A Blog is Born: Announcing ~ Docudharma!

In the beginning there was nothing, not even nothingness, but nothing. An absence of thought, energy and matter, an absence even of darkness. The abyss………..the Void.

Then a whole bunch of other stuff happened.

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And then…Docudharma was born!

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Graphics by OPOL!….and carpunder.

In the long line of phenomena that has followed the Big Bang, the emergence of thought, energy and matter…and Paris Hilton…there has always been an underlying, or perhaps overarching pattern….too complex and immense for  simple beings such as us to grasp. Now the culmination (for the moment) of that pattern has emerged. Docudharma! (Trumpets) A new entry into the blogosphere! (OK, it is possible that that is just a tad overstated and overdramatic. Sue me! I’m excited!)

So…um a bit more calmly…Let us just say a few of us kids have gotten together to put on a blog. Our ‘official’ Front Pagers are Armando, One Pissed Off Liberal, Turkana, ek hornbeck and yours truly. But we also have a new concept for the FP, which I will discuss below. Docudharma is a political blog whose focus is not JUST electoral politics. And though it is a it is a good concept for Daily Kos, Docudharma is certainly not just about ‘Electing Democrats.’ It is a blog that was created to be the next step, we hope, in political blogging. A more conceptual and policy based place. A place to explore what is next for progressives and for the blogosphere. That is why our motto is…Blogging the Future.

While our focus is still looking at and analyzing politics, (all political essays are welcome!)it is also about looking beyond politics. About trying to understand more deeply and perhaps, if we are lucky, find some new approaches to the many problems of the world that are discussed and debated on political blogs. It is our hope that it will be a place to not JUST post and discuss what is happening right now, but also a place to look at, and discuss, and to try to bring into a clearer definition, the Big Picture.

AS Lithium Cola very ably put it, we are approaching…one way or the other…The End of the End of the World.  When Bush is gone…and we have nothing unifying to fight against, what will we be fighting for? And how? And in the meantime….how can we fight more effectively against Republicanism, Climate Crisis…and ….War.

Our Mission Statement:

Passion, politics, poetry, prose and ponies. Silliness, snark and a serious effort to frame the future. A river of words, thought, philosophy and action that nourishes and transforms the political cultural and social landscape through which it passes. That is the spirit behind this “place.”

In practice…write whatever the hell you want! There are no rigid restrictions here, it is a salon and a laboratory and a place to create a new reality. A reality based on compassion, empathy and caring for the people and the planet, while acknowledging the harsh realities of the world we live in and the difficulty of the tasks ahead. The complexities of greed, corruption and the petty politics of ‘human nature’ in the face of climate crisis and seven billion souls …will not be overcome by black and white solutions or electoral processes, but by becoming the change we wish to see and helping others to do the same. Not through top down enforcement, but through people working together, a model of cooperation, not competition.

In other words…Hey Kids! Let’s put on an evolution! This is a place for each of us to do our 1/seven billionth of that together, and hopefully speed the process of change along through a synergy of our ideas, intentions and actions. Now let’s get out there and change the world!

One thing we are very much NOT, is a Daily Kos bashing site! All of us will be continuing to post here and we think our format will allow folks to post original content at Docudharma while not diluting the content at DK much at all.

But as the elections near and Daily Kos turns more and more towards the Horse Races it does so well, Docudharma will be there as a more intimate place to think about the issues of the day more deeply, to express our selves more creatively, and to have a little fun! Plus with Armando and some of our other more raucous and opinionated posters…a place for good spirited conflict and energetic debate as well…one thing it will not be…is staid and boring.

Why We Are Here, by Armando

Something we do all agree on at Docudharma is that the combination of We The People and the Internet is a powerful one indeed, and just on the verge of really finding the power that is possible within it.  At Docudharma, community comes first, for we believe that communities…and networks of communities …are a real part of solving the many, many problems our world is facing. With our ‘leaders failing us once again, it is becoming obvious that we need new ways and new forms to flex and apply the Power Of The People. We hope to envision, discover and enact some of those new forms. To at the very least, have a conversation about them, a conversation that ideally, leads to their creation. We do not know where these new forms will lead, whether they will succeed or fail, we know only one thing. Their way does not work. And we know now that we have an opportunity to try another way!

They might not be fully cognizant of the nature of their mission. They’d contemplate it to be sure, and argue over it, but it would be dynamic, a work in progress, ever subject to change. Only the weak and dull of the world knew where they were going, and it was rarely worth the trip. Tom Robbins, Fierce invalids home from hot climates

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

When you head over to Docudharma, you will see that it is already quite active! This activity is the result of the unique (as far as we know) concept we are using to create our Front Page content. When the blog was created I selected, strictly by my subjective choice, a group SOME of those I thought of as the most creative and best writers on the net. I then contacted them privately and offered them space on the Front Page in exchange for creating one original non-crossposted (to the Big Blogs) essay a week! We call them Contributing Editors.

* 73rd virgin

* breathingstill

* Cronesense

* exmearden

* Jay Elias

* jillian

* ksh01

* LithiumCola

* LoE

* Magnifico

* melvin

* Nightprowlkitty

* noweasels

* occams hatchet

* pfiore8

* pico

* pinche tejano

* pyrrho

* Robyn

* srkp23

* theevolutionarysieve

* Unitary Moonbat

With Jerome a Paris and kestrel9000 as special guest bloggers as their schedule allows!

Some you will recognize…others not so much, but they are a top notch crew! What you see at Docudharma today is the product of those folks excitement at having unfettered creative freedom in a new venue. It is pretty exhilarating! There are also some old friends who have heard about the project and, with this many people involved some who have wandered across us by accident or by having the Top Secret info leak out a bit. We are at last count already up to 124 members, lol….all while being Top Secret!

Now I know I have left out a lot of folks and that some people will be pissed at me! If you were not invited or informed or did not stumble upon us, please do not be angry and do not despair! Docudharma was never intentioned to exclude, but before opening I wanted to make sure we had a truly great lineup to create our unique content. There are still opportunities to be had to contribute in many ways…even as a contributing editor once everything shakes out, schedule-wise. 

Which brings us too our short and sweet FAQ, which I encourage you to read when you sign up. There are only two things specifically discouraged, Assholery and Daily Kos bashing. There are plenty of other places on the net to find both of those! You will find it is far less formal than you are perhaps used to! We encourage you to drop the limitations on creativity that are found elsewhere, while not dropping your comportment and responsible posting practices. Oh yeah…one thing that WILL get you banned is stealing someone else’s UID/handle. We value honesty.

Above all we want Docudharma to be fun, creative and a joyful expression of community, for we believe that it is in this atmosphere and environment that breakthroughs of thought and ideas are most likely to happen. We are not by any means frivolous…just…fun!

Ok enough blathering! Come on over and sign up….before the line gets too long!