I've thought about this for a while: What, indeed, is so different 
between Saul's posts in this newsgroup, and the other 
"political-related" posts here?

The conclusion I've come to is that virtually all politics-related 
discussions on this newsgroups have been discussions /among people/ 
first, and /about politics/ second. It's always about how individual 
people think (and feel!) about stuff going on in the world - sometimes 
backing up their opinion by external sources, but it's always /their/ 
opinion.

This is an entirely different approach from someone just presenting 
external sources, without relating to them on a personal level.

It seems to me that we, the people participating in this newsgroup, to 
the most degree prefer a discussion among peers, rather than discussing 
other people's views, let alone that of authorities. Which I consider 
quite healthy, because it shows a free spirit, and the desire to come to 
one's own conclusion rather than just believe what others say.

I also think it quite healthy because it includes both reason /and/ 
emotion, and my guess is that this is exactly what most of us like best 
about the atmosphere (do you say that in English?) of this newsgroup.

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