2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Susan Sarandon is the perfect face of the Bernie or Bust movement. [View all]Dragonfli
(10,622 posts)Time goes by so quickly, often we don't fully Grok the entirety of the changes along the way. There are many newish posters that are not at all representative of the DU we joined years ago. You earlier than I (I didn't officially register until '04. but did read the site along with Bartcop and a few others. previous to joining)
Back then and indeed for quite a while after, we were almost unanimously anti war, pro liberal and unapologetically against a corrupt system.
Now we are over run with people that favor war and hawks, defend corruption and embrace the corrupt system and write apologetic screeds in favor of such corruption and rather than being pro liberal, many are rabidly neo-liberal, I see it all the time coming from prolific posters with post counts triple my own that have only been here a year or two.
Where once I saw unity, I now see the seeds of division sown in an effort to promote a neo-liberal agenda and Rovian tactics being employed in such an obvious way that it appears the site we once knew has gone half circle (180°) and promotes so much of what Bush stood for as to be unrecognizable from the liberal haven it once was.
Those that would applaud the man's life work, many of whom did not agree with his run, but were aware enough to know it was election fraud and a corrupt SCOTUS that installed an un elected hawk that favored the interests of the wealthy into the WH, are fewer now than ever, having been slowly replaced with those that not only favor War and it's chief current hawk, but also the interests of the wealthy and elite corrupt system that was at one time universally opposed here.
My dear friend, this is no longer the site we joined and those of us that still believe in such principles as were once common here are being slowly, but efficiently replaced by what we joined together here to fight against over a decade ago.
The same has happened to the party, which is why those registered as Democrats are shrinking at an alarming rate. The entire dynamic is unstable, and so the only thing certain is uncertainty regarding both the party and the site. Perhaps both will implode or both will return to saner, more equitable and just ideals, only time will tell.
One thing has however become apparently certain, the underground aspect of the site is nearly now non-existent for it is fast becoming just another extension of a party corrupted as surely as it's chair DWS.