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People, all over the forums, claim that Apolyton is taking over their lives. They will soon start to sue MarkG and DanQ for rehabilitation purposes (heaven forbid :)). So, to try to nip this little problem in the bud, I thought to myself, why not write a column on the benefits of Apolyton addiction. Right now, the 2 people that are reading this are thinking that MarkG and DanQ have given me a lobotomy or something. However, there are good things to Apolyton addiction (and I don’t need one of those white jackets either).
I’ll start with my entrance into the Apolyton community. It was November of 1998. YYYH told me of a cool new civ forum called Apolyton. To be honest, our first plan was to sabotage the CTP forums. Unfortunately, we didn’t succeed ;), but my little Off Topic spats, was a reason for a formation of an Off Topic forum. And well, since then I’ve been hooked. Is this a bad thing? Well my parents are thinking of coming to Greece and socking MarkG a couple times in the head (but that has been taking care of with bribes given to me by MarkG, if I tell my parents that Kunal Shah owns the forums ;)).
But why is it so bad? When I first came to Apolyton, I was (compared to today), politically inept. I was more knowledgeable about politics than most people, but I was still low on the ladder of political knowledge. Apolyton provided a forum (pun intended) for a variety of views. I’d never really spoken to an Anarcho-Communist or Libertarian, before Apolyton. Since then, Boshko has become a good friend of mine, while I’ve become to understand Utopian Communism and what it means. At the same time, I switched my political beliefs because of Apolyton.
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By listening to Libertarians, I became more receptive to decriminalize drugs and prostitution. I’ve become much more laissez-faire.
Of course, people will never change their views on abortion or hot-button issues once they have made up their minds. However, many people are swayed by economic and political arguments. Where else would I find economists like Roland and physicists like Intgrspin (who’d actually be willing to talk to me of course ;))? Where else will I find the political views of Anarchist Boshko side by side with the Fascist EVC? Where else can I challenge commonly held viewpoints? I doubt it’d be anywhere else.
I’ve changed my views in so many ways since coming to Apolyton that it is amazing. I’d never be the person I am today if I wasn’t introduced the many views of Apolyton’s Off Topic. In fact, I do indeed doubt that many that are in Apolyton today would never have experienced this divergence of views out in the "so-called" real world. In short, Apolyton Addiction is good!
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