I’m a little disappointed that the “Proud of my fellow Americans today” thread was shut down after my comments. I didn’t think that my comments or anyone else’s were disrespectful to one another but only a reflection of our own opinions of the subject matter and the current state of our country. I can only surmise that it was shut down because of something I said since it happened immediately after. It’s a shame the others weren’t allowed rebuttal or agreement or a different take, etc. It just gets shut down. What are we afraid of?
Is this where we are at now? I realize that this is a private site and Ben can shut down what he wants when he wants, but I can’t help but think it was because of something that I said. It would be nice to know if that were the case and why?
A little disappointed,
In worldly policy matters like this, my policy is this… "I’m neither with you, nor against you!"© . Same to people on both sides of the aisle. If unchecked (by that I don’t mean forum discussions or debates), there can be perpetration of evil on both sides.
@Stixx3969, remember this is @BanjoBen’s forum and after all we’re here to play the mandolin, guitar and banjo. I don’t see anything wrong with Ben shutting down the topic…
No offense, but I didn’t read your post @Stixx3969. I read quickly through the posts from time to time to make sure everyone was playing nice, which I wasn’t surprised at, but I got tired of thinking about it so I decided to. Believe me, it was nothing personal toward anyone, I love you all, regardless of what anyone believes.
It was mostly my fault, Keith. I should have never started it. Political discussions here have generally not gone well, so Ben prefers us to not go there.
My apologies for my contribution to any hard feelings.
No, I don’t think you should apologize. That was your opinion and I simply offered mine as well. Don’t apologize I hold nothing against anyone I think we should be openly discussing these things. I felt bad because I thought I got it shut down. It’s all good!
Now worries and thanks for the clarification.
To be honest, I’m not even sure I was in my right mind when I started the topic. Generally speaking, I consider this forum a safe haven from debates and heated discussions. In hindsight, I should have clearly known there would be some disagreement, but I honestly didn’t think about it before posting, other than the fact that it was political in nature (that SHOULD have been my clue 
)
I was enjoying the back and forth, but that’s really not what I want this forum to be (for me, at least.) Sometimes I need people to protect me from myself. 
I don’t know Mark. As Americans we need to have these discussions openly. I think as long as no one is being disrespectful personally , However, I do understand why it might be exhausting for Ben to try to keep up with all of it. I get it.
There’s not a person that has commented yet on either of these threads that I don’t trust (yes that’s a double negative). I don’t know everyone who reads and may comment and I didn’t feel like the liability, even though y’all would’ve handled it. However, I don’t want this forum to be a squeaky clean milquetoast-haven at all, perhaps I shouldn’t have shut it down. Anyway, have at it and I’ll let it go longer next time 
Personally I thought it was an excellent time to shut it down.
If I can start by saying that I was reading this thread and wish to say firstly God Bless all of you. That is an expression I had stopped using for many years so thank you. I was personally also glad that Ben shut it down. One of the reasons being that I came here for Music and some fun, humour and healthy conversation.
I am British and served in our Military during the 80’s to 2000’s so much of my adult history is heavily intertwined with yours. Did I find that period of time all good no although for the most part I thought I was doing the right thing.
Things I have seen, heard, done or the aftermath of events ran from the darkly humorous to the worryingly sinister.
Lived in Texas near the end of Service and saw some of the anti trespass signage and thought it very straightforward but interesting.
My concern was that I started to read people turning themselves inside out over this thread. I will not actually bore you with my opinion as I could have agreed and disagreed with all of you in the same sentence.
Fully supportive of healthy discussion but be mindful were it goes The UK as I am sure you are aware went through a big one recently that being Brexit. A strong proud Nation as well as yourselves we are in for interesting times. Knife crime and Murder is high in our Capital as elsewhere in our country.
I talked about Camps with Ben the other night through the Forum and can advise that I could sit and talk with anyone. The talk could be about about anything from just Chewing the fat to some quite deep seated issues by all means do that but electronic communications can be easily misunderstood.
God bless you Mark. What a great comment . Since Military Service has ended I often need people to protect me from myself.
I kept out of that discussion because of my personal views on legal gun ownership. The last time a similar topic was raised I posted a picture of the school massacre at Dunblane Scotland in 1966 where 16 young children (aged 4 1/2 - 5 yrs) and their teacher were shot dead. My post was about sharing in the grief of the American families who had lost their children in a mass shooting. @BanjoBen quickly shut down that conversation too. So don’t take it personally Keith
I would much prefer it if this Forum remained free of ALL political matters. Save for the odd piece of humour. Let’s keep this site a place of harmony fun and music. There are many other places on the WWW where folks can air their views on any topic they choose.
It wasn’t shutdown just because of your post. Political, religious, and other off topic discussions have been here before with no problem and they’ll be here again I’m sure. The thread was going in a particular direction which could have easily riled folks up on both sides and I was contributing to that as well.
It’s hard not to stand up and speak out for what you believe in, we all get that, but there’s a time and place for everything. Let’s not forget the purpose and spirit of this forum and let’s have some consideration for our host, who looks out for and takes good care of all of us and who also must protect his livelihood.
Many of us here feel like we’re family, but we’re all also guests here. I’m grateful to have this forum and that we are, for the most part, free to discuss things in addition to music.