Open ZooChat and Politics

[FunkyGibbon]

I was motivated to create this thread because of an increasing number of political threads and posts appearing on ZooChat. Although I do have a point, I'm not so much interested in making that as I am in starting a conversation (sickening phrase I know).

ZooChat is primarily a place for discussing zoos, as well as wildlife and conservation issues in general (well, duh). I don't think that overtly political discussions bring a lot to the site, but they do run the risk of creating division and alienating people.Over the last few years we've seen political discussion become increasingly polarised, and we've also seen online spaces become increasingly segregated with regards to political opinions. More and more people are living in virtual, and physical, bubbles, where everyone around them agrees with them. ZooChat, because of its nature, almost certainly doesn't suffer from this; one assumes that an appreciation of zoos runs across the political spectrum (although it may stop before the far-left). However, in the wake of Trump's victory I've noticed more and more posts which seem to have an implicit or explicit anti-conservative perspective.

Full disclosure at this point: I would describe myself as pretty firmly liberal, and I'm also not an American citizen. I certainly have no love for Trump, and being a westerner living in China gives his unpredictability 'a little more spice' than I'm completely comforatable with.

I think it would be a shame if ZooChat became a place where people with conservative views feel unwelcome. I also, frankly, enjoy having a space where I can get away from the politics that otherwise feels fairly omnipresent online. Of course, I understand that politics can and does effect the issues we discuss on this site, especially with regards to conservation. That's not what this is about. What concerns me more is the general 'Republicans are doing something bad' style posts.

As I alluded to above, these are just some thoughts. I'm mainly interested if people agree with me or not.

FG

 

[Simon Hampel]

At the end of the day, while my job here is to facilitate discussion not stifle it ... there are plenty of other places that people can go to talk about politics as much as they like. This site is about zoos and animal conservation - discussion about other topics is tolerated but certainly not encouraged.

If political discussion starts to damage the community we have built here, I have no problem banning threads on those topics. We had to do it on one of my other sites for about 5 years a while back after it became too polarising (politics, religion and Australian Rules Football) - eventually we relaxed those rules, but they still manage to cause friction at times.

I'd just like to remind people that if they find specific posts problematic (eg hateful, bigoted, intolerant, etc) - they should report the post using the "Report" link and let the moderators deal with it.

 

[CGSwans]

I am highly politically active, so I recognise my attitude towards political discussion is probably more welcoming than most, but just a couple of points.

1) There is no such thing as an issue that isn't political. Sure, we all love zoos which is an ostensibly apolitical topic, but the following very live issues touch on our interests in animals, conservation and zoos directly:

• Animal welfare and rights legislation;
• The validity of the state taking a role operating 'businesses', like zoos, that could be outsourced to the private sector;
• The role of the state in regulating pollution, from hydrocarbons to plastic microbeads, to ensure a sustainably habitable biosphere;
• The application of both domestic law (eg the US Endangered Species Act) and international law (eg CITES) to preserve endangered wildlife.

I haven't even attempted to touch on things that affect us as zoo-lovers living in the wider world, such as whether Trump's immigration bans might affect some of us from trying to visit San Diego Zoo.

2) Noting the examples above, it's therefore evident that Zoochat has *always* had political discussions. It may be that they have been through the prism of issues we tend to think the same way on, such as conservation or animal welfare, but broad agreement does not mean the politics is stripped from those discussions.

3) Whether one is a fan of keratin-enriched demagoguery or not, the simple inalienable truth is that what Donald Trump is doing is *the* zeitgeist story of our time. Whilst we have an obligation to each other to engage in respectful discourse, to deny us the ability to discuss these events is akin to Basil Fawlty asking his staff not to mention the war; it's going to happen anyway, and I think we'll get away with it alright.

4) If anything, as a community coming from places as diverse as Mexico, Russia, Macedonia, New York, Singapore and New Zealand, I think we can benefit from engaging with each other politically, with the caveat of the afore-mentioned respect. We are currently facing an environmental (and I would argue economic) crisis whilst simultaneously confronting a political crisis; I'm not smart enough to claim I have all the answers but shutting down opportunities for people to reach outside their own ideological bubbles isn't likely to be one.

 

[Zooplantman]

It would be foolish, I think, to ban the topic. But it is important to ban bad behavior (if not restrained after notification)

 

[Coelacanth18]

My preference is for less moderation of discussion rather than more. However, I think there would be a great benefit to relegating political discussions to certain threads and forums so that people can choose whether or not to read and participate in them. There are many here on ZooChat that have expressed their desire to escape politics by visiting this site and I think that desire should be respected, while also offering a space for those who want that debate here.