I guess it's fitting that my fourteen-year stint as a GTPlanet member would come to an end over a political thread. I am aghast at the number of racist, hateful, and delusional comments I've seen here over the past few weeks. There is nothing wrong with a specialized forum having opinion sections. There is, however, a problem when said forum has editors, moderators, and contributors violating the Acceptable Use Policy multiple times in this thread. These are the same staff members that throw around the phrases "ad hominem", "AUP", and "strawman" all over the site like they are candy yet at the same time have no issue violating the AUP and allowing themselves as well as others in this thread to participate in endless "ad hominem attacks" and "strawman" arguments. I have even seen references to committing violence in this thread. I will not participate in a community whose moderators behave in such a disrespectful and hypocritical manner.
This may sound harsh, but those who believe that men can get pregnant, that using an incorrect pronoun is offensive, that take political propaganda as gospel even though it comes from a legacy media industry that has been proven to be lying to us in our faces for decades; you can't be reasoned with. Long gone are the days of my youth when groups of friends would hang out in bars and politely (heated at times) discuss the merits & drawbacks of Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Ross Perot without anyone getting offended. Because everyone was on the same page regarding the basic tenets that we collectively held dear. It was fun, inspiring, enriching... The "right" generally adheres today to those values, while the "left" has been completely radicalized, which makes discourse nearly impossible. Even JFK and MLK would be considered "far-right extremists" by today's standards.
I suggest everyone read up on how dictatorships, purges, cultural revolutions, and massacres start. Just two to get you going: Pol Pot and Mao. Because you will realize that Donald Trump is not the person you should be afraid of. Wake up and recover your critical thinking capacity because we are all going to need each other in the near future. Think for yourself for once.
I will leave three book suggestions to help understand history, economics, and current events with a clear mind: The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek, Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt, and Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay. Take it or leave it.
Since GTP does not allow us to delete our accounts, I will now log out and never return.
Thanks a lot for ruining another community.