Author: diane101

This is my first diary.
I had a hard time finding a title for this article, so I hope the one I have chosen is appropriate.
I have spent the last month or so perusing conservative diaries as well as liberal ones and this is what I have seen.  Both sides seem to have the same deep resentment (hate) for each other and accuse the other side of the same thing on the same issues.  Both sides descend to horrible, hateful, profane language to espouse their points.  Both sides attack others on their sites that do not conform to the accepted position for that site.
I find this very troubling and decided that I would (gasp) register and post comments trying to show the liberal point of view as equally valid as their own position, without name calling or profanity, which I detest in particular.
So far I have not been banned and I have only seen one case of banning and that was because the poster, a liberal, had made up a quote and attributed it to Bush. I have also had one person say they did not expect a liberal to have so balanced a point of view and then let it rest there, no troll rating, no ranting, no banishment, nothing.  
Just remember that if you do get banned, messages will still stay up there, most sites do not have hidden comment capabilities, and in my experience do not remove comments they don’t like.  So someone may see your comment and be changed by it and that is what we want and need.
You can announce that you are liberal or not as you choose, but I don’t really think it is necessary.  Many conservatives have similar views on topics but are afraid to express them, I feel.
I have this constant feeling that we need to see each other, on both sides as individuals, not as parties.  These individuals on both sides are living, working, teaching, policing, nurturing, preaching and healing those on the other side.  Many families like mine are composed of both sides and while we did have a few tiffs over the election, we still would never call the members of our family not in agreement, murderers, evil, etc.
Our hope for the future will not be realized by the further education of liberals in positions they already have, but in converting the reds into blues, or at least purple.
Therefore I would suggest to you that more of us should undertake the effort of joining conservative site and I am going to recommend this one
http://www.theconservativevoice.com/modules/news/  
as they have almost no comments but a lot of diaries.  My hope is that if you do this you will be respectful to the sites you go to.  
I also hope that both sides (red and blue)will go easier on their own members if they do not adopt the groupthink of the site.  This is just causing further splintering.  We don’t need any more division in this country than we already have, we need now to unite, not under one banner (which will never happen) but on issues that we all care about.  Stop blaming and start framing. Reclaim this country.  
Now I will take a deep breath, and push the post button.