Has anybody else been pretty shocked by how polarized many of the forums have gotten lately? 'Back in the good ole' days,' people would occasionally have differing view points and get into little spats, but on the whole we were all on the same page and working toward the same common goal (patient and nurse well-being).
These days it feels like at least 1/3 of the trending forums eventually devolve into tirades and personal attacks. Even when the discussions start out fairly civil, they sour pretty quickly.
I realize that highly-polarized, highly-sensationalized news is the nature of our political system these days. I'm also guessing that the polarization is felt more deeply on AN because the two most prominent, polarizing topics right now (covid and 'black lives' protests) are both interrelated with public health. Usually AN members are at least somewhat united on the aims and goals for public health, even if they don't agree with the means. Now, there's just so much bickering.
It's really disheartening. AN is usually my escape from the outside world, where I can commiserate with other nurses on topics that only we understand. Lately, it feels like the lighthearted, feel-good nature of AN has been poisoned by all of this hatred. I hope we get back to the way things were sooner rather than later. ?
Its almost when people have a gaslighting/strawman narrative, you will have a faction of people willing to disagree (many will go along with the agenda in fear of social repercussions). Crushing and silencing others opinions as a means of oppression bodes foul for the country as a whole. Calling the jackboots in in order to mask the weakness in an argument is also poor form.
I think for the most part people agree that police reform is a needed in lieu of police brutality but seeing how you react at the slightest form of dissidence is concerning to say the least.
As I said before in other thread we are teetering towards 1984 or the 5th century Roman Empire at this point. Do you want to know how that story ended?
Oh my dear, we’ve been living in a crumbling empire for quite some time. Hard disagree on who the baddies are though. Maybe look a bit more critically at the colonial structure at play.
Also, police reform has not worked. Minneapolis, as I mentioned before, was the poster child for progressive police reforms. And yet they did nothing to prevent a cop with a long record of misconduct from kneeling on a man’s neck for over 8 minutes while he begged for his life. The police are heavily militarized with budgets to go along with being an army: we know that heavy police presence doesn’t reduce crime and we know that community investment like improving schools, increasing educational opportunities and reducing poverty DO. Let’s stop trying to reform a profession that has resisted it kicking and screaming, and start routing their budgets in to programs that improve people’s lives.
It sure has. It's now full of bleeding heart liberals and sjw's.
As other posters have pointed out, AN has always been political. It’s just that fifteen years ago it was wall-to-wall ditto-heads and Ayn Rand wannabes. One’s assessment depends largely on whose ox is being gored.
There’s been some good conversation here up until the last couple of pages. Thank you.
So if you looked at the main thread (MNA nurse respond), I posted a litany of peer reviewed sources supporting my argument. The issue is when you have low-info posters who repeatedly state, "ciTE yOUr sOUrCE" without bothering to read two posts before, is when you realize the thread is devoid of intelligent discussion. So yeah, I am going to call out the glaringly obvious issues with discourse on here. People seem to have a problem with information when it doesn't align with what the media, their emotions and social circle. Data can be uncomfortable.
I am honestly perplexed that an evidenced based profession can't be bothered to actually make a coherent argument without appealing to emotion or drumming up another host of logical fallacies as a defense.
So stating that I am arguing just to argue is sidestepping the actual issue. I posted sources with the proper commentary. Is that not argument? Or maybe that's just not the approved party line argument?
Ah, but a few things.
We are not in that thread. I did not see your sources until you mentioned them. You have cited nothing here.
Now that I read through that thread, a point: your data is misleading. There is currently no accurate data base to quantify who is killed by the police each year, although attempts are indeed being made. This has been pointed out several times in the thread you mentioned and in other threads you have participated in; thus, it appears that you are the one having issues with the data not fitting perceived worldviews. Here are a few examples, quite evidence based, however you didn’t read them in its entirety the first time I posted them in a different thread. Perhaps you will now.
We are not in that thread. I did not see your sources until you mentioned them. You have cited nothing here.
Now that I read through that thread, a point: your data is misleading. There is currently no accurate data base to quantify who is killed by the police each year, although attempts are indeed being made. This has been pointed out several times in the thread you mentioned and in other threads you have participated in; thus, it appears that you are the one having issues with the data not fitting perceived worldviews. Here are a few examples, quite evidence based, however you didn’t read them in its entirety the first time I posted them in a different thread. Perhaps you will now.
This thread was doing just fine until the usual distractors came with unnecessary drama and conflict. Ruins just about every thread they post in with the same nonsense. Why? Is civil discourse disallowed or taboo on AN? I've never seen people be so miserable to the point of going out their way to ruin every thread they post online. Why even log on if you're that miserable? Go talk to someone about those unhealthy behaviors. ?
This thread was doing just fine until the usual distractors came with unnecessary drama and conflict. Ruins just about every thread they post in with the same nonsense. Why? Is civil discourse disallowed or taboo on AN? I've never seen people be so miserable to the point of going out their way to ruin every thread they post online. Why even log on if you're that miserable? Go talk to someone about those unhealthy behaviors. ?
It seems to be a fairly predictable form of silencing that gets trotted out when a discussion starts getting too dangerous. It’s practically impossible to write anything thoughtful or nuanced in the middle of a snark fest. About the only remedy that works is the liberal use of the ignore feature.
Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
9 hours ago, ThePrincessBride said:
Don't be so obtuse. When people mention all lives matter in response to BLM, it is to diminish and dismiss the disproportional rate of violence black people face when it comes to the cops.
Also, the fact you bring religion into this discussion to justify your complacency and indecency is distasteful.
I saw this on face book and I really like it because it articulates it way better than I can
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HiddencatBSN, BSN
594 Posts
Oh my dear, we’ve been living in a crumbling empire for quite some time. Hard disagree on who the baddies are though. Maybe look a bit more critically at the colonial structure at play.
Also, police reform has not worked. Minneapolis, as I mentioned before, was the poster child for progressive police reforms. And yet they did nothing to prevent a cop with a long record of misconduct from kneeling on a man’s neck for over 8 minutes while he begged for his life. The police are heavily militarized with budgets to go along with being an army: we know that heavy police presence doesn’t reduce crime and we know that community investment like improving schools, increasing educational opportunities and reducing poverty DO. Let’s stop trying to reform a profession that has resisted it kicking and screaming, and start routing their budgets in to programs that improve people’s lives.