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Edited on Mon Mar-30-09 09:19 PM by johnlucas
Hey. John Lucas here. Nobody really knows me since my post count is pretty low in comparison to others. I joined this site I think last summer after reading many of the threads in lurk for months during the 2008 campaigns. Had to post in many threads here & there just to get the ability to post. Some of them deleted because I spoke about the ten letter word that begins with "R" & ends with "tion" with a "v" in the middle. Many have welcomed me here while others have dismissed my contributions. Such is the life of a message board.
While I have joined Democratic Underground (which I find useful for finding out about lots of information all at one source) I haven't considered myself a Democrat in years. I was raised to be a Democrat, will vote with the Democrats, will NEVER be a Republican (NEVER!!), but have shed myself of the affiliation based on my disillusionment with politics as a whole. I claim no official party which allows me to have a different view than some here who strongly identify with the party. And for the record I'm a 32 year old Black man which may shed some more light on my Democratic allegiance.
There have been many threads about the tone of discussion here at DU. Some who believe the discontent of the posters should be contained and some who believe dissent is of utmost importance damn the consequences. I don't think that's necessarily the real issue here.
What I think the issue REALLY is is a problem that seems to be inherent in internet discussion areas everywhere. People like to fight with their words. They don't know how to discuss disagreements civilly & prefer to attack or see themselves as better than the other poster with snarkiness and sarcasm. There's no respect when people talk to each other. It's all a big one-up contest to dominate the show.
It's understandable though. These are issues which make people passionate & passion destroys reason. Anger is necessary but people have to ask themselves are they using that anger on the wrong targets? In the end, with the venom slung back & forth from perceived slights the board becomes toxic with people wanting to escape the forum. Too lead by emotion without seeing the fallout of what comes from those emotional outbursts.
Hell, I have done it myself here in the past. And I have to catch myself when I start wanting to attack the other poster instead of just offering my viewpoint on the table as one of many to take or leave. That's the key I think. None of us are there in the trenches. We are all just speaking from our vantage points. And those are important because it's easy to miss someone else's side of the story when you start thinking you have the whole picture.
The inborn drive for us to dominate one another has to be kept in check if you want to have an atmosphere that makes people want to take part in. At the end of the day all you can do is offer your viewpoint. It's one of many. It may be right or it may be partially right but incomplete (which it will be most times). Sometimes it may be wrong too & we have to face that possibility. We only know as much as the source tells us. The rest is up to interpretation & intuition. Since we aren't there in the mix in person, there's really no way to know & sometimes our sources can mislead us due their own imperfections which we all have.
People are also too caught up in trying to assign teams. Right, Left, Center, Point Guard, Center-Left, Center-Right, 5 Per-Center, DLC, Run DMC, Blue Dog, Yellow Dog, Red Dog. It's silly. That political spectrum nonsense prevents people from understanding that people simply have a collection of viewpoints on a matter & it is foolish to try to assign a designation to this collection which may be disparate under these antiquated definitions. When people get too focused on that imaginary map they miss out on how an elected official acts. I see many times a DU hero like Kucinich & somebody mention a viewpoint he has on a particular matter that undoes his assigned designation. It's because you can't really map people out like that when it comes to views on matters.
A person can believe in "pro-choice", "gun control", "environmental preservation" but still be a "hunter" who eats "red meat" & has no use for PETA. A person can be for "gay equality", "pro-labor", "anti-war" but support the "pornography industry" that "exploits women" to the chagrin of some feminists. When you paint everybody with these VERY generalized labels you miss the subtleties & prevent yourself from hearing out other positions. I remember some poster from West Virginia explain to someone not from the area what effect the push for Green energy would do to the state built around this coal industry. The other poster seemed not to have any sympathy for the reality of mass unemployment & the effects on communities without graduating people in the changeover. From where the Green guy stands it's "do it now" while the other guy gets pissed because a fellow Democrat wouldn't even consider his plight. Same goes on with Michigan right now with these auto company situations.
These blind spots prevent the Democratic party from building better coalitions that can truly disrupt the Republican party. And it also prevents the ascension of better quality Democratic officials who are not compromised being free from foolish constituency in-fighting. Corruption sneaks in when people fight amongst themselves. And corruption uses that division for their own benefit compromising the coalition. This is what happened & keeps happening to the HAVE-NOTS since the beginning of civilization.
Unfortunately, human beings are not designed to stay united for any prolonged period of time. This is why we separated & spread to disparate parts of the planet to the extent that the environments shaped our physical features. Recognize this in us & choose to agree to disagree when there is an impasse. Just support the ideals you believe in even if that means going it alone. The reality is that viewpoints are not set in stone as much as we like to think so. If you carry yourself correctly without so much on-the-surface hostility, future events may open people's minds to your views which they once ignored or dismissed.
All you can do at the end of the day is offer your view, take it or leave it.
John Lucas
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