I'm Confused About Posting In Some Threads While Avoiding Any Political content.

I guess that I need to stop posting about anything but players, rosters and the draft. Almost everything else can colored by political views. And, of course, this is much more common in that there is almost nothing to discuss other than the draft and we have a truly excellent sub-board for those discussions.
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Don't the mods review the threads when they are opened? Aren't the threads approved by the mods?

I mistakingly presume that when we discuss government actions regarding the NFL or our ability to view games is inherently political.
For example, when discussing the actions of the FCC on the NFL and us, I think that any discussion would have political content.

Discussing whether teams should allow or punish homophobic statements comments is inherently political, or religious depending on point of view. As an aside, given that the thread clearly stated the subject, I thought that most of the posts reasonably showed the opinions of the poster.

I suppose the idea of limiting the earning power of NFL owners and top players can be discussed without any political content, but such discussions wouldn't really make much sense without the obvious context.

Even NFL actions to avoid being sued often extends into politics.

And, yes, almost anything being political is part of living in 2026.
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I did avoid reading the comments in the Hard Knocks thread since I have no interest in the program.
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END OF VENT
back to the draft board!

I think it's a judgment call. When threads start to go off the rails, they shut them down. Not everything has to go off the rails, but some people can't help themselves.

neuronet said:

Not everything has to go off the rails, but some people can't help themselves.

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Hence the death of the political forum.

I actually had some fun in there back in the day, since politics can be an interesting discussion (and maybe because I used to hate myself...). Alas, the **** slinging that's present everywhere on social media today had a fully-fledged predecessor here on Patsfans.

Successful political discussion requires understanding of nuance, and that understanding comes with study, patience, and only blossoms under mutual restraint.

So yeah, we're ****in cooked as a society for a while when it comes to discussing politics as a hobby

It’s understandable to feel uncertain about the boundaries. Focusing on players, rosters, and the draft is usually safest since those topics are universally relevant. When broader issues like FCC regulations come up, it’s easy for conversations to veer into political territory. Sticking to the direct impact on games or viewing tends to keep discussions on-topic.

I think that NFL matters that have a political element should be fair game, the problem is that posters invariably go off topic on to broader political debates. When it does I'm all in favor of the thread being locked down.

I hope the mods continue to crack down on anything political as it almost always ruins the thread. It might be fun to vent for a bit, but this is a football forum. There are plenty of political forums out there if you need that outlet.

Nikolai said:

Hence the death of the political forum.

I actually had some fun in there back in the day, since politics can be an interesting discussion (and maybe because I used to hate myself...). Alas, the **** slinging that's present everywhere on social media today had a fully-fledged predecessor here on Patsfans.

Successful political discussion requires understanding of nuance, and that understanding comes with study, patience, and only blossoms under mutual restraint.

So yeah, we're ****in cooked as a society for a while when it comes to discussing politics as a hobby

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The bad bunny super bowl halftime thread was a barn burner.

It was nothing but political!

I didn't realize how many "progressive" patsfans we had here.

Id say the U.S. makes it another 20 years until full meltdown... in the meantime... go patriots!

(I hope the term "patriot" is still safe over the next couple of decades... its offensive to the British and the Jets are probably going to move there.)

Ian has a strict policy of no political talk. He provides this site for free and lives off of donations and whatever online advertising he does. So you need to respect his TOS or go to another site that will allow discussions.

Unfortunately right now, there are several things going on that is political like Florida's fight against the NFL with the Rooney Rule and the FCC threatening to repeal their antitrust exemption. But there are ways to talk about those stories without the politics of it. If you stick to the law and whether it is valid or the potential impact on the NFL and not with making it about left or right or Democrat or Republican etc, you can still discuss. But on message boards, it does usually devolve into political crap throwing.

Yes, there are a lot of topics that get to near impossible to avoid politics, but rarely they affect the Patriots directly. So I don't care if those discussions are banned from the site when they devolve into political crap throwing.

We have enough Patriots topics that are very polarizing. We don't need politics thrown in. Usually people who talk politics on message boards have very firm positions and they are not going to be swayed someone with opposing views anyway. So you just end up "shouting" at each other.

The Jets have to be all about free speech. They had an owner named Woody Johnson. I mean, I can't define pornography but I know it when I see it.

I didn't see any politics in the Bad Bunny halftime show, except that prominent political figures announced they were against it. One main topic of contention seems to be that he sang songs in other than the language our occupiers spoke before independence (and which, to be fair, the founding fathers also spoke before kicking said occupiers out.)

There's no patriotism in linguistic chauvinism. Speakers of English are already losing our finest modern practitioner of the craft, but as he said, all's well that ends well. For that matter, some enormous percentage of our aphorisms came from Shakespeare. They might last the longest, because rather than try to preserve a language, he just invented big chunks of it.

I'm writing about language here not politics goddammit.

I never got the Bad Bunny thing. It was a freaking halftime show. It was 15 minutes out of your life. If you don't like the guy, go to the bathroom or get some food. Who cares if you don't like him or his politics?

Ever since Jay Z and Roc Nation have taken over the halftime show, I have been mostly disinterested in the show. Not for political reasons, but because the artists are not my cup of tea. That includes Bad Bunny. I loved Dre and Snoop's performance because they are old school rap that I listened to, but I still cannot name a song from either Bad Bunny or Kendrick Lamar.

Bad Bunny is an example where political discussion was more manufactured than real. That is the worst kind of political discussion.

PatsFanInVa said:

The Jets have to be all about free speech. They had an owner named Woody Johnson. I mean, I can't define pornography but I know it when I see it.

I didn't see any politics in the Bad Bunny halftime show, except that prominent political figures announced they were against it. One main topic of contention seems to be that he sang songs in other than the language our occupiers spoke before independence (and which, to be fair, the founding fathers also spoke before kicking said occupiers out.)

There's no patriotism in linguistic chauvinism. Speakers of English are already losing our finest modern practitioner of the craft, but as he said, all's well that ends well. For that matter, some enormous percentage of our aphorisms came from Shakespeare. They might last the longest, because rather than try to preserve a language, he just invented big chunks of it.

I'm writing about language here not politics goddammit.

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So did Samuel Clemens of Hannibal, MO.

PatsFanInVa said:

One main topic of contention seems to be that he sang songs in other than the language

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The translation of the words was pretty pornograhic. Not appropriate for a SB halftime show.

Water Boy said:

The translation of the words was pretty pornograhic. Not appropriate for a SB halftime show.

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Don't go to any middle school (or younger) playground at recess. You'll definitely get the vapors, my dear.

Nikolai said:

Hence the death of the political forum.

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I still want to know why chunks of metal fell from within Hillary's tent-sized moo moo skirt after she seized up and was being hauled into her awaiting Shaggy Mobile filled with doctors and nurses who escorted the "healthy" candidate to all events.
In the political forum, we were so close to solving this mystery.
But alas, the forum was unplugged.

Your use of the term 'posing' has me a bit confused. Posing is currently the province of Thelonious and it seems to me you are pissing in his rice bowl. Political content or not that's just wrong man.

maust said:

"I'm Confused About Posing In Some Threads While Avoiding Any Political content."

Your use of the term 'posing' has me a bit confused. Posing is currently the province of Thelonious and it seems to me you are pissing in his rice bowl. Political content or not that's just wrong man.

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I thought it had to do with his confusion of when to dance in a thread.

maust said:

Your use of the term 'posing' has me a bit confused. Posing is currently the province of Thelonious and it seems to me you are pissing in his rice bowl. Political content or not that's just wrong man.

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Clonamery said:

I thought it had to do with his confusion of when to dance in a thread.

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The basketball player who got cut sucks and is injury prone. If you’re barely hanging onto the roster, nobody wants to hear from you.

If you’re Tyreek Hill the team’s security apparatus and local police department will run cover for you after you break your son’s arm in a domestic abuse situation. If you’re Michael Jordan or Shohei Ohtani you can get caught gambling and your respective league will lie and cover it up for you.

Short answer… don’t suck, and if you do keep your mouth shut.

Wozzy said:

The basketball player who got cut sucks and is injury prone. If you’re barely hanging onto the roster, nobody wants to hear from you.

If you’re Tyreek Hill the team’s security apparatus and local police department will run cover for you after you break your son’s arm in a domestic abuse situation. If you’re Michael Jordan or Shohei Ohtani you can get caught gambling and your respective league will lie and cover it up for you.

Short answer… don’t suck, and if you do keep your mouth shut.

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The player is also apparently having a mental episode. He's doing livestreams on planes talking about how his family is calling him crazy and won't talk to him and criticizing top stars.

lancerman said:

The player is also apparently having a mental episode. He's doing livestreams on planes talking about how his family is calling him crazy and won't talk to him and criticizing top stars.

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Agreed, he admitted he has been the victim of childhood abuse. Clearly he needs some help.

Wozzy said:

The basketball player who got cut sucks and is injury prone. If you’re barely hanging onto the roster, nobody wants to hear from you.

If you’re Tyreek Hill the team’s security apparatus and local police department will run cover for you after you break your son’s arm in a domestic abuse situation. If you’re Michael Jordan or Shohei Ohtani you can get caught gambling and your respective league will lie and cover it up for you.

Short answer… don’t suck, and if you do keep your mouth shut.

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It reminds me of close to 25 years ago when a group of high school seniors got drunk and vandalized a veterans memorial park right outside of town. They all took plea deals (for sure community service and such, I do remember one of the requirements was they all had to watch the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan) and moved on.

One of the teens worked at one of the local auto repair shops and the owner was taking heat from some people in town, demanding he be fired. The owner defended him, told people he was a good kid and good worker that made a mistake and he wasn't letting him go. He lost a little bit of business over it.

Now, if the guy was lazy, consistently 20 minutes late and constantly screwing up, his job would have been gone before the first demand.