Barney Frank talks retirement

[babylonsister]

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/06/17/qotm/...

Quote of the morning

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in an interview with Politico:

The left and the right live in parallel universes. The right listens to talk radio, the left’s on the Internet and they just reinforce one another. They have no sense of reality .... I have now one ambition: to retire before it becomes essential to tweet.

Oh, congressman. That's a nice ambition to have, but let me tell you, I know from personal experience -- it dies pretty easy.

[merh]

1. Maybe he is not considering retiring as much as he refuses to

tweet. My hope is he never feels the urge to tweet and that he stays where he is at. We need him.

He is right on the mark with his "no sense of reality" conclusion.

[Indydem]

3. He's saying we are out of touch n/t

[Captain Hilts]

5. In many ways, that's true. Many folks turn to the Internet for affirmation, not for information.

[Romulox]

16. Either a) Affirmation; or b) Argument.

Guess which one I go in for!

[merh]

6. most of us are

We focus on what we read here and consider it to be the truth - the absolutes -

We consider ourselves superior because we get our truths from the internet and we are "in touch"

But -- what many of us don't realize is, we are relying on the interpretations of others - the way they view the issues and tell us how to feel, how to think, when to be concerned.

Life beyond the internet is real and most people do live in it - there is the middle ground between right wing talk radio and the left's internet and that is where most of society exists.

[Captain Hilts]

11. I've turned blue trying to explain to folks here that DU is not representative of Dems as a whole or

the US population. To no avail. I tell them I worked in political polling for 8 years and that means nothing.

[merh]

13. I suppose it is because for many - they have a voice on DU

they are known or recognized and respected. As you said, many come here for "affirmation, not for information." - A very wise statement indeed.

[question everything]

20. This is what my spouse tells me when I am all up in arms

about what DUers say, the arguments that I choose to participate - and later regret - since most, as you say, do not seek information but affirmation and to have the last word.

I say what I want to say and then quit the thread which, no doubt, gives a sense of vindication to the ones who have the last word.

And I do appreciate your cool, calm, even handed posts, even if I do not comment since they make so much sense to me.

[zipplewrath]

14. Semantics

I could change a few words of your statement and change the entire point. Most people live in ignorance of the vast majority of what happens in the world. Truth is they live in ignorance of most of what happens in their communities. "Connected" people tend to be much more aware, the problem of course can be that this can imbune them with a sense of superiority. Knowledge can always do that, it's part of the reason that a "little knowledge can be dangerous". There are lives beyond the internet, and the internet is a place for us to share those lives. In a place like this it allows us to share our points of view from those lives, within the context of current events. I hear the same attitudes and opinions from vastly less connected that reflect much of what I read here. Those folks don't live "between" the two, they live outside of those two places.

Barney is reflecting the attitude of any "insider". Anyone who works inside an industry, always finds the points of view and understandings of those outside of that industry either entertaining or irritating. This is true from the news media, the entertainment fields, or many of the professional or scientific fields. It's true of the police, lawyers, judges, doctors..... What of course many of those folks don't understand is they tend to be as clueless of the consumers point of view as the consumer is of theirs.

[merh]

15. However, despite many being informed, they remain ignorant and don't

go beyond what they read. The acceptance is limiting and, at times, frightening.

And because they are, as you say, "more aware", they believe that awareness means what they know is all there is to know.

[zipplewrath]

21. So they are no worse off

I'd be careful about championing the ignorant off the net, and complaining about the ones on the net. Yes, a little knowledge can be dangerous, but complete ignorance is deadly. Iran's current uprising isn't due to the "disconnected".

[merh]

24. Iran's current uprising ???

Who the hell ever said it did.

You be careful all you like, I'm not championing a thing, just offering an opinion.

[KoKo]

22. What you say has been the experience of many of us who come here

...and those of us who read the financial news plus local news. The political activism that many of us on this site engaged in these past eight or more years wouldn't have been possible if we just stayed within our circles of friends and aquaintances where we live. In fact where we live many of us were marginalized for even caring about issues like the invasion of Iraq, voting transparency, financial accountability of our government congress and now our banks.

That we've been able to access information from many sources rather than just the Mainstream Media Megaphone and the Right Wing Talk and News sites has been the beauty of the internet. Barney Frank and the others (as you note) are the insiders who have resented all those fax, phones and petitions where citizens have called for accountability from their congress. Life was so much easier for them before what they call "the Internet," allowed citizens from all walks of life to come together, share and take action. A responsible citizenry is a threat to the insiders. In a supposed Democracy, it should be applauded.

Thank you for your post.

[question everything]

23. Selective "connected"

People here choose the topics on which they want to be informed. Only a few days ago someone wanted to know why some are moderate Democrats and some expressed an opinion that DU is for the far left only.

And, of course, many express an opinion about Israel not knowing, or bothering to find out the history and the wide perspective of the issues there. And are all fired up about the Palestinian killed there while ignoring the masses of African killed by other Africans in Darfur, the Congo, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and other places.

[zipplewrath]

26. And your point?

The basic complaint in this thread, and in Frank's comment, is that people are too informed, and that the vast majority of people live in this huge uninformed world of "real life". I acknowledged that people in these forums and utilizing the internet for information are not perfectly informed. I also acknowledged that "a little knowledge can be dangerous". But I'm not sure I'd prefer to be uninformed over "marginally informed on topics of interest".

[merh]

27. No, the complaint is that people on the internet think they

are "too informed". Living beyond the internet does not make one "uninformed". Using the internet as a research tool is good, using it as the only source, not so good. With all things in life, a healthy balance is required.

The internet only contains the information typed to it. The world is so much more.

[Captain Hilts]

4. I wish he were speaker. nt

[Petals]

9. Yes he's much more honest than speaker pelosi...

...much to my chagrin.

Too bad he's not a gay woman.

[merh]

10. You and me both. nt

[WI_DEM]

2. He's right.

[Petals]

7. yes this is true....no sense of reality even here on DU

My mother calls it preaching to the choir...

My father calls it a circle-j*rk

I'd much prefer a moderated board where civil discussion takes place between progressives and conservatives.

Instead we get self-delimited echo chambers that add frustration to anger and a skewed sense of how widespread our opinions are.

I only hope this retirement plan doesn't involve a house of "compensated" dating. I don't think my sides could take any more laughter.

[LostinVA]

12. Except DU is NOTHING like that

And, what does THIS mean," only hope this retirement plan doesn't involve a house of "compensated" dating"

[nc4bo]

17. There laid a disruptor because it disrupted so poorly LOL!! Bye-byeee. nt

[Deja Q]

19. In theory. They have brought back trolls before.

(I'm not necessarily referring to response #12, mostly because I bothered to finally use my 'ignore' function a few months ago... I'm not un-ignoring anybody just to find out which disruptor that one is.)

[nc4bo]

25. That's cool....

I just happen-chanced into this thread wondering what Barney Frank was talking about and noticed one particular post was not like the others.

Ignore is a nice function on any messageboard though.

Enjoy your day!

[uppityperson]

28. Petals

[Romulox]

8. "Tweeting" is profoundly stupid. Good for Barney! nt

[depakid]

18. "retire before it becomes essential to tweet."

[marshall]

29. I think the Fannie Mae debacle has really got him down

Lots of stress. Everyone deserves a happy retirement.