Well, having said that I never comment on political threads I have now been drawn into doing so a few times, and at length.
In fairness to
@eastern boy the OP, as much as I don't think he expected the pushback he got, he didn't disappear, engaged to a degree, and explained his position. I hope, in turn, to have explained the counter arguments as I see them. Most importantly, I hope I have helped him to at least contemplate that, whilst if you were a racist you would undoubtably support STB, Robinson, etc, legitimate concerns about immigration, social cohesion, protecting western values, exponential population growth and so on, even if they include support for STB or Robinson, doesn't identify you as a racist. Moreover, you can recognise the distinction even if you don't share those concerns. He does seem to have at least acknowledged the point, even if he remains unconvinced.
I have to say, I have found conversing with Maddog less fruitful. I have received some excellent, witty responses to points I hadn't made, but few direct or meaningful responses to those I had.
That, for me, sums up why I don't post about politics but felt I had to this time: I can accept when I disagree with someone else's views. In fact, I can see the strength in many left or right leaning arguments. What I have an issue with is when a person arrives at a position, and promotes it, without any awareness they might be wrong, or that the matter isn't simple. When they then mischaracterise anyone who see's things differently, they are a red flag. Doing it my name, as a Palace supporter, is too far.
Beyond that, when a (different) person cant or won't engage with reasonable criticism, substituting points they can't address for ones they want to then, for me, they are the biggest risk of all. Partly because they are so ill-suited to the public discourse they are engaged in, and partly because of the irritated and dismissive responses they promote in me.
That, I know of course, is on some level what they want, either because they are trolling to some degree, or because they are so much more comfortable operating at that lower level of discourse. It's hard not to get drawn down to that type of squabbling. I've certainly had to re-draft a few parts of my responses to try and avoid it.
It is important to avoid squabbling, though. I rarely see any mileage in left vs right, its mostly about reason and self-awareness vs ignorance and self-regard. Whatever your political views, if you get sucked into a bun flight then you're probably just adding to the problem, however provoked you feel.
That's probably enough from me on this. Thanks for the more considered and interesting posts. I will now return to complaining about Palace's lack of creativity in the final third....