update: provisional rules PLEASE READ

[spice]

In the name of peace-

"No political discourse besides drug policy, not even in the den, for the sake of peace in the forum community".

Breaking this rule will relegate said post to 'vacuous posts' at best, and possibly deletion, depending on the degree
of inflammatory content.

This is a peaceful community, and we want it to remain so. Please keep your political arguments to yourself, they serve no constructive purpose to this sites mission.

This is a temporary rule imposed until Vesp can make the final decision.

[carl]

A little addendum: this does of course mean recent political topics predominantly.
But it also includes historical political topics.
Just the two big things people will have greatly differing opinions and we really don't want that here.

The exception is, and that should be clearly of course, is drug politics.
But keep it focused on the drug aspect.

Its better this way we don't lose anything of value.
But in return we get more peace and less reasons to run into each other for stupid differences in political opinions.
It is probably not fun for most, it gets very quickly borderline serious, as most people react somewhat personally offended if their political point of view is attacked.
No need for such stupid reasons to fight about, with the worst outcome being people starting to lose respect for each other because they are of a different opinion, about a least important thing.
That could possibly break even our covalent bonding as a community!

(yes I know I am guilty here too... )

[TryItYoullLikeIt]

This place should be like a bar - no religion, no politics.

[maker]

I guess I do not know which bar you go to.
The ones in my part of the world do not have any limits about what is talked about.
Some problems do arise from differing views but??

[spice]

Then that's the place to go to discuss politics, not here.

[embezzler]

It is an effort to log in to this forum since data stealing software wants to run Javascript but now that I have been able to get on and read the state of things I wholeheartedly agree with this rule(s). A simple reason is that I couldn't give a shit about any of your political or religious beliefs. They might be important to you, but they are not to me. Likewise my opinion on your beliefs should be inconsequential to you. There are plenty other places to discuss them. At least for now.

Cancel Culture sucks and so do safe spaces. They are for the emotionally and mentally fragile. That personality type isn't suited to this hobby in the long term. This rewards a certain level of autonomy particularly when it comes to thought. Reality is often brutal and needs to be met head on, it will be still there if you ignore it.

The internet these days is toxic. People believe that they shouldn't have to be exposed to alternative view-points. Nobody is saying you have to agree with anything someone else says. Diversity of opinion is important for a holistic view of things. Hearing things you don't like is good for you.

I don't know where "cancel culture" ends. With nobody saying anything, or with everybody only saying the same thing. It's hard to say which would be worse.
I guess humour will be the first martyr in our ongoing war with human nature. Perhaps I am fortunate that in the real world the adults don't seem to be so sensitive and haven't forgotten how to tell someone to just fuck off and then ignore them. Heterogeneity of cultures is important and likely be eroded at an alarming rate like minority languages. In the future we won’t need archaeologists or historians the narrative will trump discovery and neither require nor allow interpretation.

I do see the over-socialized bullshit-jobs crowd in the workplace aiming to socially engineer demographics but this is far from successful. All you have to do is look at the C-suite staff of fortune 500 companies to know how serious all of this really is taken    I wonder is this because people never read A Clockwork Orange or because the nuances of imposition of mechanical will on biological entities was lost on them. The school curriculum must totally suck now.

Systems biology is emergent in nature. There is wisdom in that.

[aes256]

This place should be like a bar - no religion, no politics.

Pretty sure bars and pubs have been the de facto default place to openly arm-chair philosophize at length about religion and politics, with your felow hoomans, since.. bars and pubs have been around? 

[aes256]

Cancel Culture sucks and so do safe spaces.

You do realize that these provisional rules effectively create a safe space, right? 

The rules foster a harmonious, focused community free from dissenting views that would otherwise chip away at the social fabric that binds its members. You might see it differently, but a rose by any other name..

I like the idea of a 'safe' space - it cuts down on a lot of bullshit and keeps a lid on the haters. As has been mentioned by many others here, I'm here for chemistry and that's pretty much it. These rules help keep the forum 'on brand' and the discourse therein out of the weeds.

Kudos to the mods for being vocal about this and nipping this potential problem in the bud.

[embezzler]

I disagree that this creates a safe space since no political or religious views will be allowed. A safe space would allow one point of view and prevent others. One would be safe from opinions they dislike and surrounded only by those that agree with them.

Nobody is being "cancelled" either on account of their views they will simply have to find another outlet for these particular thoughts. Everyone is free to post on topics relevant to the board. This isn't an attempt to pick sides and prevent any particular individual or viewpoint from being expressed.

Politics and religion were never the point of boards like this.

[Baba_McKensey]

Check out the A Clockwork Orange videos on youtube.