I guess if they're not against the rules, they all have a place on sites like this. Luckily, we have our scrolling skills that enable us to pick and choose what we want to comment on. (Personally, I'm a sandwich junkie and could talk about them all day ... :)
Yeah, it's amazing to which people here are incapable of ignoring questions they don't like. I never ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM's questions because I don't click on ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM's page. I guess some people want drama in their life.
Repetition may be boring for many people but not necessarily.
I see frequent themes in the Trump questions, but I don't see exact repetition. There are constantly changing nuances, often based on the latest issues in the news.
Now that the official processes of investigation are more fully underway, it is natural that every minute detail is being investigated as closely as possible - as it should be to try to find the truth.
Whether something is boring is a personal judgement. Many people find politics extremely interesting. In my view, it is essential for the successful functioning of a healthy democracy that as many citizens as possible take an active interest in every aspect of their representatives' qualifications, policies, speech and behaviour - the country depends on holding its leaders accountable.
Stupidity is common, one might say normal. One has to expect it - and complaining will never have any effect on its manifestations. An IQ of 100 is enough to have "common sense" and be able to get by as an adult in an average sort of way, but it's not much. By definition, although most people cluster around the 100 IQ mark on a bell curve, 50% of the population will always fall below that halfway mark on the spectrum of mental ability. Although the brain is plastic and anyone can by choice and practice increase their intelligence, most stupid people have no desire to do so and many have an aversion to it because it takes at least as much effort as an athlete puts into physical training. Stupidity needs to be treated as a disability; it requires tact, patience, kindness and carefully thought out strategies - such as how to prevent things going wrong due to stupidity (e.g. road rules and most laws) and how to cope when the inevitable mistakes and transgressions occur.
Hate is a different matter. Again I think it takes care before making a judgement that something comes from hate. Let's suppose that there is an elephant kept in a specialised environment in the zoo. It's grandparents happened to immigrate to America after they managed to escape the Armenian Holocaust. How many Americans today know about the history of that persecution? From 1915-16, Turkish officials systematically rounded up and murdered 1.5 million Armenians, the intellectuals first. Now a certain elephant in a certain room here on aM happens to be of Armenian descent. This elephant knows all about the history of her grandparents. As a result, she has developed strongly liberal politics. She was formerly an accountant - a very good one - intelligent- well educated - deeply Christian but not a conventional church goer - and profoundly caring about the welfare of her fellow humans. She sees Trump's racism, sexism, demagoguery, cronyism and attempts at despotic control of his aids as aberrant to the American way of life. She rails with passion against his policies, attitudes and actions because she is terrified of the long-term and widespread results - the future of the world after she dies. Terror is not hate - though it can be the foundation of hate. Elephants are reknowned for their excellent long-term memories. This particular elephant is the oldest member on aM. She has a span of memory of public life unrivalled by anyone else here. Her passion about the topic, given her origins and background, is natural. She is trying to wake people up - to make them aware of what is happening in the world, the larger consequences of all the minutiae. People found it too much to cope with, so she was given her own room.
Personally, I think the decision to create the room was a fabulous piece of creative thinking. It allows the elephant plenty of freedom for self-expression. It allows those who like her questions to continue enjoying them. And it allows those who don't like too many political to neatly avoid them.
Yet we still have others here who ask them. Stu B is among the brightest members on aM. I see him as urbane, conservative, well-educated and probably a professional. I gather that he follows the news of politics closely. My guess is, he knows the answers to his questions - so what he wants to know is not the facts but other people's views on the questions. Personally, I don't see that as either boring or stupid.
This post was edited by inky at January 30, 2019 12:49 PM MST
Benedict Arnold 