Originally Posted by Back Atcha

I've only been here a few days, but I've noticed something about this site that falls into the "blessing and a curse" category.

AWE is a pure free speech zone. Or at least it appears to be. Which is fantastic. So many other forums are heavily moderated tossing out anyone that doesn't agree with their points of view, philosophy, ideology, or the like. Even the minimally moderated ones are prone to toss out the crackpots that clutter up their otherwise neat little world.

AWE is one of the very few places that embraces all comers... and here in lies the problem. It's not AWE's fault, but the fact that so many other boards shut out the nut jobs, they all wind up here. I fear that even if the rational folks on this site all come to one mind about certain individuals and put them on ignore or refused to give their mentally ill views the time of day, these nut jobs would continue to hang out here because they have nowhere else to go.
I was shocked to see that ONEWHITEDUCK has been granted his own little section on this site. I'm sure to his mind it's a validation of his importance to the discourse here. Personally, I think this sends the wrong message to these delusional people.

I know the temptation to respond to these mentally ill people is hard to avoid. Perhaps it's the hope that one of us will get through to them at some point. Perhaps out of the pure entertainment value of sparring with a hopelessly detached mind. After only a few days, I've grown weary of seeing every other thread topic including the anti-semitic agenda. There are other BS topics on the board, and each of us, I'm sure has slightly different ideas about which those are. But none as pervasive as the one stated above.

But I would like to put forth this notion to those that are of rational mind (never mind right or left, lib or neo-con) that we have far more important matters to discuss than to waste time sparring with hopeless cases. You can't cure mental illness with banter, these folks will never change, but instead are emboldened with each reply, positive or negative. They are just happy to have an audience. Let's face it, if it weren't for these disturbed views, they would be utterly uninteresting people, and thus would not receive a fraction of the attention they crave.

This country is in dire need of our attention. There are incredible pressing problems that need our attention, discussion and action. Is it really in our best interest to egg these fools in psycho bubbles credence of a reply? Is it worth our time? Does it solve anything? Or are we as a nation so conditioned to be entertained that we can't let these folks be, despite it being the best thing for all concerned?

Just a thought...