There's a Nasty Trend Developing on ATS

Something I've noticed more and more on ATS, is the increasing number of posters who jump on the bandwagon and instantly label other posters as racist, or haters etc.

For example, if you post criticism of the Afghan war, then they say you hate the troops and America etc. Personally, I respect our troops. I have friends in the military who I know joined the forces to make a difference and defend their country. The criticism of the war is aimed at the policy makers, the politicians and media that lie to us to sell us wars. The public has no idea why we really went to war with Afghanistan and the same goes for the majority of the soldiers who sign up thinking they are doing the right thing.

But, at an increasing rate, posters jump in calling you a traitor for not supporting the troops or being against America etc, it makes me wonder if there are government agents posting on the site.

It's very much like those who call 'anti semitism' to any criticism of Israeli policy, this mentality is spreading across the forum and being applied in all areas. If you discuss Iran policy, you get labelled a supporter of 'Islamic Extremism' and against your country- what the hell is going on ATS? The irony is, those who question the Iran policy are the true patriots, they don't want war yet if they criticise cruel sanctions that harm the fellow human beings living in Iran is to be labelled a 'sympathiser of the enemy'.

reply to post by Wonderer2012


It's been going on since I joined and probably much longer beforehand.

Knee-jerk, hyperbole, strawman comments are common.

I agree, as was demonstrated in my thread entitles "US Hipocisy".

A rather asute poster commented however that its within the American mind set.

Americans post exposing, embarrasing and morally wrong things about their government everyday on this site, but a UKer or anyone else says something, and its not allowed apparently, the poster made a brilliant observasion, that included Americans feel unable to take critism from others, even when its aimed at their own government, *however* when the UK policy is critised, we UKers shrug and say "yea, true dat".

As UKers, and foreigners alike, don't take it personally, we know our governments corrupt, and we won't blooming defend them.

Ill quote the post when I switch to laptop in a second.

This can also be recognised in the fact, in my thread, various posters came out in force to defend US policies, and yet the next day on other threads, made by Americans, they condemned those same policies.

What's with that mind set??

reply to post by Wonderer2012


I was in the ARMY. I want all of my friends to come home. I want most all of our hundreds of overseas bases closed. I think every war we are currently in is unjust.

Am I hating the troops? Something I was not too long ago? Or are there many many guys still in the Army losing their moral upon realizing we are not fighting any true enemy..

I swore to defend this nation. Part of that is to get our troops home. Other than that I will try my best to find ways to undermine domestic enemies of my Country, and my constitution.

I am a warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.


Sinny that mindset is the programming they have hit my fellow countrymen with since we were born. I and many other Americans do not think like that. I come into public discussion knowing full well my country is an empty shell of what it once was, just a thinly painted shallow surface Nation, with hollowed out insides.

Not all of us are like that.

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
But, at an increasing rate, posters jump in calling you a traitor for not supporting the troops or being against America etc, it makes me wonder if there are government agents posting on the site.

cmon... who does really support america in it's current state ? a corrupted country where people is completely ignored by his govt especially during "elections"... Where civilians lose more and more civil rights each day.... and where bad presidents gets reelected even if it's obvious the large majority hate him (2 cents prediction: Obama, 4 more years)

It's not racism to be against america nowadays, it's common sense... and it's not agains americans themselves, it's against that illusion of governement and democracy. what a joke !

I think the majority of Americans on this site are on the defensive. Goodness knows there have been threads that attack the American people and not just the government. It's human nature to want to defend yourself, some just take it to the extreme.

In the threads were the op clearly states they are discussing the American GOVERNMENT, I see a lot less knee-jerk reactions.

Regardless, I think you make a wonderful point, op.

reply to post by Wonderer2012
But for me, that's where the fun starts. I'll reply to the knee-jerker with a goof ball off the wall response. Sometimes the return response is more entertaining than I could have imagined

The bottom line is..........Know yourself and dont allow a stranger on the other end of your cyber experience to hurt your feelings It's all just opinion anyways!

A good health ego helps too.

Originally posted by beezzer
It's been going on since I joined and probably much longer beforehand.
Knee-jerk, hyperbole, strawman comments are common.

I ditto what Beezzer said. It's been going on since I got here ... 8 1/2 years ago.
Tell the truth about Obama .. then you must be a racist.
Tell the truth about Muhammad .. then you must be a muslim hater.
Tell the truth about the bible .. and you must be Godless.
Tell the truth about Hamas crimes .. then you must luv Israel and be closet ADL.
Tell the truth about Israeli crimes .. then you must luv Palestinians.
Suppot gay marriage ... then you must be a flaming liberal.
Support the Catholic Church's right not to provide free condoms .. then you must be a raging Catholic.
etc etc
Sometimes it's said straight out.
Other times it's inferred so they can get around the moderators ... but it's still there.
It's been here for at least 8 1/2 years. It's not new. And it's absolutely silly ...

Originally posted by bellagirl
i believe i was bullied by a couple of mods.

that's because your rabbit avatar looks like it has an "attitude".

P.S. I consider myself more of a punk than a mod and I'll still a little upset!

It's like my grandmother said 50 years ago or so. : That TV and those damn hippies will be the end of us. Grandma was always right. Her nickname was Al Capone, Grandpa was a moonshiner and there were plenty of cutthroats around, none would mess with her. If she talked, they listened. But i digress. She was right,plain and simple. A divided country we will remain. There is no UNTIL.

Its just words posted on an internet forum by people you don't know and who don't know you . what does it matter in the real world and to your real life .
In my experience those types tend to get themselves banned anyway , water off a ducks back mate

I`ve noticed that a lot of people on here make posts that don`t address the topic but rather critique the person who posted the topic.
If you have no opinion about the topic then why even bother posting anything, nobody cares what your opinion of someone elses opinion is,at least i don`t care what anyone thinks about anyone else on here i`m just interested in the topics.

Small minds need to be expressed as well. Let them have their fun.

Originally posted by gortex
Its just words posted on an internet forum by people you don't know and who don't know you . what does it matter in the real world and to your real life .

VERY WISE WORDS.
This is just an internet site. Nothing said here will really matter anyways ...

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by beezzer
It's been going on since I joined and probably much longer beforehand.
Knee-jerk, hyperbole, strawman comments are common.

I ditto what Beezzer said. It's been going on since I got here ... 8 1/2 years ago.
Tell the truth about Obama .. then you must be a racist.
Tell the truth about Muhammad .. then you must be a muslim hater.
Tell the truth about the bible .. and you must be Godless.
Tell the truth about Hamas crimes .. then you must luv Israel and be closet ADL.
Tell the truth about Israeli crimes .. then you must luv Palestinians.
Suppot gay marriage ... then you must be a flaming liberal.
Support the Catholic Church's right not to provide free condoms .. then you must be a raging Catholic.
etc etc
Sometimes it's said straight out.
Other times it's inferred so they can get around the moderators ... but it's still there.
It's been here for at least 8 1/2 years. It's not new. And it's absolutely silly ...

It's the posters with IQ's of 50 or lower that immediately attack the poster (my apologies to people with lower IQ's)

The people that disagree usually start with "While I respect you and your post, I think you are wrong about this and here is why..... etc. I have extreme respect for these posters. Phage comes to mind almost immediately.

We don't have to agree with anyone here on this site, but everyone should respect each other. Debate is GOOD! Trash talking, negative accusations and name calling - BAD!

Originally posted by Ghostfreak1

Originally posted by Wonderer2012
But, at an increasing rate, posters jump in calling you a traitor for not supporting the troops or being against America etc, it makes me wonder if there are government agents posting on the site.

cmon... who does really support america in it's current state ? a corrupted country where people is completely ignored by his govt especially during "elections"... Where civilians lose more and more civil rights each day.... and where bad presidents gets reelected even if it's obvious the large majority hate him (2 cents prediction: Obama, 4 more years)

It's not racism to be against america nowadays, it's common sense... and it's not agains americans themselves, it's against that illusion of governement and democracy. what a joke !

My thread is more specifically directed at those who will take criticism of a government for example and turn that argument into you being against all Americans etc.

It's running parallel with what is happening in the mainstream- ie, critical thinkers are being labelled as 'extremists', 'racists' etc.

Much like 'conspiracy theories' are often placed into one large BS pile to some people despite the topic, we are seeing this develop in other areas- Libya policy was wrong= 'You hate America and freedom' etc.

It's where the world is headed, seeing it on here makes me believe there are placed government agents on this forum.

Its just words posted on an internet forum by people you don't know and who don't know you . what does it matter in the real world and to your real life .

Because you don't really know who you're going to anger and how they will retaliate. Some people will track you down and confront you and maybe even do violence to you. You never know who you're dealing with on the internet.

And why should the internet be an excuse to ignore common courtesy and respect? The internet is really not really different than real life, saying so is just a lame excuse.

The only difference is the internet does offer anonymity, so that emboldens people to trash other people.

Plus these tactics are nothing new, I've experienced them for years long before I knew of ATS.

It's still crap when someone does it though.

They think I can't see through the crap, but I do.

Some people just can't handle that other people don't have the same opinions as them so they've got to knock them down any way they can.

Unfortunately, they are the real fools.

And racist may be overused by liberals, but there really is some real racism out there, and pointing it out when it is real, is not wrong. There are a lot of antisemites out there that populate these kinds of boards because they know society doesn't really allow for racism, so this is really the only way they can have a voice and they will always try to shut down people who call them on it by making themselves out to be a victim and use the crap excuse of "I'm just criticizing Israel. Woe is me, why must be labeled a racist when I am just criticizing Israel" crap. They keep on using this lame excuse and intelligent people see right through this crap.

For some reason they can't seem to understand that people are intelligent enough to see right through their dirty tricks and traps and keep on repeating the same crap over and over again to try to shut down people who call them on their bs.

Ah well, c'est la vie.