Posted on 08/22/2010 4:38:43 AM PDT by 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.”
I was reading and posting on the Democrat(ic) Underground.
You know, “Keep you friends close, keep your enemies closer.”
A poster was complaining about the dishonesty, misleadings and lies from her fellow Democrats. My response was that followers always emulate their leaders. At the time the Democrats’ leader was Bill Clinton, a court certified liar. I suggested that for her to expect the followers of a dishonest man to be honest was an unreasonable expectation.
This got me banned forever from the Democrat(ic) Underground.
Don’t you just love “open minded liberals”.
Have you disinfected your computer? your fingers? your eyes?
Yuch.
” liberals are never happy and only become united when they all share the same unhappiness.”
Makes me think of that TV show which advertised something like “What will happen when there are no people?” I did a google and maybe it was the show “Live After People.” Sounded demonically depressive to me. Everytime I heard the ad I would think and sometimes say out loud, “Who cares? Shouldn’t we care about the here and now?” Seems like the kind of non-cheery show the libs would love. Imagine there’s no people. Wow, wouldn’t live be grand? Hmm, maybe they are really alien beings? lol
Rush has pointed out repeatedly that for the liberal, intentions are what count, not results. He is right. All manner of atrocity have been perpetrated by leftwingers with "good intentions," as a result.
Other comrades, in other places, discovered that marching the contaminated bourgeosie into the countryside works a charm!
You, too can be an "agrarian reformer", just like Mao or Pol Pot!
Buck up, Comrade Skinner - there's lots of revolutionizing to be done!
***I saw that on DU.***
Did you decontaminate yourself and go through deprograming when you came back to the REAL world?
;-D
LOL. OK, who has that "Attempting to give a damm" .gif handy.
Nice post #10.
IIRC they sell ad space over at the DUmp. Why do they even need a fund drive to begin with?
That show is global warming porn.
And this is a good thing.
Theodore Roosevelt famously asserted that"It is not the critic who counts . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena . . . who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds . . .Leftism is cheap talk, criticism and second guessing of the successful by those who will not undertake to expose themselves to the posssibility of second guessing by actually taking on any responsibility to actually get things done.When their own is in power, suddenly criticism is not the highest form of patriotism. To the contrary, only good intentions can matter. Results must be irrelevant.
Website administrator Skinner has this framed and hung prominently in his operations room:
I
Thou shalt create an illusion of invulnerability shared by most members to foster excessive optimism and encourage extreme risks taking
II
Thou shall not allow any member to question the group’s inherent morality, instead members shall be encouraged to ignore the ethical or moral consequences of their decisions
III
Thou shalt promote collective efforts to rationalize in order to discount warnings, or other information that might lead members to reconsider their assumptions before they recommit themselves to their assumptions
IV
Thou shalt reinforce stereotyped views of enemy leaders as too evil to warrant genuine attempts to negotiate, or as too weak and stupid to counter whatever risky attempts are made to defeat their purpose
V
Thou shalt self-censor any deviation from the apparent group consensus, inclining each member to minimize the importance of their doubts and counterarguments
VI
Thou shalt create and maintain a shared illusion of unanimity concerning judgement conforming to the majority view
VII
Thou shalt apply direct pressure on any member who expresses strong arguments against any of the group’s stereotypes, illusions, or commitments, making clear that this type of dissent is contrary to what is expected of all loyal members
VIII
Thou shalt appoint mindguards to protect the group from adverse information that might shatter their shared complacency about the effectiveness and morality of their decisions.
Based on Iving Janis’ groupthink behaviors. Explains everything website administrator Skinner has done to date.
Life After People is an interstesting show.
It shows both the speculative future if people suddenly disappeared from the earth and actual events where people have disappeared from various locals around the world during the last hundred years. Surprising how many places have had people ‘dissappear’ from them, never to live there again.
You gotta love it. I saw this coming a mile away. Their problem is that there is a group of Obongo freaks that worship the ground he walks on no matter what he does. Now that group probably consists of real posters, along with Obots, and Buffy Wicks and her clan.
Then there is the rest of DU that watches the real issues and what is going on. SO they aren’t liking their promised Messiah, the man they worship. Well when they say they don’t like things he does, the sheep go ballistic.
That’s the difference in people on FR and on DU. Freepers worship no president. We know there is only one person you should worship.
Half or more of DU members were Hillary supporters. That doesn’t mean they aren’t Democrats or aren’t liberal, it just means they probably see that the clown in chief is a dismal failure. I think the Obongo should just fund DU since they aren’t allowed to say anything bad about the punk in chief.
Skinner should want Palin to run and win. My God, they would be so united over there he would never have to worry about donations. :P You think they hated Bush, that’s nothing compared to what it would be with Palin. A pretty, God loving, 2nd amendment loving, patriotic, white woman. Their worst nightmare.
Try it sometime. one of my friends pushes their buttons daily and has remained without getting banned for years.
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