Posted here so those who choose not to, or cannot participate at Daily Kos can comment.
The atmosphere, tone, and standards of Daily Kos posting have degenerated to an unhealthy and deeply personal level. The once high standard of accountability and accuracy in Daily Kos comments is now a thing of the past.
Charges of racism, sexism, blind hatred, blind devotion, hysteria, tantrums, childishness and pony wanting…and literally every other personal insult are thrown about like candy. Almost none of them are backed up when challenged, and many can’t be backed up at all. The use of insults and abuse roundly condemned in the Real World have become the de rigueur stock in trade of the warring political factions at Daily Kos and have by and large taken the place of substantive debate. When this is accepted as the standard of ‘debate,’ real, substantive, debate becomes impossible.
Any and all comments based on fact, reason and logic are instantly rendered irrelevant when they are responded to with personal attack.
And make no mistake about it: This is a political tactic used among political factions, exploiting personal animosity for political gain.
In the many months since President Obama first emerged as a candidate in the primaries, the people fighting this political battle for control over the content of the diary section of Daily Kos have made it personal. They’ve made it personal because personal attacks, and charges of various isms, can be used to discredit their political enemies. They use these personal attacks and charges to try to make their political opponents less credible, and thus less politically powerful.
It does not matter whether they have the acumen or knowledge of the history of political tactics needed to realize that this is what they are doing. It does have a history. It started with Nixon/Segretti, got upped to weapons-grade efficiency during the reign of Reagan/Bush/Atwater, and did indeed, with the aid of Fox News, become THE standard of political conversation under Bush/Rove.
These political tactics have a name: Character Assassination and the Politics of Personal Destruction.
For decades now, Americans have been raised on this model of political attack. Perhaps those who have known nothing else accept it as normal. Perhaps they accept it as a legitimate form of political “discourse.”
WE do not accept it.
WE being a decidedly non-secret group of posters here at Daily Kos who have — in desperation at the lack of policing both by the moderator of this blog and the community at large — taken the step of banding together to fight back against these tactics, and to fight back against accepting of them as the community standard here.
WE contend that one faction consistently uses these tactics, as well as the tactics of distraction and derailment, to gain political advantage, and to attack their political opponents.
WE freely admit that, in a years-long battle against these unfair and despicable Rovian tactics, at least some of us have reciprocated in kind. And in so doing, made ourselves part of the success of those tactics. Because, as we all know from watching eight years of Bush/Rove, these tactics work.
They are VERY difficult to counter while maintaining one’s own integrity and not descending to the same level. And when even one person in a discussion cannot counter such attacks without responding in kind, the downward spiral that has led us to the current environment at Daily Kos is continued. The lowering of all thought and debate to the lowest common denominator, mere insult, IS the goal of the tactics. We insist on higher standards, for ourselves and for others.
Our Mission Statement:
The intent of this group is to demand that Dkos use fair rules for ALL and to establish as a basic standard that NO ONE and NO GROUP will be allowed in comments to personally attack or uprate attacks on the character of any member of DK at any time. All arguments, civil or uncivil, must be made on content and not on character. Comments attacking the character of another commenter must be subject to enforced disciplinary action.
One set of rules, clearly articulated and equally applied.
We have NO intention of, and no interest whatsoever in, censoring, suppressing, or even limiting legitimate political speech. That is the goal of the faction using these tactics.
This faction’s only intent is to suppress all legitimate criticism of the current Democratic Party and the current President of the United States. They are willing to use any tactics, even the tactics of Karl Rove, to achieve that goal.
In fact, since their goal is only to shut down criticism, not to foster debate or mount a true defence against that criticism, their goal inevitably leads them to exactly those tactics. These Rovian tactics are designed to shut down debate, and have no other purpose. And so they have been adopted by those who have that as their goal, as the only effective means of achieving that goal.
WE believe that when character assassination and the Politics of Personal Destruction are eliminated — when content, fact, logic and reason are the standards of political discourse — we win the debate. We are so confident of that fact, we are willing to submit ourselves to a rule that disciplines and if necessary bans posters for the offense of attacking the character of fellow Kossacks.
None of us are claiming we will be perfect in the future. ALL of us are more than willing to be subject to stricter enforcement of existing rules, and to abide by and do our best to live up to these new standards — up to and including being banned ourselves. To us, it is well worth the risk.
And so we ask ALL participants at Daily Kos (in our role as community moderators) — and we petition the Moderator at Daily Kos — to adopt and enforce this new basic standard of debate and discourse. We are open to discussion on the details of how best to establish and codify that standards, suggestions of rule changes, and suggestions of enforcement by the management of Daily Kos. We hope to raise exactly those issues in future diaries.
WE invite you to join us by statements in comments.
One set of rules, clearly articulated and equally applied
buhdydharma
Burned
Clammyc
Colorado is the Shiznit
DelawareDem
eugene
Heart of a Quince
Jerome a Paris
Lady Libertine
Nada Lemming
Nightprowlkitty
TheFatLadySings
MinistryofTruth
TheMomCat
Predictor
Teacherken
TomP
willibro
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of demanding high standards, the Moderator can’t do his job of enforcing them.
If the Moderator doesn’t do his job of enforcement the community cannot demand high standards…as their is no real penalty.
Let’s ALL raise our standards, and stop the downward spiral of discourse at Daily Kos.
I do NOT endorse this.
By focusing on civility you are fundamentally wrong headed.
Civility is a club.
You put YOUR fate in the hands of YOUR OPPONENT’S PERCEPTION of their own ‘oh so sensitive’ feelings.
It’s not even what you really want. What you REALLY want is an end to HR abuse and random Banishment.
As my brother put it when he saw your proposal-
You are making a big mistake.
as a community of reflexive Obama supporters.
I do not go to Daily Kos for the same general reason I don’t go to Red State. I do not have any interest in arguing with Republicans on Red State. I have no interested in discussing the ins and outs of the psychoses of the individuals on Red State, except to defeat them, and while I don’t exactly think of myself as the ideological or political opponent of every Obama supporter, there isn’t really much to discuss with them either, unless it pleasures you to talk about how wonderful Obama is and how best to defend all his actions.
And Obama supporters (less certain individuals, but I’m talking overall — the community of Obama supporters, that has itself established over there) use the same tactics and the same rhetoric and the same demeaning, taunting, tongue sticking out attitude as Republicans do. They might as well BE Republicans, for purposes of arguing about anything real with them.
It’s all about apologetics. And I do not want to talk about how best to “support” Obama as if he needs my support at all. I’m just not interested in it, and having mealy mouthed blog worshippers “supporting” one might as well be no support at all. It alienates, but doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s the less pleasurable equivalent of internet masturbation. If I’m going to engage in internet masturbation, I at least want the orgasm at the end, or its equivalent.
And/or it’s about having a community of Obama supporters for no other reason than having a community of Obama supporters — of which they have many such so undeservedly snobby clubs. In which case, if you want to talk about something different, something real, like an actual issue or something, the only civil response is, “Well, ok. Have a nice day. I guess.” and to go away.
I find it mystifying, personally, to tell the truth. if you really were an Obama supporter you’d realize that people are leaving and are never coming back. And they’d also realize that Obama supporters need us more than we need them.
You can add me to it both here and there. The ‘swarming’ of diaries by people whose only intent is to disrupt and sidetrack bugs me. Personal insults? Well, I can give back if I need to or make an insulter look like a fool pretty quickly, but mostly I find that what they want is response of any kind, so ignoring them is the one thing that drives them batty and makes them make themselves look like fools.
was on that diary.
You’re going up about 30 a minute right now. Just curious, but who is moderating that? 😉
That’s a lot of angels dancing on a pin.
Shanti.
Meteor Blades would have known this was coming, because he must get 500 e-mails a day about it. If he and Markos knew budhy or someone like budhy (contoversial) would post this, do you think that they let it happen (give em enough rope) just to watch budhy or whomever hang themselves?
At 1550 comments there so far, it is not a grand success, but it isn’t a fail either. There is alot of “kill the messenger” replies—-big surprise. Trying to filter out the actual ideas on how to make improvements is difficult.
I am the type who wants it spelled out-“do this, do this, do this”—-so a manifesto is an outline, but not the “to-do” list. I see this will be a work in progress.
I understand ek’s brother’s point, because he is saying what there is To Do. Actionable.
I have also noticed in the past two days that Meteor Blades himself has been posting, what, 6,7 diaries….issues diaries that the Fan Club would normally go in and hijack. I don’t think they will dare, but I haven’t read them all. But his doing this says something to me.
Having read in other places that the Fan Club believes that this is now a “clean slate”, the timing of it is interesting as well. A ‘”clean slate” might mean that they agree to stop hijacking, etc., and now going into budhy’s diary to do anything than play nice, would be inappropriate at best.
Just some observations.
into oblivion over there. But the night is still young.
I do agree with you ,mostly, but I don’t think it will do any good, most of the ‘good guys’ have been run off and the moderators are control freaks who banish the wrong people. The real trouble makers are all still there. I remember a time when sanity ruled the GO, now not so much.
Well, my skeptical side can now eat paste, cuz there are 2100+ comments and server-crashing is under discussion.
443 recs, and so many recommenders I cannot count.
And there are people there who are saying that the number of recs, recommenders and comments means absolutely nothing. Ya, uh-huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh.
That amount of denial is unfathomable, but I am easily unfathomed.
the comment before I got really pissed at some asshole who said
It is time to stop the “but they did it [first more worse]” debates and start trying to focus our ire where it belongs: on Republicans.
It’s not that Democrats “can do no wrong”. It’s that Obama is the most liberal person we can elect right now. If you don’t think that’s liberal enough, fine. Trying to argue for a more progressive policy is what you should do. Trying to insult Obama, or anyone who still likes him, is not helpful.
Insult Republicans. Offer constructive criticism of Democrats.
And at this I could not contain myself. This constructive criticism bs is just infuriating and widely used. The Obmabot then gets to decide what’s constructive. I don’t want to read insults to Republican’s I know they are disgusting, I’m interested in taking back my country from ignorant people like the very ones who tell me to be ‘constructive’. Anyone whothinks that a pol is not to be insulted and policy is off limits if it reflects badly on the Dems or Obama, is as ignorant about what a representational democracy is as a teabagger. They hhave passed from beng loyalists to royalists.
I will sign up but like ek I will not STFU and allow these freakin morons to decide what or what isn’t civil. This adminstration is not civil it is the same as the last batch of gangster thugs. Worse as it insists this is moderate and change. The enemy of the good needs to be heard otherwise the pods get at you and you wake up one day and think killing, torture, lawlessness and bribery, and theft are good and all we can get as were a center right nation and this is liberal.
Phoenixwoman’s comment that the standards would make gaming DKOS by organized groups as noted on this blog harder was spot on.
https://www.docudharma.com/diar…
I just got booted off DKOS after posting a diary asking if there were in fact groups organized to HR others and here was evidence that it has and is happening.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
Clearly there’s a whole underworld at DKOS that has tacit if not active approval of DKOS management. As someone pointed out in my defense, noting I was being stalked, one of the stalkers said it was OK because any TU (of which I was one) could declare HOS (Hide rate on site) but HOS would clearly be against DKOS rules, anyone doing it clearly stalking and would be banned by the DKOS rules so DKOS approves of the off site control groups mentioned in the thread above and of their behavior.
No doubt that explains the anger directed at your diary about standards.
What would work for DKOS is getting rid of the HR altogether (that comment was hide rated quickly) since it is simply a punitive attack tool, serves no other purpose and there are, as noted above, clearly organized gangs using it to stifle opinions, again clearly against DKOS rules but allowed by DKOS.
As another person mentioned, the tea bagger atmosphere on DKOS is profitable as Beck and Murdoch can attest so there is every incentive to keep it. No accident that Drudge and DKOS were the high traffic political hotspots on the web.
the entire commentary is derailed by the idea of civility or lack thereof. By providing an opening to the crowd there, the diary essentially fails, though it was well intentioned.
You can very civilly, and with reference to all kinds of facts you may have cherry picked, lie to people in the baldest of all bald faced senses.
Especially just by picking a particular spectrum of time.
For example, in one instance, like, before an election, say “A vote for Obama is a vote for CHANGE! How dare anyone try to say Obama isn’t a liberal” (and then martial all kinds of facts that try to prove Obama is a liberal)
And at another time, like, say, after an election, say, “I always thought Obama was a pragmatic, even somewhat conservative centrist.”
If Obama had run as the candidate he turned out to be as President, he probably wouldn’t have been elected. It’s just that simple. And, so the Obama supporters (how do I say this civilly) change their positions, as the facts blow them, to try to make it about tribalism as opposed to about issues.
Another commenter at GOS said this “I suppose it will take another Republican majority to unite all the factions again”
To which my response is, “Try it and see, fucker”.
The factions will not be united again out of see the boogeyman. Or at least, they shouldn’t be. And, some conversation should be had over the idea that Obama used up something that comes only once every generation, if even that often.
The next candidate that runs on liberal progressive change will not win if any part of it is backed up by bullshit apologia. That particular bullet has been expended. The lies and the obfuscations do not feed any particular policy prescription or point of view, they just feed tribalism.
And that’s all the next Democratic candidate will have left, because the bait and switch may have gotten Obama elected, but was terribly destructive (at least to Democrats) in the long run.
And if you have some kind of thing you want to persuade me on or about, what hasn’t actually been tested yet, but will be, in the next Presidential election, is whether tribalism and playing ghost story about boogeymen, by themselves, will suffice.
But, self styled centrist (and not all that pragmatic pragmatists) test away. Just don’t blame me when the results aren’t as advertised.
There are people coming out of the woodwork to make comments. People I have NEVER seen or heard of, andlikewhoamI, but I am betting they are not regular commenters.
THESE folks seem to be very supportive to New Rules.
This be gud newze. Chin up, Shaharazade! It might not be so bad. (((hugs)))
I mean everything. Like I missed this until just now, and I haven’t looked in at GOS for it.
I think the essay proves beyond all doubt that GOS has jumped the shark and that it’s probably time to shuffle on down the road. But I don’t mind hanging around for one last heroic though probably doomed attempt to change direction.
Thanks for doing this.
Or are we only talking Democratic intramural name calling?
and hope it does some good.
I would be also be happy to join the list. (DK UID: 2408)
PHOENIX WOMAN
Things are happening behind the scenes (7+ / 0-)
Recommended by:nolalily, slinkerwink, El Zmuenga, wolverine 06, Predictor, ohmyheck, svboston
At 2490 comments and untold recommenders, maybe DKos HAS spoken. Budhy, bless him, is still there, replying.
And the beat goes on……………..
so glad you all did this. i haven’t been around very much – here or there – jsut too busy with school came up for air a bit last week during spring break but am buried again. was in shock when i saw the number of comments when i skimmed the rec list around 10 pm. that it is still growing. amazing. i know it’s been pretty funky around there, but i had no idea how many other readers have been put off by the stink of censorship in the name of blind loyalty.
i wish i had time to read the whole thing and comment, but it’s nearly 5 am and i have school and work tomorrow. i hope i am the only up at this hour commenting.
love you all. so glad someone stood up and finally publicly and loudly said what we all have been muttering about. i did something similar on a smaller scale in the building where i live. it is good ot know that there are others who are willing to go out on a limb on behalf of what is right.
Honestly, DKos is the least of my overwhelming concerns about impending extinction events.
I’m not saying I don’t respect the original mission, nor any of the continuing fine work by many front-pagers and diarists; Overall, I just think they are hooked on the non-performing teat of Democrats.
Argue all you want about milkless tits. We are factually way, way, way beyond such historical arguments.
The future has arrived.
Mainstream media wants to foist upon us all. Clearly neither the flat earthers at the GOS nor the racists of the right have our best interests at heart.
One can not legislate morality in a dying empire.
Party of NO, hell it’s a world of NO.
Birther, bagger tin foil hatter
What you say does not matter
NSA knows what you say
SWAT team is on the way
Run don’t walk
And go see Doc
To get your meds
That will soothe your head
outside kos because the problem is kos himself, not the rules.
I wish there was a community blog for greens.
dang, you should have posted, at the other place, as a mothership and pods. I haven’t been able to open the comments since yesterday.
Because their intent is PROFIT; and the more people the better… and the people who make it a unified voice for whatever the DNC deems are the most important to their profits.
I don’t agree with the idea that “we’re all big kids, if you can’t take the heat, get off the net..” either.
Grown ups argue TOPICS, they don’t go for ad hom’s or personal attacks. I hate when bullies use “free speech” as an excuse to bully others.
This is why most political discourse goes nowhere.
I’d add my voice to the hurricane, but my voice isn’t allowed there. My earlier naivette made me stick up for a woman being attacked, who ended up being someone who was attacked for being exactly the attacker they said she was….
I always stand for the underdog, but many times I don;t realize till later that underdogs can be douchebags too… LOL.
I wish dKos would ban hunting packs (especially in I/P) but ‘taint never gonna happen McGee!
Peace, and luck to you.
in thsi buhdy. We told the truth and 2500 people commented, along with over 800 recommends. Counter-dairies quickly were thrown out to protect the orthodoxy, but it won’t be the same there. Too many people said, “you’re right.” Too many people said, “I used to comments, write diaries, or read Daily Kos, but I hardly ever come by precisely because of the political use of character assasination.
No doubt the character assasination will start up again. It’s all they have.
Some friends I respect askk me why I stay since it has become a propoganda arm of OFA much of the time. I have even been publicly criticized (on a blog) by a friend who believes I compromise too much by saying good things about Obama at times or ending a diary with Fired Up, Ready to Go.
My answer is two-fold. First, I think we need an alliance with Obama and the centrists he represents in order to fight fascism. It’s not deep. The right in America is dangerous and must be defeated. We cannot afford Bush and Obama is an improvement, even if not as much as I wish he were. Second, I simply will not be pushed off a blog by people who use such tactics. They will havve to ban me, which may happen someday. Until then, they will just have to put up with me. Besides, I provide meaning to a few of their otehrwise sad lives.
FP article last night about how Obama rules the ‘center left’ accoeding to C Bowers and all opposition should be directed to the Repubs who are all powerful and own the media. I asked why Democratic voters who actually voted for change where going to show up and vote for the same policy they resoundingly voted against. Delusional and a cult, not ‘center left’ not even Democratic. You cannot debate with a dinning room table, especially one that is determined to cram there cult down your throat. What is civil about this? What is democratic about this and most importantly what is pragmatic about this. These people are the new Republicans, they have no interest in civility or democracy. They do not reflect the majority, and would be laughed at in the real world. It’s insulting and arrogant and it will not work, bait and switch doesn’t cut it as far as getting people to support a right wing agenda by simply declaring it center left. Bullying people and calling their rights and common good ponies is not pragmatic. The internet’s ‘center left’ wonks are as bad as the DC pols as far as having the whole thing ass backwards, and being delusional and calling it pragmatic.
“What, they thought he could fix everything and make all the ditto heads and corporate brianwashed see the light overnight?
And here we are.
Be patient. Push, sure. Agitate and educate. But if you don’t persaude others to support him, then you simply can’t expect him to sacrifice all the good he can do in 8 years for your pet ideas. IOW, as FDR said, make him do it.
Otherwise, you’re as bad as the selfish children who bawl about being forced to buy health insurance instead of making you and me pay for them when these free-riders get sick. but you won’t have Fox-aganda, talk-radio and corporate America floodiing the media to justify and excuse your selfishness and tantrums. You’ll just be left starving, bleeding, in the dark wondering how it all happened… again.”
rank nrec ncom tators cnx viewers impact Diary Author
1 783 2583 677 1250 2862 9.55 (budhy’s)
783 Recommends.
Yup. No one likes this idea, not one bit……
What have I missed out on?
Another phase in the war between Those Who Are In Favor Of Caving Now, and Those Who Are In Favor Of Caving Later. The argument is so furious, and occurs at such a low grade of debate, because so little is at stake. What does Paul Street call it: “A Centrist, Corporate-Imperial Presidency Facing Minimal Popular and ‘Left’ Resistance.”
I’m posting here because my home browser will not handle 2700 comments, and a comment lost in there will not be read anyway. Even here my computer is having a terrible time keeping up with the demands I’m placing upon it. I suppose it’s worth saying something about this topic if only for the fact that the center of attention in the political blogosphere is so wrongly misfocused upon a site directed to the election of “more and better Democrats.” Will anything new happen after the next hundred diaries on how to best accede to the demands of the DLC, or to pretend not to accede while actually doing so, or to scream and yell outside the walls of the castle? Hint: don’t expect a lot in a country in which getting attention is so thoroughly divorced from being proactive, or even from meaningful political thought. Guy Debord called it the “society of the spectacle.”
Oh I know! We’ll resist! And when the DLC gives us permission we may get a slightly more liberal President than we’ve got now! I’m sure it will happen — let’s see, two terms of Obama (who lacks a real challenger within his party), two terms of Obama’s Republican successor, and by then the political vacuum will be so intense that the progressives will actually win something they can keep! Maybe some marginal global warming legislation or something like that. The year, however, will be 2024, and since most “progressives” are minimally capable of politics beyond the standard reaction to the outrage du jour, don’t expect a lot.
The point is this: progressive ideology is going nowhere. The path forward was pointed out in the century before last by Karl Marx: historical materialism, he called it. You study history to understand the trajectory of the capitalist system and the cult of money which holds it in place, then you add in society and nature and do some measurements. Oh, Marx was nowhere close to having all the answers — you have to work to find the truth. Or maybe you can just be caught up in the tribal prescription: pragmatism, realism, reform, more and better Democrats, incrementalism, class unity, and so on.
There are a few other signposts to understand as well: Antonio Gramsci, with his “war of position,” or Cornelius Castoriadis, with his “social imaginary,” folks who could figure out why the Soviet Union could do no better. At any rate, the key is in understanding the larger sweep of history, and in the role one is currently playing within this larger sweep. And if you can do that, you’re probably not a “progressive,” because we’re not really “progressing” toward anything that can’t be called disaster, as capital accumulation brings a compounding ecological disaster to its Earthly substrate. So your job at this point is to find a new political identity: anarchist, communist, socialist, post-capitalist, anything — be creative.
..or why “Fuck Art, Let’s Dance”, should always be in one’s toolkit.
If I had my own Hot Tub Time machine I might consider October 7, 1955. What happened that evening has a connection that goes right to DD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S…
Yeah, I mostly just lurk, but the whole Obama thing is like a scab to me, I can’t help but pick at it. So I find myself reading the comments, and recommending and tipping the people who I think are making cogent arguments, and occasionally making a comment of my own.
I just don’t think I can communicate effectively anymore. I snark. I can’t help it. I often try to get my point across with sarcasm and double entendre, and very often, people don’t get what I intend. I feel like Colbert in the early months. But nowadays, everyone is so deafened by the metaphorical shell bursts that I’m catching flak from the people I’m trying to support and getting tips from the other side.
Why are there even sides?
I give up. The whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach.
This is day 2 of going cold turkey on Kos.
The thing I regret most is that DKos used to be my one-stop-shop for news and opinions. There is just such a wide audience there that you could get interesting material on a variety of matters of liberal interest. Now I’m going to have to visit half-a-dozen or more to get something approaching the same broad exposure.
Orange is history. It is gone. Why, where, when, or how doesn’t matter; and no matter how reasonable or passionate your argument, you can’t change is back. It is what it is becasue it is what they choose it to be.
My first comment here, so I hope it will be good.
Thnx Budhy for giving me the link to read this piece. As I mentioned there were so many comments the diary wouldn’t open for me on DK.
I have to say that while I am quite aware of ongoing animosity, this latest thing took me by surprise.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the dueling diaries, but I did like Turks! 😉 Seriously though, both had good points, but I think there was just going to be a time of reckoning…so here we are.
I will say a few good words for civility despite some comments to the contrary…I have tried to keep an even tone in my comments or opinions and I don’t think that stifles my creativity in any way. Words are wonderful things: they can be used as weapons, if one so desires to let their ego get in the way or they can be like my signature:
Language is wine upon the lips. -Virginia Woolf
Treat it well and love the words you choose to employ.
Valadon
I think it’s a good choice:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
No more accusations of “racism” on Docudharma, no mention of the Facebook group. Good.
The Change is still alive!
OK, maybe/not/Idon’tknow, but MB finally came out and made the claim that There Will Be Change.
Femlaw’s diary. No link. Too big to bother. Do the MB search-thingy.
Or wait for (wait for it……) The Announcement.
So, we shall see.
and don’t go there anymore. It is not a conscious decision. It was just a feeling that grew. I’ve got a fairly low user ID there and used to be an obsessive reader and moderately frequent commenter.
In general, they don’t support necessary fundamental changes to restore democracy such as full public funding of elections, or proportional representation and a multiparty system, or revocation of corporate personhood, or integrity of vote casting and counting. You can’t even read much about media reform such as breaking up media monopolies, promoting media independence and reducing conflict of interest, and restoring the reasonable parts of the Fairness Doctrine.
They also bullied a lot of people out of town including professional columnists and prominent bloggers if they didn’t pull the company Obama line.
Either Markos lost control, doesn’t care, or it was deliberate. It doesn’t matter to me anymore. The content here and at Firedoglake is much deeper and the comments less contentious.
i kid you not, i had one of those dreams, just before waking so i remember…. that I came online to GOS this morning to see at the top of the rec list, a new diary by Deo that was a major snark slam at buhdy. lol. I havent been over there yet this morning, but Im kind of afraid to look now! LOL. Maybe its time for me to just go back to my little Johnny Depp fanland…. oh wait, the meta bully blog wars there….. never mind, you dont wanna know.
gah.
Read in MB’s diary about supposed racist comment on DD some time in the past few months or something.
What is this about. Seems like something I would have run across?
are severed, I for one am repulsed. Back in the day I had no time for incrementalists when the issue was civil rights and no time for debate when Americans and Vietnamese were dying in the millions. No difference to me whether they’re individuals, TV stations, websites, newspapers, clubs or horse breeding associations.
Damn I’d prefer that the old rules were just applied evenly and fairly. Otherwise new rules are needed.
So, after one more pissing match, I’m done for awhile.
Can I come over and read some realistic politics for a change instead of hyperbole?