User talk:Dr. America: Difference between revisions

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Welcome!

Hello, Dr. America, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{helpme}} before the question. Again, welcome! Guettarda (talk) 22:28, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

September 2008

Please stop. If you continue to violate Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy by adding commentary and your personal analysis into articles, as you did to Daily Kos, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. — Realist² 22:55, 18 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is the last warning you will receive for your disruptive edits. The next time you violate Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy by inserting commentary or your personal analysis into an article, as you did to Daily Kos, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. — Realist² 12:11, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your recent edits

Hi there. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four tildes ( ~~~~ ) at the end of your comment. If you can't type the tilde character, you should click on the signature button located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your name and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you! --SineBot (talk) 17:43, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not attack other editors, which you did here: User talk:Realist2. If you continue, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. — Realist² 17:48, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is the last warning you will receive for your disruptive edits. The next time you violate Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy by inserting commentary or your personal analysis into an article, you will be blocked from editing Wikipedia. – iridescent 17:55, 19 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I ran across this discussion on the page for editor assistance requests, where I was leaving my own request. As a liberal who nevertheless seriously dislikes Kos, and who proudly counts some conservative Christians among his friends and family, perhaps I can provide a little perspective.

When someone says "extreme leftist", I think of groups like the Revolutionary Communist Party, or even Symbionese Liberation Army. One problem with using "extreme leftist" to describe everyone from Kos to the farthest of the far left is that there actually are some useful distinctions blurred in the process. (No, really!)

Another problem with making that category so broad is that its rightward edge starts to creep ever further rightward. I've read of a progressive like Paul Krugman being described on some conservative blogs as "an extreme leftist". From such a description, you'd never know that he's broadly pro-free enterprise, definitely pro-free trade (which is infuriating to anti-globalization leftists), and that when moderate Republican Ben Bernanke ascended to the Fed chairmainship, Krugman was among those applauding. If Krugman is an extreme leftist, well, ... then so were almost all of the governments of NATO powers even during the Cold War. And if they were "extreme leftist", then what categorical room is left over for the erstwhile Soviet Bloc itself? Were the European powers under the U.S. nuclear umbrella just a bunch of "extreme leftist" governments being protected from some "extreme ultra-super-duper leftist" Soviet Union?

Re "Progressive": this is a term of a certain political vintage -- literalism just doesn't work. In the context of political discussion, you can't just say it means "people who are for progress", then leap to the conclusion that its use somehow sneeringly implies that anyone who isn't called a progressive is against progress. Look at "liberal" itself. In some contexts (e.g., "liberal democracy"), it means "capitalist". "Liberal" parties elsewhere in the world are a little more like Libertarians in the U.S. You need to think in terms of context and history, or else these terms make little sense.

I hope this sheds some light on the matter. 60.42.122.78 (talk) 14:55, 20 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

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 [[Image:Stop hand nuvola.svg|30px]] This is the '''last warning''' you will receive for your disruptive edits. The next time you violate Wikipedia's [[Wikipedia:Neutral point of view|neutral point of view policy]] by inserting commentary or your personal analysis into an article{{#if:|, as you did to [[:{{{1}}}]]}}, you '''will''' be blocked from editing Wikipedia. {{#if:|{{{2}}}|}}<!-- Template:uw-npov4 --> &nbsp;–&nbsp;<font style="font-family: Zapfino, Segoe Script"><font color="#E45E05">[[User:Iridescent|iride]]</font><font color="#C1118C">[[User talk:Iridescent|scent]]</font></font> 17:55, 19 September 2008 (UTC)
+I ran across this discussion on the page for editor assistance requests, where I was leaving my own request.  As a liberal who nevertheless seriously dislikes Kos, and who proudly counts some conservative Christians among his friends and family, perhaps I can provide a little perspective.
+When someone says "extreme leftist", I think of groups like the [[Revolutionary Communist Party]], or even [[Symbionese Liberation Army]].  One problem with using "extreme leftist" to describe everyone from Kos to the farthest of the far left is that there actually are some useful distinctions blurred in the process.  (No, really!)
+Another problem with making that category so broad is that its rightward edge starts to creep ever further rightward.  I've read of a progressive like Paul Krugman being described on some conservative blogs as "an extreme leftist".  From such a description, you'd never know that he's broadly pro-free enterprise, definitely pro-free trade (which is infuriating to anti-globalization leftists), and that when moderate Republican Ben Bernanke ascended to the Fed chairmainship, Krugman was among those applauding.  If ''Krugman'' is an extreme leftist, well, ... then so were almost all of the governments of NATO powers even during the Cold War.  And if ''they'' were "extreme leftist", then what categorical room is left over for the erstwhile Soviet Bloc itself?  Were the European powers under the U.S. nuclear umbrella just a bunch of "extreme leftist" governments being protected from some "extreme ultra-super-duper leftist" Soviet Union?
+Re "Progressive": this is a term of a certain political vintage -- literalism just doesn't work.  In the context of political discussion, you can't just say it means "people who are for progress", then leap to the conclusion that its use somehow sneeringly implies that anyone who isn't called a progressive is against progress.  Look at "liberal" itself. In some contexts (e.g., "liberal democracy"), it means "capitalist".  "Liberal" parties elsewhere in the world are a little more like Libertarians in the U.S.  You need to think in terms of context and history, or else these terms make little sense.
+I hope this sheds some light on the matter. [[Special:Contributions/60.42.122.78|60.42.122.78]] ([[User talk:60.42.122.78|talk]]) 14:55, 20 September 2008 (UTC)