Anyone hesitate posting outspoken comments in past three months?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

DU is the place where we can all come and rant and rave about politics and most everything else, but lately I almost feel like some of the posts have been self censored to a degree.

Tonight I found myself posting in a thread and actually deleting some of my thoughts, maybe thinking in the back of my mind that they might be read and picked apart by who knows who.

So I was just wondering whether anyone else has lately had a paranoid moment?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Yes, once

I made some prediction about what might happen with Iran-then realized it might sound like I really knew something about some plans (hey, I'm Muslim, and we're all terrorists, right? :sarcasm: ), so I posted a note to Agent Mike telling him I didn't know anything for sure.

[Webster Green]

2. Hell No!

"They" can kiss my butt!

Fuck you, agent Mike!

[Solly Mack]

3. Paranoid moments, yes. But fuck it. They can only kill me once

and I rather one death than a thousand.

[sam sarrha]

4. definately, i just did the same... although i have a unique experience

with the subject..

if you have lived a trauma, especially a cultural or racial one, your opinion is invalidated by those in their Golden Gettos and secure jobs.. free of fear and hopelessness

[reDEMption]

5. Yes, ok, you ASKED....

I've just signed up to post here, but I've been reading here for over a year. In that year, I've seen a lot go on here--a lot of people in and out...

Let us just say that I am EXTREMELY careful what I say here after seeing what I've seen. If I can't agree, I try not to put it on the board.

[SeattleGirl]

7. Welcome reDEMption.

:hi:

[Gabi Hayes]

12. you sound like a troublemaker, potentially, at least

going to have to ask you to leave


is this you?

[reDEMption]

14. Just trying to answer the op honestly.

Otherwise, you made my case for me better than I did.

O8)

[Gabi Hayes]

38. it WORKED! gotcha

don't check your sense of humor at the portal

[tinfoilinfor2005]

28. Welcome to DU.

I can't say I'm careful because of in house bickering...that is what often makes it fun in here, unless it goes on and on ad nauseum. I don't censor myself for my fellow DUers, but rather for the outsiders. I guess it is because I was born in Europe during world war two and often watched my parents measuring their words. Maybe it never entirely leaves you.

[reDEMption]

39. Thank you for the welcome!

The in-house bickering doesn't bother me--I can hold my own with that... it's just much too easy to get banned here if you post anything other than the appropriate thoughts (I've already been asked to leave simply because I answered your post honestly.) On any board on which I posted, I would be MUCH more upset with the fact that people COULDN'T say what they wanted to--not that they COULD. I just don't get it...

O8)

[tinfoilinfor2005]

43. Come on, reDEM, Gabi was being funny.

It was so obvious, it didn't really need a little sarcasm toon. But anyone under 1000 posts is suspect and we ALL went through that, so I don't blame you.

I agree with your last sentence, a hundred percent. The scary question is, when does that thin line start to blur?

[reDEMption]

44. Okie-dokie!

O8) :hi: O8)

[SeattleGirl]

6. I sometimes find myself starting to do that

but then I think, hell, as far as I know, the 1st Amendment hasn't been formally rescinded, so I'm going to post what I want, and fuck 'em if they can't take a joke!

Now, I would never post anything like a threat against anyone or anything like that. Not only could that really get me into hot water, it's just not something I would do. but staing my opinion, hell yeah!

[rzemanfl]

8. What? Who? Why do you ask? Someone has been using

my name to post rants. I had nothing to do with them. My computer was kidnapped and held for ransom. I just got it back. God knows what those thieves may have done with it. Why me? There are other people here though, I can name names. Why is that four door sedan with half hubs parked in front of my house all the time? I am going bald from pulling hairs out my head and sticking them to the doors around here. My library card was stolen too and someone boosted my Barnes and Noble gift card from Christmas.

Paranoid, nope, not me. No, I'm fine.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

32. LOL!

You do know they can use those hairs to get your DNA, right?

[livvy]

9. No. I've thought about posts being read, but I don't care.

I have a right to say what I think. I have said "Hello," to Agent Mike a few times when I've been on the phone though!
Guess I'll give him a wave now, too!

Hey, Mikey! I'm callin' my dad in about 20 minutes or so.

[jeff30997]

18. Thanks for the tip.

[Morning Dew]

54. on the phone, lol -

I usually say "fuck you Alberto, write that down"

Both phone lines in our home have developed weird noises in the last few months.

[Warpy]

10. Only when I'm in danger of shattering DU rules by describing

some other poster's anatomy, ancestry, proclivities, and ultimate destination. I have pulled no punches when it's come to describing the DLC, the party conservatives in general, the GOP, or that thing squatting in the White House.

They can take my right to free speech only with my permission. They don't have it.

[The2ndWheel]

11. I know they're not coming for me

Sure, I may be a anarcho-eco-luddite at my core, but I just don't have the guts to do anything about it. It's not as if I have many places to go, even if chose to live differently. My opinion doesn't carry much weight in this world. I see the NSA doing what it does as inevitable anyway. To me, if you start with the NSA as a foundation, then add a pinch of DARPA, I'm not sure what else anyone would expect.

I should throw my computer off of a 5 story building though. But I'll wait until after I see Greenland in my back yard. Yeah, I'll do it then.

[donco6]

13. Nah. I am already SO on the list.

They probably have my bunk ready at the "re-education camp" already.

[Sal Minella]

26. I'll give you my extra fitted sheet if you'll let me have the lower bunk.

[donco6]

31. Fitted sheets are a MUST! It's a deal.

I always take the top anyway. ;)

[FatDave]

15. Yes (nt)

[Bluzmann57]

16. No. I refuse to live in fear

Never have, never will. If big brother wants me, they better come and get me while there's still something left.

[lonestarnot]

17. fuck no!

[Ksec]

19. With our diversity , one must be sensitive.

Ive angered posters and sometimes I dont even know why theyre mad. Sometimes I think they misunderstood my comments. And sometimes I just feel like starting shlt.

[Raine]

20. I always do...

having under a thousands posts and saying something controversial is not a good thing to do here. :-(

[peacetalksforall]

Being conscience of what you're saying is #1 - and you seem to be

doing that. Most of the time it just takes rephrasing.

It seems that anger or depression can really make a person go crazy.

Tonight it is depression. I just watched Democracy Now with MCCoy (History Professor from the U of WI) talking about the torture how-to book and how the most effective methods of torture were arrived at. A few people who were put in charge of our country by the Supreme Court are doing damage to our country to a degree that will take decades and generations to repair. They are going to cause untold number of deaths of our own people because of their unmatched evil. And then I was supposed to eat.

Edited to change 'you' to 'a person'.

[patrice]

21. My thinking IS becoming more integrating, connecting 2 or more

things into a hypothetical 3rd; there ARE commonalities amongst the differences, most of the time.

Though sometimes Not . . . .

[hatrack]

50. Hey Patrice! Have you jeered any Bush speeches lately?

:toast:

[MileHiStealth]

22. My name's on the no-fly list !!!

Found that out last week and the only thing I can
think of is because I post on DU. Anyone else having
this problem ? Why does it seem that a vast majority
of the names on that list aren't even middle-eastern ?
Yea, that's right , I'm a threat because I post on
a message board but selling our ports to real
terrorists is a-ok with this bunch of assholes ...

[tinfoilinfor2005]

23. Do you know that ahead of time? I mean if you call the airlines

to verify your flight the day before, would they tell you that? Because that could really screw up a vacation!

[MileHiStealth]

29. They harass you at the gate .....

take you aside and ask alot of questions
and want to see a bunch of I.D. They
claim that alot of popular names are
on the list because they're used as
aliases but I think they probably
data-mine sites like this and throw
them on there ....

[donco6]

33. I fly a lot.

And I'm not on the no-fly list.

Yet.

I have a friend who is. Nice, middle aged white guy. Irish last name from like - 4 generations back. Maybe they think he's IRA?

Who knows?

[MileHiStealth]

35. Funny thing is , someone else with the same name as me ....

had died in a car crash a week before that and
some of my friends thought it was me. When I
told my roommate's mom about the two incidents
she said it was understandable, they just didn't
want dead people flying on airplanes because
that would be .... unsanitary

[donco6]

37. Ha! But dead people DO fly on airplanes.

Just not in the passenger compartment.

But seriously, at some point in time, shouldn't a process be created for getting OFF the no-fly list? At this point, no one can even tell you how you got on it in the first place.

[wakeme2008]

24. I only donate to DU through the Amazon Honor system

I just do not want my name and address in a DU database. Between Feds and hackers from XXX I fell safer doing it this way.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

30. How do you people know all these clever things?

I just recently found out where the smilies were located. :silly:

[LWolf]

25. Self-censor? Yes. Paranoid? No.

I often self-censor posts. I'm not paranoid. I self-censor them because I decide, after I've written them, that I don't really need to share that much information, that the message doesn't fit the audience, or that I've been too blunt for courtesy. I delete posts more often than I click the "post message" button.

I don't self-delete because of who might be reading my posts or tracking my time on the internet.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. No

I have no other comment. Just no.
The Professor

[DemoTex]

34. Pas mois. The goons already visited me, with cameras!

I've got too much ink on the page for them to bother me. At least that is what I'd like to think!

[donco6]

40. Great quote from Richard III.

Shakespeare was either prescient or an extraordinary observer of human nature.

The problem is, we humans always fall for the same old, old tricks.

[Clara T]

36. Do You Think They Are Watching

You?


Me?


I Never Watch What I Say



Gets Me In Trouble Sometimes

[oblivious]

41. Yes. nt

[beltanefauve]

42. Give me liberty or give me death!

As Bluzmann57 said, I too refuse to live in fear! I think about it, of course, but I'm not going to live in fear. And any hesitation in my posts comes from respect for DU and DUers, that's it.

[xiamiam]

45. yep...

[Hardrada]

46. Down with the fascist assholes "running" the US!

Ruining the US, I would see.

[hatrack]

47. Not a Goddamned day, not a single Goddamned time

Agent Mike, you can KISS MY PALE WHITE ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[proud patriot]

48. Nope

[toddaa]

49. Nobody takes me alive

Freedom of conscience is absolute. Period. And my conscience is clear.

The only way to shut me up is to kill me. I bow to no one.

[TankLV]

51. Yes.

But luckily there are many more brave and industrious souls than I.

They do most of the heavy lifting of late, not I.

[OldHistoryBuff]

52. Yes

I have lurked here forever. I do mean forever lol I rarely post though because I have seen to many new people accused of trolling if they disagree with different views here.

I mostly just read (obvious by my post count) and once in a great while come out of lurking;)

Edited
Making this post made me wonder exactly how long I have been here. My first account I lost the password on but it says...


Member since 2003 before July 6th
Number of posts 3

[tinfoilinfor2005]

53. OldHistoryBuff, your post fascinates me.

This is not a rabidly hostile community...if anything, we dems are so obviously forgiving and accepting of the many varied opinions expressed here daily. Oh sure, we are given to sarcasm and scrutiny, and often fire off a round of shots and verbal insults. But seldom with great hostility, or without some form of apology.

I remember the first time I went to an organized dem event...it was a Jefferson/Jackson weekend in Ft. Lauderdale, and I was so happy to be around people who were of the same mindset. And at the breakfast, five minutes into my initial introduction to the Dem Party, a great argument broke out amongst the stage presenters and the audience. And I loved it, because it immediately blew away all the pretension and allowed the audience to become participants in the dialog. It was then that I truly embraced the notion of many individuals gathered under one tent as opposed to the alternative...a flock of followers dutifully nodding their heads and clicking their heels to the appointed leaders.

So I guess all I have to say is, "Come on in... the water's fine."