, even the one's that come at me 24/7. Cheers, Tibs
