Political Discussion Guidelines

Political discussions do happen in The Cauldron, although they are normally confined to the News and Political boards were those not interested can avoid them.

If you participate in political discussions, please remember that being Pagan does not automatically imply a certain political position. Pagans are found all across the political spectrum from radical extreme liberals to reactionary extreme conservatives. Also, please remember that this forum has members from all over the world and that the laws and political procedures of your country are not universal.

Most of the Cauldron's US members, however, are center left to left. While we do have members who lean center right to right, they are usually in the minority and therefore sometimes feel "out gunned" in political discussions. Some of our members, however, are hard to pigeonhole politically, while their views on one issue might be seen as conservative, their views on another issue might be seen as liberal. Many of our members who participate in our political discussions are very well-read with respect to the news - reading US news sources from the left, from the center, and from the right and getting a broader view by reading some major foreign news sources. If you only read/listen to news that agrees with your politics, chances are good that you will have trouble being taken seriously in many political discussions on our board.

Political discussions are expected to obey the regular forum rules. This means that much of the type of nasty discussion that goes on in many other political discussion areas on the Internet (e.g. the old Yahoo Message Boards) will quickly get one banned on The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum. Here are some things to remember:

* Keep political discussions civil. Attack ideas, do not attack the people who hold them.

* Personal attacks (like name-calling) on other members, people, countries, or political institutions are not allowed. While we do allow political figures to be referred to by fairly common, polite nicknames (e.g. Tricky Dick, Slick Willie, Shrub), the type of insulting name calling that goes in many other online political discussions (e.g. calling liberals things like "libtards" or conservatives "contards") is not welcome here.

* Those who disagree with you are not idiots, terrorists, communists, Nazis, anti-American, retards, etc. While you may not be willing to believe it, they might be right and you might be wrong.

* Don't expect to convince a political opponent by citing opinion pieces or biased "factual" pieces from sources generally considered be strongly aligned with one political camp or another. Citing Rush Limbaugh or NewsMax isn't likely to convince a liberal any more than citing TruthOut or Counterpunch is likely to convince a conservative.

* If you are making a claim and asked to support it, do not try to avoid doing so by demanding that your opponents instead disprove it. It is the duty of those making a positive claim to support it if asked. It is not the duty of those opposing the idea either to disprove it or accept it.

* This forum is not an appropriate place for blatant political campaigning.

* Finally, take a look at your message before you post it. It if reads like children taunting each other on the playground, please revise it as you will only make a fool of yourself (and perhaps get into rules violation trouble) if you post it.