[GK3]

I never saw the COVID stuff and don't recall looking at the Ukraine discussion. But I have appreciated the discussion on Israel/Hamas. One can easily tell whether a thread is political in nature. The world needs more conversation and less violence. Not my board, but if this can be a place for occasional discussions of big events among Stanford alums and interested parties, where one can easily skip over threads not of interest, that strikes me as beneficial.

The test for me is this: are the participants in a discussion seeking truth, or else what is the right thing to do given the truth? If so, the discussion is useful. If the discussion is about anything else, I don't have time for it.

No matter who you are, the current situation is such that very few, if any of us are truly current as to the realities of the situation.  That doesn't mean we don't have thoughts to add and provoke more thoughts.  Anytime you  think you know all the answers is the time you should realize you probably don't know any of them.
Many of us have life experiences involving the Military, Government Service, Intelligence, Political Science or just plain stuff learned through living.
As long as the exchange of ideas is civilized I think we all gain from being able to read other people thoughts.  None of us have all the answers.

[GK3]

I never saw the COVID stuff and don't recall looking at the Ukraine discussion. But I have appreciated the discussion on Israel/Hamas. One can easily tell whether a thread is political in nature. The world needs more conversation and less violence. Not my board, but if this can be a place for occasional discussions of big events among Stanford alums and interested parties, where one can easily skip over threads not of interest, that strikes me as beneficial.

The test for me is this: are the participants in a discussion seeking truth, or else what is the right thing to do given the truth? If so, the discussion is useful. If the discussion is about anything else, I don't have time for it.

No matter who you are, the current situation is such that very few, if any of us are truly current as to the realities of the situation.  That doesn't mean we don't have thoughts to add and provoke more thoughts.  Anytime you  think you know all the answers is the time you should realize you probably don't know any of them.
Many of us have life experiences involving the Military, Government Service, Intelligence, Political Science or just plain stuff learned through living.
As long as the exchange of ideas is civilized I think we all gain from being able to read other people thoughts.  None of us have all the answers.