I watched with mild interest as starkravinglunaticradical’s mild rebuke to something that Cindy Sheehan said unleashed a veritable shitstorm of nasty comments on dKos recently. ( How Dare you, Cindy Sheehan? ) I say “with mild interest” because as far as I can see nothing much is happening over there other than an ever widening “liberal” circle jerk. And liberals apparently do not even jerk off interestingly.
Not as far as I am concerned, anyway.
But I see today that starkravinglunaticradical has posted the diary here under the title Talking Turkey, Eating Shit and Taking the Heat along with some observations about what went down on dKos.
And here are my observations about this whole sad sack of drowning turkey kits.
Read on.
Starkravinglunaticradical…
Please let me `splain just what has become of dKos.
Short answer long…you injuns ain’t got enough VOTES to matter over there.
NO minorities are allowed on dKos that can’t help the centrists win a majority. Soon. Not ANY kind. Racial, conceptual, feminist, economic…you name it. If you’re not part of the consensus solution, you are part of ANOTHER problem, and they (the powers-that-be over there) DO NOT WANT any more problems.
Not if’n they get all uppity and challenge a concept that is held by the majority minority. YOU know…the ones who are going to win in 2006 and 2008?
Like the MCMAWMP. (Middle Class, Middle-Aged White Mothers For Peace). There are LOTS of them, and they all vote.
Now before I garner a mini-shitstorm here myself, let me assert that I am…as are you…all FOR Cindy Sheehan. Got absolutely nothing whatsoever against middle class, middle aged white mothers either. Why…I had one myself, don’tcha know.
But my own decidedly minority point of view is that if we do not confront the conceptual mistakes that our society and culture has made…racism being the very FIRST one that must be confronted (our Original Sin, as it were) because racism leads to economic imperialism, economic imperialism leads to a very angry (and righteously so) Third World (which totals about 4/5ths of the population of the earth), and that leads to trouble with a capital T right here in River City…if we do not confront these mistakes every day in every way possible, large AND small, then we are just postponing the inevitable. We will end up with a kinder, gentler BushCo in power under a “centrist” rubric and this Third World War in which we are presently involved will just keep right on escalating until one day SOME fool goes to the real nuclear option and then…and then there we jolly well will be, won’t we.
So what happened to you over there is much the same as what happened during the pie fight thing, what happened in the “tinfoil hat” wars that culminated in the July 4th Massacre.
A minority point of view has been trashed BIG time by an unthinking majority that simply DOESN’T WANNA HEAR ABOUT IT!!!
It’s bothersome.
It’s counterproductive to the aims of the vast. clomping middle.
And the shitstorm ensues.
“We don’t want to HEAR about this shit!!! We’ve got BIGGER fish to fry.”
Like arguing over whether Joe Blowhard is really a good Democrat.
“We don’ need no steenking stark raving lunatic radicals ruining OUR Day of the Dead Turkeys. “
Right.
And so it goes.
Business as usual here in America
Until the shit REALLY hits the fan.
The Civil War.
The Depression
W.W. II.
The ’60s.
At which point…something happens.
Until then…ostrich time.
Keep on trying to pull those heads out of the sand, though.
Out of their own assholes.
It’s a dirty job, but SOMEONE has to do it.
And…have fun.
I am.
Today is a good day to die.
Later…
AG
No giblets, please.
AG
Hoka hey!!
And now predictably there is a diary up by a front pager lamenting the tone of the site and the loss of friends. Earth to front pager… perhaps a lot less hollow introspection and a lot more reaching out to the adults who dare to hold onto integrity in the face of juvenile attack squads that roam the site like so many ravenous schools of pirhranhas.
Conform or be cast out. Fuck all that.
Rush fan, by any chance?
Now that I think of it, kos’ sandbox has started to look an awful lot like Subdivisions.
Neil Peart,
Greatest drummer alive. In a million years I will never come close to his talent, and I’ve tried, oh I’ve tried. He is untouchable, which is the way it must remain ;o)
Peart is indeed awesome. And Geddy Lee’s voice has to be heard to be believed.
Despite their occasional Objectivist leanings, I love Rush’s music. Been trying to track down a copy of Vapor Trails here in Halifax for about a year now without success.
What about the voice of Geddy Lee? How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy?
Yeah, mostly “How the heck is his voice that high-pitched?”
come on man…look at the guy’s nose! his voice couldn’t be any other way.
nerd fact: i still have “tom sawyer” on 45
* snigger *
That was the best description of the goon squad mentality that has become so pervasive, wish I could give you a 12…
where’s the front pager? Missed that
“At which point…something happens.”
Baked ostrich.
Maybe.
But we have had our collective heads up our asses before and done pretty well for ourselves.
Strange country, America.
Evolution progresses in quantum leaps.
And so do we.
We STILL have a functioning working class. Mostly black and latino, with a good admixture of first and second generation Europeans and the stubbornly honest remains of the immigrations of the late 19th/early 20th century. Witness Patrick Fitzgerald,. (I hope…) Witness those cops and firemen who went into the World Trade center on 9/11. Witness Cindy Sheehan. Witness the honest soldiers who made the mistake of going into the service of “their country” when said country had already been taken over by forces histile to the wellbeing of ANYONE but themselves.
Stay tuned.
It’s gonna get interesting.
Win lose or draw…it’s going to get interesting.
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” Yogi Berra.
“Everything gets better except the last thing. And after that…no more worries at all.” Arthur Gilroy.
And…may you be born into interesting times.
Later…
AG
What’s most interesting is that even here there are continuing and regular “observations” about dkos. (and not just by you, AG) Will the obsession with dkos ever end? If people find the place so unpalatable why do they keep going over there? Yeah, I know, it’s huge and postings get large exposure. You can potentially reach a big audience. But apparently that audience is not a receptive one, so why bother? There are a number of good places to post (including here) that would be more receptive. Look, I still post my mostly noncontroversial diaries here, there, my own blog (such as it is) and occasionally on another site. You put it out there, hope someone reads it, adds an intelligent comment or two, and finds some use for it. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That’s all we can do. If dkos presents a problem, my humble advice would be to avoid it. The place clearly has a lockstep feel to it, but I continue to use it to the extent that it will serve me. (If I’m coming off as rude, tht is not my intent.)
Oh, AG, please stop posting diaries that I feel compelled to comment upon, I need to get some work done here. 😉
I DO drop by. For the same reason I drop by The Drudge Report or Google News. To see what various tributaries of mainstream are trying to tell the population about how to think regarding current events.
DKos has become the Drudge Report of the left.
Just as Air America is fast becoming the Fox Radio of the left.
Except for maybe Mike Malloy…and they’ve got HIM isolated into the late at night hours.
And Randi Rhodes when she can resist her faux-female sexual blather and lockstep centrist Dem schmoozing.
But…“That’s ENTERTAINMENT!!!”
So it goes…
All spin is spin, no matter in WHICH direction it is turning.
But I digress.
i MENTION dKos often because it is THE blog…the one that is supposed to be setting the tone for change…in the eyes of most of whatever percentage of the American people that is even awake enough to what’s happening as to give much if a damn.
Just as are the Washitclean Post and the Old Grey Lady.
And of course…they are not.
Now normally…I wouldn’t give much of a damn, either. The game ALWAYS continues, and I have other work with which I should be dealing. Just like you.
But now we are in real trouble instead of simply being ruled by petty thieves and fools as is the case MOST of the time.
So I’m saying something.
Later…
AG
P.S. Sorry about the diaries, boran2.
I’ll try to be dumber.
But then…I’d be able to post on dKos, wouldn’t I?
Oh well…you think YOU’RE not getting any work done…???
Back to it…
I think it’s interesting from the perspective of dissecting what is increasingly apparently a failed community and political movement. It is, in many ways, a miniature study of the problems with American society – specifically, opinion isolation. Rather than seeking debate, compromise, and alliance with those with differing opinions, people seek those with similar opinions to their own and seek to drive away those that differ in, as we’ve seen, increasingly small ways.
I’m beginning to wonder if it’s not a natural consequence of advertising, come to think of it.
That’s not to say that some people don’t deserve to be isolated from a discussion – fascists, racists, and misogynists of all stripes, for example.
Interestingly, Boo’s had something of the opposite effect here. He holds a very different opinion from most people on the site, and many people here hold different opinions from each other, although we agree on certain basic premises. Debate can get quite intense (see: any diary on ‘framing’ or ‘pragmatism’), but is generally well-reasoned and polite.
Well-reasoned and polite for the Internet, anyway.
Most of the time.
I think it remains a subject because it is a micrcosym of what is wrong with the democrats and how they are attempting to boil down their message, empty as it is, though there are some signs of life on the periphery. Progressives and the left are by definition a conglomerate of a wide range of political belief. Always has been, and it’s no small task to bring everyone together for a common fight, but that site, reflective as it is of the futility of the democrats thus far, is a glaring example for many of us who are being pushed from the core. Like I said, conform or be cast out.
Needing to get some work done? Count my lazy ass in ;o)
Counting would require effort.
I’m grateful to the other place. It keeps them busy, so they don’t come here.
Obviously more effort than I am able to muster ;o)
Maybe I should just be honest and call it a day!
THANK YOU !!!
Now THERE’S a Thanksgiving we can ALL appreciate.
AG
My pleasure! ;}
The problem in terms of message seems to be a lack of realization that an encompassing message does not have to be a centrist message, or that a coherent message cannot leave room for a wide range of individual beliefs.
Here’s a good read by Suzan Harjo that also plays into this dynamic and this game
The good Indians and the ‘hostiles’