Without George W. Bush, division tears apart the online left

Washington Examiner (a print newspaper) ^ | 8/22/2010 | Charlie Spiering

[markomalley]

In the ‘old days’ of the Bush administration, life in a online liberal discussion forum was great. Everybody was having a great time bashing the president and marveling at each other’s brilliance. But in the age of Obama, these once fertile fields of partisan rancor have been tainted by ideological dissent.

The latest news from Democratic Underground (DU) is a perfect example of what’s happening to the left online.

Earlier this year, the moderators of DU angered users of the forum after they issued a lengthy “censored list” of online behavior that would be banned and deleted from the site.

Now, matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short.

In the face of dissent and division, website administrator Skinner took to the web to issue a angst filled lament over the loss of the ‘old DU’

You don’t like what DU has become. Maybe you have very specific complaints, or maybe you don’t really know exactly what it is that you don’t like. But what you do know is that you wish it was more like the old DU. A community. A place that was special. Where we had big disagreements, but at least you felt like we all had something in common.

Yeah, I miss that DU, too.

I miss it so much that it makes my heart ache. I lie awake at night agonizing over it. I can barely bring myself to read my email anymore. I’m burned out and tired.
. . .
Here’s the problem in a nutshell: Back when Bush was President, he represented the center of gravity in politics — the focal point that determined “Which side are you on?” — and everyone on DU actually was on the same side. Now that Barack Obama is President, he has become the center of gravity. I think it’s clear that we still broadly agree on the issues, but we disagree on how best to get there, how long it should take, and how much compromise we are willing to accept. Those are the disagreements that matter now. To be blunt, we are not all on the same side anymore.

Imagine if during the Bush Administration, Democratic Underground had welcomed people who thought the president was doing a bad job, *and* people who thought the president was doing a good job. DU would have sucked. Sure, it might have been worth the effort to stop by every once in a while to argue with conservative idiots, but nobody would have felt like DU was their home, their safe-haven, their community.

So what is a lefty web haven to do when change causes division? Skinner proposes the following: “I am starting to think that much more radical change is necessary.”

[Jacquerie]

The duhmmies will never understand that straight jacket regulations hurt websites as well as economies.

[tanknetter]

So what is a lefty web haven to do when change causes division? Skinner proposes the following: “I am starting to think that much more radical change is necessary.”

Ok, what's the "much more radical change" the guy is proposing?

I kinda figured this was where the Dem blogosphere/netroots were going to go. The history of "Progressive" movements is one of grassroots energy being mobilized, but then severely controlled and channeled into action through a strict command hierarchy run by a select few. Go against the hierarchy, and you are ostracized and made an outcast from the group.

This is how labor unions operate. The "feminist movement", "environmental movement", "civil rights movement", etc, etc, etc.

The Nutroots are no different. They are primarily centered around blogs like Kos and MyDD which are tightly controlled and managed, only allowing a select few to actually post substantive material for consumption by the masses.

DU is more open (relative term) in terms of allowing broad equality of posting among the participants - but their authoritarian measures to stifle dissent really functions as an output-control method counterpart to the input controls on the blogs. HuffPo falls somewhere in-between.

From my experience, the GOP/Conservative side of the web is much more open, permissive, accepting and tolerant of "dissent" than the Dem/Left. Maybe it's just a function of the Conservative belief in the sovereignty of the individual rather than the collective (which is what the Left is really all about). Sure, at FR we have our Viking Kitties/Zots, but that's more of a troll-control mechanism rather than a means to ensure strict conformity to some narrow definition of what a "Conservative" is/should be.

[dynoman]

I’m just now wondering if one big difference between the left and right is that the left is “situational” about a lot more than the right. In other words the right bases their analysis on stand-alone principles and the left bases theirs on principles that change from situation to situation. It’s like situational ethics but involves more than just ethics.

[reformedliberal]

True.

Also, they will repeat that “Something must be done”. When I ask why, they just drop their jaw in disbelief, because to them, it is obvious. Even if *something* makes things worse for them.

Control freaks with a case of OCD and a huge dose of narcissism.

[dynoman]

Yeah it's problem isn't that the right has a superiority complex, it's that the left has an inferiority complex.

[dynoman]

Whoops;

Yeah *the* problem isn’t that the right has a superiority complex, it’s that the left has an inferiority complex.

[markomalley]

Yeah it's problem isn't that the right has a superiority complex, it's that the left has an inferiority complex.

It's only a complex if it is irrational.

[Chode]

and the RATS, take another one in the..............................HA ha!!!

[dynoman]

Well *they* accuse *us* of having a superiority complex, and yes their solution for their feelings of inferiority (it’s everyone else’s fault, everyone else must help them out) is irrational.

[PJ-Comix]

Okay but be sure to check your FreepMail.

[maggief]

DU rule:

“Over-the-top assertions of bad faith” in Obama, or “advocating voting against Democrats, or in favor of third-party or GOP candidates; broad-brush smears against Democrats generally; broad expressions of contempt toward Democrats generally.”

Sounds like Journ0List.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Schadenfreude Ping

[mel]

I guess you haven’t been flamed when you didn’t tow the line on FR :)

[Chode]

wow!!! and the DUmmies do NOT run their fundraiser like FR does

FR sets a DOLLAR goal, the DUmmies set a 1000 donation goal regardless of size

if they aren't even hitting that, they are in real trouble...

[Notary Sojac]

I don’t think you can call yourself a Freeper until someone has pointed you to JimRob’s FR charter and flamed your post for being Outside The Pale.

[Tribune7]

(unless it is for murdering unborn children and those who are too helpless to take care of themselves).

Well, they are also universal in the desire to restrict speech, and that all most be dependent on officers of the state for personal protection.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Ok, what's the "much more radical change" the guy is proposing?

Banning the F-word?

[dangus]

The irony is that DU is corporate-sponsored.

[Raider Sam]

Exactly right about feminists.

I was looking at the Songfacts page for Under My Thumb by the Rolling Stones, and someone had a pretty long post on how the song is demeaning to women and is not very enlightened. The guy who wrote that completely missed the point of the song and took the lyrics as some anti-woman screed.

[TheOldLady]

Ping to Post #10, which is begging for your “nailed it” graphic, SC