I am disappointed that it was found necessary to hide the posts from Gabba and freeze this topic.
I personally found the original post to be mostly a point of curiosity. Most responders, and comments were on topic, and responded to the original post.
Some, including myself, may have thought that Gabba was somewhat oversensitive, but I do not think that censorship is the answer. I believe that having a wide latitude for users to express themselves is the most informative way for a forum to operate.
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The trends can be found online. Interesting topic, I thought of the same but didn’t start a topic here (yet). Is there a badge for having a topic frozen? 
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I thought it was a good topic also. We (from the US) are traveling in PerĂş right now and get asked about US politics and the new president a lot. I find it very interesting what people outside my country think about the US. And the feelings people have about traveling there. I wish people could be objective when having these conversations. It is an opportunity for everyone to learn.
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Exercises of curiosity sometimes yield unexpected learnings. Strange times.
… badge for frozen topic?
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This is a moderated topic. I seem to remember someone calling people names which would be a cause for moderators to step in normally. You can go to unmoderated forums where people can bash each other.
Also and I don’t mean this to be “political” just factual. Many people living in the US – not just government workers, and undocumented foreigners, are going through some uncertainty at the moment with employment. This includes people in private industries as well as non-profits. That’s a lot of people. We are also struggling with inflation and a lot of uncertainty. On social media things are very polarized and ugly. This forum while moderated and not a platform about politics, should feel like a safe enough space to come and discuss “trends” and conditions in countries or regions for travel whether people are talking about crime and safety for solo travelers in some regions, or border issues with attacked for giving factual information such as links to information from travel business sites etc.
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I am travelling in MAGA lqnd now. And have gotten into some political discussions. But it is still OK for sits. That is the topic. Is it safe for sits? Unless they close the border.
I don’t know where you are in the US, but many people in areas in the US that didn’t have the majority of votes for Trump (just about all the urban areas even in “red” states) might be offended by the word “Magaland.”
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That sounds like a contradiction in terms. You are saying democrats are offended by “magaland”? I am in FL. Mostly senior areas. They are maga.
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I didn’t know where you were. If you called where I lived and by the way the majority of people in my apartment complex are older people, we would not be “maga land”. I just checked the NYC electoral map. 93% of voters voted for Harris in my district. As for Florida, this also depends where you are county by county. While Trump won the state by a wide margin, he lost his own county. The country is very polarized.
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Well I walked the dog around a 55+ community across the street that had open houses and they let me know how they were Trumpeters. And my last sit, walking the dogs, I ran into some people and they told me it was Trump land. And even in MI, where I was living, 55+, the county was red. And so many people were voting Trump because their preacher told them to. So I know from MAGAland.
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And having lived in NYC for 30 years, I would never have called that Magaland. My UWS neighborhood was already blue.
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Unless it was posted and then “frozen” before I read it, I recall no name calling per se. There was indeed an offended conservative member who’s post apparently offended someone who complained. But I must say that someone who wishes to stay at a stranger’s house like myself and travel widely should be able to handle a wide spectrum of beliefs and views. I think the freezing (lets just call it hiding which I would tend to call censorship) should only be used as a last resort for clearly offensive material or personal attacks. My humble but heartfelt opinion.
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There was a mention of name calling before it froze.
So since the original is censored I don’t even get to find out if I was the insultee 
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I read the initial posts that were frozen. After reading the current comments, I have the following suggestions. Please don’t assume that all people from a certain country or of a certain demographic, such as age, are a problem. Don’t get into stereotyping. I am a senior who lives on the liberal west coast of the US and am personally unhappy with the current political situation. Regardless, I try to treat everyone I meet with kindness and respect. I was sad when I read some of the “frozen” comments.
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Our golden rule, not just in pet sitting but in all our travelling adventures, is never talk about religion or politics. If it’s brought up I just make non commentary noises and change the subject very quickly. Live and let live.
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Agree with you. I saw a word that definately would be considered offensive. It starts with an “a” and ends with an “e.” I checked again a while later and it looked like it had been “moderated.” I wasn’t watching the forum and don’t know when the moderator stepped in to freeze it, but that happens often here when things get heated. And probably many people active on the forum have been moderated at some point.
I tried to suggest that @Marion use the medical term that starts with an “a” and ends with an “s” but it was a prohibited word!!!
(but the one that starts with an “a” and ends with an “e” got in!)
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I’m from San francisco and it definitely doesn’t apply here.
I think it’s very problematic to lump all people in an age group or a geographic location into the same group. You have some anecdotal evidence about a few people in a location and want to categorize everyone else in the same group and location the same. That’s part of the problem of our country today - people lump people into divisive groups.
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