Odium for Politics @ Above Top Secret.com

Thank you to all those who voted me during the first stages of the ATS Election, I was shocked and thrilled to find out I had got through that stage. However, the most important issue was who you elected me along side. The Vagabond and TrueLies, both outstanding contributors to ATS and PTS and it was an honour to be placed along side them, especially since I have only been here for eight months.

So a little about me. I’m Odium, it has been my online name for nearly 8years. I am 19 years of age, born on the 27th of the 7th 1986 and my full name is Peter ‘Jayce’ Sanford. I am the son of two very different cultures on my mothers side I am Native American, Kanien'kehá:ka to be precise and on my fathers side I am, Russian. As well as the mixture of cultures, in fact a rather large clash, I have lived two extremely different lifestyles. Prior to my parents divorce, I was blessed to live in a very affluent lifestyle and afterwards [until my mother finished University], it was the opposite end.

This has led to my odd political viewpoints. I value things such as free speech, the ability to own firearms, freedom of press however, low taxation but support regulation on large corporation, a public healthcare system, banning of narcotics and that is to name but a few. I also am a fan of the Swiss Style of Government; direct democracy and think of myself as a Neo-Socialist.

This is an image of me and my half-brother, Jack. [Only online photo I wish to display].

What can I bring to the Politics Forum?
• I want to bring, what you the people of this forum want.
  
• I wish to introduce more forums and a more divorce political spectrum on here, so we can move away from the ‘Liberal V Conservative’ arguments and instead look at the larger picture.
  
• I wish to see the removal of insults such as Commie, from PTS.
  
• I want to see more discussion.

What experience do I have?
• I am a Law[B], History[D], Sociology[C], Psychology[D] and Politics[B] student.
  
• I wish to become a barrister in the United Kingdom.
  
• I am a three times elected representative of the Students Union.
  
• I am involved heavily in British Politics.
  
• Politics, Laws and the rights of people are my passion, my love and what I wish to be involved in till the day I die.

What have I done for the site already?
• All my posts.
  
• I have collected information on United Stats Politics and Socialism, in the attempt to create a introduction to the area and have been working on other introductions for the rest of PTS.
  
• I attempt to Deny Ignorance, pushing fourth not my own agenda but the facts of many cases. Including defending President Bush, China, Communism, Liberalism and the Neo-Conservatives on several issues.
  
• I have attempt to improve the understand between many members, including through U2U to stop problems between certain members through lack of understanding on many issues.
  
• I have helped people understand ATS, the systems, how one should debate as well as answering any questions ever posted to me.

What has ATS done for me?

• I have enjoyed myself on this forum more than any other website since I began surfing the internet in 1996.
  
• I have felt like I have learned something from this site, not just through the information displayed but in my external debates and handling of situations with other people.
  
• I have met some fantastic people, good people who care about the World and other people instead of just themselves.
  
• It has helped me become a much better, more intelligent person.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this, I would love to answer any questions you have as well as listen to any worries also. Please feel free to dig through my past [and future] posts and raise any questions you have about them.
If you wish to show support, I have made this
signature, which can be found here: files.abovetopsecret.com... feel free to use it in your signature to show support.

Best of luck to my candidates and to everyone else running during this election campaign. It has been my pleasure to take part in it and thank you to all those who voted. Not just for me, but took part in such a ground-breaking idea.


[edit on 8/10/2005 by Odium]

Bestest of Luck Odium. All the way

I have a question for you Opium.

You say that you are a studying things such as law, politics, and sociology. At 19 years of age, do you feel you bring anything extra to the table as a nominee as opposed to a candidate thats been in existance for 40 years, and has seen many administrations come and pass in the political spectrum?

Originally posted by Mayet
Bestest of Luck Odium. All the way

Thank you, Mayet for supporting my campaign.

Originally posted by WolfofWar
I have a question for you Opium.

You say that you are a studying things such as law, politics, and sociology. At 19 years of age, do you feel you bring anything extra to the table as a nominee as opposed to a candidate thats been in existance for 40 years, and has seen many administrations come and pass in the political spectrum?

Wolf of War, asks a fantastic question one which is difficult to answer without it sounding like your stereotypical campaign post but I’ll give it a shot.

I think more often than not, age can be a hindrance in such endeavours. Age can lead to a level of apathy which shouldn’t ever exist, the age old saying of ‘We’ve seen it all before’ displaying this and in fact is often used to identify problems which should have never been given the chance to happen again. I have a passion to [if elected] identify problems that this section [PTS] has and work to fixing them so the problems will be removed so they can’t trouble ATS members anymore.

I am seen as a very unconventional politician, even in real life and with my involvement with the NUS [National Union of Students] this can be seen. I am the only one in the history of my College, to have been able to get teenagers involved in politics. In fact, last spring while leading up to the British General Elections, I was able to get a hold of some leading British Members of Parliament and get them in to debate current issues, from Iraq to University tuition. Furthermore, I was able to get students involved by taking advantage of the College message boards, utilising polls and other such things to hear their voice and take up their problems with the management. [Which was my role.]

I would like to see something similar to that in place on PTS, where any problems with it were taken to me and the senior staff so we could remove them and make it better as a whole. To me, democracy, which this process is, is the will of the people and it is not my headstrong lust for power. If the majority of people want something or in some cases, super-majority, I believe I should do it and I think that was part of the problem of the elections last time around. We seemed out of the loop, once we had elected people. [Not in all cases.]

The view, I hold, I see as different to many people including those who I am running against.

Anyone else have any questions?

Odium's the man, the man with a plan!! gimme an O-D-I-U-M! gooooooooo ODIUM!!!

Originally posted by Kitsunegari
Odium's the man, the man with a plan!! gimme an O-D-I-U-M! gooooooooo ODIUM!!!

How do think all of your "qualifications" will help you in PTS? How do you intend to carry that over into PTS, for the better of the community? Does more forums necessarily mean better forums? And, you're a member yourself - What do you want to bring to PTS?

Thank you, Amorymeltzer, for taking time out to post those questions for me and sorry it took me so long to reply.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
How do [you] think all of your "qualifications" will help you in PTS?

I just like many other people see qualifications as nothing more than a slip of paper, it is the level of understanding behind them which is important. I believe over the last 8months, I have displayed a level of understanding on many areas not just limited to those which I have studied however, here are two. History and Politics.

Furthermore many political topics will fall into one of the areas of study, especially those of law and history, but also sociology and psychology. I think this is essential to any of the councillors, being able to understand the topics placed in their ‘section’ of the ‘forum’ so they can help members [new ones especially]. But also, having spent time studying them I hopefully will be able to contribute well which is important. Lead by example...

Also working in the legal profession I have had to put up with many instances that I do believe will crop up on ATS, such as problems with the system [site], disgruntled clients [members] but also having to represent points I disagree with. One thing you learn while working as a lawyer is that you have to argue a point to the best of your ability even if I do not agree with it and I think that can be heavily carried over to ATS and the Councillor forum. Many things I might not like, but the majority of people do, I will defend to the best of my ability because that is my job.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
How do you intend to carry that over into PTS, for the better of the community?

I partially outlined this above, however I will go into it in more detail now.

I have to deal daily with people who need my help to explain many legal issues. This will transfer well over to the forum, on issues that they do not understand or need help on, I also have had to learn many different things from social theories to historical events which transfer well over to PTS. One of the key parts of politics, is how many things seem to follow a trend and seem to happen - the rise and fall of Empire’s for example. Many of these issues, I have planned to make an in depth post for like I did Socialism, be it the British Legal System or an overview of American Political History.

I think this is key to ATS and PTS, to know where we are going and where we are at we have to understand how we got there and this is also one key thing I wish to see on PTS.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
Does more forums necessarily mean better forums?

In some regards it does, many of the areas on ATS could have been left grouped together and not separated but for many reasons they were. One of these has to be for the members themselves, organisation [one thing ATS is fantastic for] of the forums helps people to find that which they want and be able to focus on areas of their enjoyment. However, I see PTS as being very ethnocentric. We have lumped many parts of the World together, however have given Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States there own area. I think this is a mistaken and can turn people away from wanting to post in PTS.

While the membership of ATS grows, we have a fantastic chance to begin to tap into many Asian, Middle Eastern and South American people to join the site while their developing Nation’s begin to become more heavily internet based. I find it odd then that a [vast] majority of the World’s population is than lumped into “Other Global Politics” and I think this is a mistaken ATS needs to correct. China [Asia], India [Asia], Middle East and South America [to name a few] could vastly boost the membership of ATS and help us all learn from one another but while we seem [not saying we act this way] to discriminate against these people, I think it could work against ATS and PTS. We need the wider membership to understand each other.

I also think it would be good to get a sub-forum in the U.S, U.K, etc, forums where we place ‘laws’ which are coming into power. This is more a structural reason however, I would love to see a system where an admin [user] is set up to keep tabs of legislation in their Nation’s and we explain the laws from a legal stand point so it can be referenced in the other areas of ATS and again, I think this will boost people into PTS.

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
And, you're a member yourself - What do you want to bring to PTS?

• Better organisation.
  
• More PTS based topics in PTS instead of ATS.
  
• A separate forum for interviews of political party members. [Infinite showed us we can and we need to capitalise on this.]
  
• More PTS based podcasts.
  
• The Political Ideology forums corrected. [So that the ideologies are in the correct place.]
  
• I want to get Political parties and former politicians, to actively engage with us at PTS, with people answering questions from the members.

There are many other things, I wish to add to PTS however, if I get elected I plan to put many of these ideas to people and use an offsite poll [or on site if I am allowed] to get feed-back on what the members think are a wise idea and take it from there.

I may not agree with all your politics (but thats not the issue) but I think you'd do a good job for the PTS council...you've got my vote

Originally posted by UK Wizard
I may not agree with all your politics (but thats not the issue) but I think you'd do a good job for the PTS council...you've got my vote

Thank you UK Wizard.

This is one of the core reasons I like PTS and ATS, its members [majortiy of] can look past the view points each other hold and all [majority of members] work together to make the site better.

Thank you so much for the support, means a lot.

Ok Odium, u will get my vote, if it reaches in time! intresting profile I must say.

Originally posted by crusader
Ok Odium, u will get my vote, if it reaches in time! intresting profile I must say.

Thank you very much Crusader for your support.

Firstly I would like to say the idea for a localized political forum for UK and AUstralian - and any other nations politics is a fantastic Idea. I know I would love to see a forum dedicated to bitching about Jack Boots Johnny. (Aus PM)
What other ideas and thoughts to you have to help PTS grow and become more popular?

Second we know the political forums are infected with liberal/conservative arguments, how do you propose to stamp that out. What ideas do you have to get PTS back off the petty name calling left right mentality?

Being that this is a conspiracy related forum do you feel there should be more emphasis placed on the conspirital side of politics within PTS topics to arouse further debate and interest or do you see PTS working fine the way it is?

Thank you so much Mayet for taking the time out to read my thread and to post these questions, I hope I’ll be able to answer your questions.

Originally posted by Mayet
Firstly I would like to say the idea for a localized political forum for UK and AUstralian - and any other nations politics is a fantastic Idea. I know I would love to see a forum dedicated to bitching about Jack Boots Johnny. (Aus PM)

What other ideas and thoughts to you have to help PTS grow and become more popular?

One of the most important things I wish to do is clean the front page. For example, I wish to have the descriptions changed on things such as “Euro Politics” and the sub-heading “Discussion of EU politics, issues, and policies”, to something more along the lines of “European Politics” and to “Discuss European Politics” because the term “EU” can give off the wrong message and from the posts inside it makes it seem as though it is only for that purpose. I think this is harming PTS.

I would rather we have two sections, one with “Individual” Nation’s and Political bodies, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and United Nation’s in that section and another which is areas. Such as Middle East, Africa, Asia, et al, so that they are not all “lumped” into “Other Global Politics”. I dislike the way such a large percentage of the World’s population is lumped together and I think this can only cause more problems.

I wish to see the “slug fest” and “Political figures” forum revised. I think we need a much better system, almost that of a database at the top with a reference of Person-X’s name and a link to information about them [credible] as well as more real discussion going on in these forums. Although, we know it is a “slug fest”, their still needs to be a level of “debate” which is on par with the rest of ATS.

I would also like to see sticky threads at the top explaining the Asia Region, which Nation’s are there with information on them like the fact files which at one point began to pop-up on ATSNN. These can help us learn from one another and that is a fundamental part of ATS and will help cure many problems. I would also like sub-forums to keep laws in them for the U.S. or U.K. forums and FSME’s set up on PTS, especially in the legal forums so people can gain help if they need it and we have someone who understands the topics enough to explain them to all.

Originally posted by Mayet
Second we know the political forums are infected with liberal/conservative arguments, how do you propose to stamp that out. What ideas do you have to get PTS back off the petty name calling left right mentality?

I think an explanation can help, I began to work on them for Socialism and United States Politics however there is so much to write, research and compile that at present on top of my workload and current PTS commitments, I have been unable to finish. Once we have a reference, information on political parties, the Nation’s political history and current/up-to-date information part of the “Partisanship” will be removed.

I would like to see a fixed, 50point deduction placed on posts which are just “Liberal/Conservatives are [insert rude term here]” which will be a start. I also think the FSME should be given this ability, as well as they themselves being involved in “cutting” that out on their “sub-forum”. Everyone needs a little guidance, even I do [I’ll admit I make mistakes] and a small tap on the shoulder or explanation can help us all out.

I would like to see more in-depth analyse of responses and issues, I think this can be brought about by a PTS award every month similar to that of the TWATS award put for PTS only. This can help bring out the competitive edge within several of our members and although at first will probably be dominated by a few in the long run I think this will get more members posting. I would like to see the TWATS award split on PTS and ATS so that you get one per-forum instead of it being combined. Although I know this could be a hard piece of coding, I think it is needed to advance the site.

Originally posted by Mayet
Being that this is a conspiracy related forum do you feel there should be more emphasis placed on the conspirital side of politics within PTS topics to arouse further debate and interest or do you see PTS working fine the way it is?

The problem with PTS mixing in the conspiracy element is when members begin to look at ATS and decide to post it in one of the sub-forums there. I myself would love to see the New World Order forum moved to PTS. I think it is important to both further people looking at PTS but also now it isn’t seen so much as a conspiracy but a fundamental part of Politics. In fact, in many Universities within the United Kingdom when studying Politics there are topics on the New World Order [Oxford Brookes for an example of this.] However, I do think there needs to be a fine line between the “conspiracy” side of ATS and PTS.

I would rather PTS sticks to more “Political” issues, such as on going elections which I think would make a fantastic forum for PTS. One where we can [during] elections open up for that specific Nation’s elections and through our wide membership gain “on the ground” information about what is going on in that Nation. Hard facts, public opinions, information which otherwise can’t be found on the internet. It’ll result in not only more ATS members visiting PTS but more people from the World visiting PTS and that has to be a good thing.

Back to the subject, it is hard to decide on if we should remove the element of conspiracy from PTS. In some regards, I think we need to. We need to stay on hard facts. What is said, what has happened, who has gained and who will gain in the long run rather than looking for a more “wild” explanation for things unless the evidence is there. I want to see PTS become more than “My opinion”, I wish to see it become a site with amazingly researched posts like “The Vagabond” and “ghostsoldier” have produced where they are able to source books, websites, etc to back up their point of view instead of it being opinion. That’s the way forward for PTS.

We need a little bit of both, conspiracy and evidence. Half dozen of one, six of the other.

Hope that answers your questions, Mayet.

Take care,
Peter.

I'm impressed Odium! I like all of your ideas for changes at PTS.

You have my vote.

Mahree

Originally posted by Mahree
I'm impressed Odium! I like all of your ideas for changes at PTS.

You have my vote.

Mahree

Thank you a lot for the support, Mahree.

Take care,
Peter.

Well...I'm very impressed with how this thread has developed, indeed.
You have been exceptionally candid with what you see as progress for PTS and I thank you for that.
In particular, I would agree on the idea of forums for countries such as you mentioned (China, Middle East, etc). This would, no doubt, have the effect of bringing more people from those areas to become members and add to the site, overall.
I would like to see a Canadian forum, for instance, as they are so influenced by American politics.

Now, a question for you...politics and big business are, as you know, connected at the hip. Where do you stand in relation to environmental issues and do they deserve consideration in PTS?

Thank you for taking the time, Masqua to ask me these questions.

Originally posted by masqua
Well...I'm very impressed with how this thread has developed, indeed.
You have been exceptionally candid with what you see as progress for PTS and I thank you for that.
In particular, I would agree on the idea of forums for countries such as you mentioned (China, Middle East, etc). This would, no doubt, have the effect of bringing more people from those areas to become members and add to the site, overall.
I would like to see a Canadian forum, for instance, as they are so influenced by American politics.

This is why I suggest a North America Forum for the politics. This way, you could have Mexico, United States and Canada related issues all in one place and also a South American Forum for all those south of Mexico.

I also think there should be “Other” and “World” event forums, primarily the World Event forum for actions by the United Nation’s which can apply the World over and not to just one localised region of the World.

Originally posted by masqua
Now, a question for you...politics and big business are, as you know, connected at the hip. Where do you stand in relation to environmental issues and do they deserve consideration in PTS?

We already have a forum for the environmental issues on PTS however we have a total of 24 posts in there. At the bottom of the PTS forum are some of the most unused and under-rated forums on the whole of ATS, which is a shame.

I really think that the forums need a clean up, the whole “Environment Issues” thread is pointless while the description of “Fragile Earth” states; “Discussion of climate change, pollution, and environment issues” which is the same thing. Like it or not…resulting in two forums with the exact same purpose and of course the PTS one is the one that gets damage by this. I think all in all the “Powers that be” need to decide on which one we keep or to take a hard line stand on the Fragile Earth and remove the posts dealing with the “Government” in relation to the issues.

Hope that helps answer your questions.

Originally posted by Odium
This is why I suggest a North America Forum for the politics. This way, you could have Mexico, United States and Canada related issues all in one place and also a South American Forum for all those south of Mexico.

Good point. PTS has the potential for becoming the place to go for discussion, but it needs to draw posters into these boards. I know there is a determined effort attempting to do just that, but, I see, time and time again, members who seem to think it a place beneath them.

There are increasingly important issues relating (for instance) to the North American Free Trade Association. A more lively discussion of those types of political/corporate issues would enliven PTS forums. IMO, these types of posts should be directed to PTS as soon as possible.

Originally posted by masqua
Now, a question for you...politics and big business are, as you know, connected at the hip. Where do you stand in relation to environmental issues and do they deserve consideration in PTS?

We already have a forum for the environmental issues on PTS however we have a total of 24 posts in there. At the bottom of the PTS forum are some of the most unused and under-rated forums on the whole of ATS, which is a shame.

I really think that the forums need a clean up, the whole “Environment Issues” thread is pointless while the description of “Fragile Earth” states; “Discussion of climate change, pollution, and environment issues” which is the same thing. Like it or not…resulting in two forums with the exact same purpose and of course the PTS one is the one that gets damage by this. I think all in all the “Powers that be” need to decide on which one we keep or to take a hard line stand on the Fragile Earth and remove the posts dealing with the “Government” in relation to the issues.

Hope that helps answer your questions.

Yes, it does answer my question, and you have gotten to the nub of it when you looked at the posts in the 'Environmental' board here. The cobwebs are truly thick in there and it is exactly for the reason you mentioned.
That is why I made the connections between politics, business and the environment. If you go to Fragile Earth on ATS, you'll see a very busy place with much discussion of issues related to the environment and corporate interests. Those posts, I believe, belong in PTS.
There is a place for issues relating to Fragile Earth on ATS too, since threads talking of earth changes like earthquakes, storms and the like, seem not to be connected to politics/corporations...mostly. If there is a political/ corporate angle the thread is engaged in, you seem to agree it should be in PTS, especially issues concerning pollution.

Thank you for answering, Odium...I will take into consideration your obvious capability to ferret out pertinent details when I make my choice for PTS counsillor.

[edit on 17-10-2005 by masqua]

Glad I was able to answer them, masqua and if you have any other questions you are more than welcome to ask me.

Take care,
Peter.