Into the Forums

One of the most interesting things about the Mountain Xpress Forums is how unpredictable they are. Some weeks, local political topics will dominate the discussion, while other weeks will see furious debates on music, international affairs or faith. This week, however, it was a variety of social topics — both local and local — that proved to be the most interesting.

For instance, here’s a question worth examining: Is Asheville truly the egalitarian utopia we’d all like it to be, or is there actually a significant amount of racism here? That discussion prompted another, more general thread, about homosexuality. And the ongoing discussion about the possible legalization and/or decriminalization of marijuana certainly hasn’t suffered from a lack of interest.

Of course, that’s not to say that national politics wasn’t part of the dialog this week. For instance, here’s a thread examining the idea that Condi Rice and Dick Cheney are war criminals. And there is no shortage of other ongoing discussions of national topics in the Non-Local News sub-forum.

And then there’s this Lost-inspired thread, which is a fun diversion. Instead of merely posting new content into the discussion, the forum users are encouraged to go back and alter their existing posts, turning the narrative into an increasingly bizarre and disjointed series of fragments. Check back daily to watch the very topic of discussion change.

These threads are merely a few of this week’s discussions on the MountainX.com forums. Don’t see a discussion about that burning topic you’d like to talk about? Why not start your own? All registered members of MountainX.com have forum accounts, and if you aren’t a member, joining is easy — just click here.

— Steve Shanafelt, forums administrator

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