Reply #67: Only one half of the coin you show is an accurate reflection.

[Poll_Blind]

  That half being the disgust and anger at the Iraq war, Israel's invasion of Lebanon, etc.

  The other half, as you describe it, is an unwillingness to accept that there really are terrorists out to get us. While the Iraq/Lebanon side does apply to a large number of DUers, I think the accusation of disbelief on the other side is based on a misunderstanding that most DUers chalk up the terrorist threat to fantasies propagandized by the Boosh Administration.

  Many threads do, if taken at face value, appear to intimate that this is the case. "New terror alert! I wonder what Bush wants to hide now?!" is the side you're seeing, the side lots of us (and especially outsiders) see. But we all watched the towers fall, each of us, hundreds of times. We know that terrorists exist. But no-one really spends the time posting an asterisk behind their rant with a footnote at the bottom which reads "Yes, I do know that there are really terrorists out to get us."

  If you are unfamiliar with the background (which most of us are) of other posters, some very polarized opinions appear to be espoused. But this is a mis-perception.

  A good example is an PM exchange that I've done with another poster on the Middle East conflict. They and I represent two ends of the spectrum. Specifically, the topic was on the bombing of Lebanese territory which caused civilian deaths. This person, as I, pretty-much only post about what we disagree about. If you were to look at their posts and mine it would appear that they supported Israel entirely in it's military efforts and that I was entirely critical of them. But there are a great number of unspoken common-denominators which posters, often if not almost entirely, omit because it's just too much of a hassle to include little disclaimers in their messages- even when, ultimately, it might help others reading it more clearly understand them.

  So we exchanged PM's. It was clear that this poster did not, ultimately, believe that Israel would have the right to kill civilians and I made it clear that Israelis did have the right to live a life without fear. But you wouldn't necessarily see that in our public exchanges- which are based on our disagreements, rather than our agreements.

  When you see threads and posters seemingly espousing thoughts that the Bush is fabricating terror alerts realize that there are two equal grains of truth contained: The admission that there are terrorists who really wish to destroy America and that the Bush administration has and will manipulate any fact for their own advantage.

  Only the tiniest sliver of Democratic Underground users really subscribe to unrealistic fantasies about this and other situations. But that's more a reflection of humanity than anything having to do with our politics or membership. However, again, taking some of the threads on their face value can be misleading because they do not provide an appropriate context to be clearly understood in.

PB