Democracy - Please !!

[MotorBoater]

Prior to my return to the Broads after many years of wishing and hoping, I discovered this forum, not the only but in my opinion the best.

I have picked up an enormous amount of up to date information both directly and by inference and for this I shall be eternally grateful.

As a still relative newbie I am wary of jumping into ongoing debates, feeling as I do that I may not have enough experience or historical information. This is changing at a fair rate of knots as I delve deeper into life on the Broads and the opinions expressed on this forum.

However since recent posts elsewhere on this forum seem to be ignoring a basic principal of life in this country I will risk putting my head over the parapet, so to speak.

Democracy exists as method of reconciling opposing views by DEBATE. If one side or the other runs for the hills that could be interpreted as losing the argument, whatever the validity of their point of view.

Equally, attempts to stifle such debate by denigration or highlighting another issue should not be acceptable either. If you have a single issue forum that is one thing. If you have a multi-threaded behemoth like this one you have to choose which issues are important to you and which to ignore.

If you want a single issue blog then start your own.

If democratic debate is boring try moving to North Korea.

Me ? I follow ALL the recent posts with avid interest. I won't be throwing my toys out of the pram if someone posts something I don't like or agree with, or calling for a guillotine.

We know we live in very uncertain times right now. If I catch this bug I probably won't survive it. My priority is my son and (I'm dreaming now) any grandchildren. That doesn't mean I'm not watching what else is going on in this world, and having an opinion on it.

For the record, if I was keeping score, I would have to say that as far as the Broads Authority is concerned they are clearly doing their best to maintain some kind of status quo in this situation but they don't do themselves any favours by the occasional shot to the foot. Whether or not this is down to arrogance or subterfuge or stupidity is a matter of personal opinion that MAY be settled later.

It may be true that this NP issue could be taken up later. It may also be true that to not monitor or continue the NP debate now allows opposing forces to overly force the issue one way or the other.

We need to be discussing the virus, and perhaps the stupidity of some peoples reaction to it. Likewise we can surely discuss and highlight other matters, especially in relation to the Broads we all profess to love.

As I say, said toys and said pram will remain intact.

[Vaughan]

Thank you for that, and I agree with you.

By the way, when I said I am off to my garage to play trains, that doesn't mean I'm off the forum! It is just an expression I use sometimes when my "gruntle" has been "dissed" and I am looking for something more useful to do with my time than reading a whole of point scoring!

Hopefully it won't be long before our debate on such a vital issue gets back to talking practicalities.

[MotorBoater]

Vaughan, you have no idea how relieved I am to find I'm not the only Night Owl.

That said, I'm off to bed !

[vanessan]

1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

Thank you for that, and I agree with you.

By the way, when I said I am off to my garage to play trains, that doesn't mean I'm off the forum! It is just an expression I use sometimes when my "gruntle" has been "dissed" and I am looking for something more useful to do with my time than reading a whole of point scoring!

Hopefully it won't be long before our debate on such a vital issue gets back to talking practicalities.

Can I come and join you when my gruntle is dissed? I have always wanted to play trains but never had the opportunity. 

Sane words from MotorBoater above, the main battle we have to fight is affecting all of us one way or another so let’s keep our forum ‘family’ intact and avoid battles that will still be there to be fought when this awful disease has left our shores. 

[grendel]

Motorboater, I have to agree with you here, although the NP issue is argued sometimes vehemently here at times some members take it just one step too far and approach the boundaries of dubious legality with some of the accusations thrown at the broads authority.

I think that while many here would agree with them on the issues, they are discomforted by the radical name calling and allegations of wrong doing that accompany those arguments, which ultimately devalue their arguments and cause people to ignore their 'rants'.

to have a post that contained 90% of vital information to deal with the current situation derailed because of two words it contained to the point where everyone is concentrating on the two words rather than the useful information is in my opinion silly, the more so (and here i stick my hand up as one of those who originally adversely reacted to those two words) because the rest of the post is of great importance to anyone out on the rivers at this time.

[rightsaidfred]

3 hours ago, MotorBoater said:

Prior to my return to the Broads after many years of wishing and hoping, I discovered this forum, not the only but in my opinion the best.

I have picked up an enormous amount of up to date information both directly and by inference and for this I shall be eternally grateful.

As a still relative newbie I am wary of jumping into ongoing debates, feeling as I do that I may not have enough experience or historical information. This is changing at a fair rate of knots as I delve deeper into life on the Broads and the opinions expressed on this forum.

However since recent posts elsewhere on this forum seem to be ignoring a basic principal of life in this country I will risk putting my head over the parapet, so to speak.

Democracy exists as method of reconciling opposing views by DEBATE. If one side or the other runs for the hills that could be interpreted as losing the argument, whatever the validity of their point of view.

Equally, attempts to stifle such debate by denigration or highlighting another issue should not be acceptable either. If you have a single issue forum that is one thing. If you have a multi-threaded behemoth like this one you have to choose which issues are important to you and which to ignore.

If you want a single issue blog then start your own.

If democratic debate is boring try moving to North Korea.

Me ? I follow ALL the recent posts with avid interest. I won't be throwing my toys out of the pram if someone posts something I don't like or agree with, or calling for a guillotine.

We know we live in very uncertain times right now. If I catch this bug I probably won't survive it. My priority is my son and (I'm dreaming now) any grandchildren. That doesn't mean I'm not watching what else is going on in this world, and having an opinion on it.

For the record, if I was keeping score, I would have to say that as far as the Broads Authority is concerned they are clearly doing their best to maintain some kind of status quo in this situation but they don't do themselves any favours by the occasional shot to the foot. Whether or not this is down to arrogance or subterfuge or stupidity is a matter of personal opinion that MAY be settled later.

It may be true that this NP issue could be taken up later. It may also be true that to not monitor or continue the NP debate now allows opposing forces to overly force the issue one way or the other.

We need to be discussing the virus, and perhaps the stupidity of some peoples reaction to it. Likewise we can surely discuss and highlight other matters, especially in relation to the Broads we all profess to love.

As I say, said toys and said pram will remain intact.

Thank you for a wise and mature appraisal, as intelligent beings we are or should be capable of dealing with more than one issue at a time.

As for myself age and infirmity will most likely curtail my activities long before anything the BA or any other organisation can but that doesn't stop me caring about the legacy we are leaving for others, the one thing I hate is being in a position to say I told you so, hindsight is not such a wonderful thing, being wise before the event not after is what counts but that is something everyone will have to make their own judgement on.

Fred