(cross-posted at Redstate and Dailykos, or if you prefer at Dailykos AND Redstate)...is a false dichotomy. Or at least it is to the degree that people are willing to NOT perpetuate it.
The polarization among the left and right blogospheres has been pretty bad in the past several days, even by today's standards, to say the least. Bad enough to not miss the notice of me, a relative fly-on-the-wall.
For the (partial) back story here: Red State is a right-leaning community blog. The fact that it is a community blog is particularly note-worth, of course, considering the relative absence of such things in the right-leaning blogosphere. This represents a potential opportunity of sorts for everyone.
Dailykos, of course, is Dailykos. A fever-swamp of pinko liberals. I kid, of course because of all the time I spent at Dailykos in the past year + (full disclosure, right). Anyway, everyone knows the stereotypes and suffice to say there's enough ill will to fill at least one episode of Survivor. Cats and dogs, tamato/tomato, that whole thing.
Naturally each side KNOWS it has the God's honest cornerstone (or "Secular Diety's corner stone" for our atheist/agnostic friends) on
"THE Truth". (Yes, really - and thank you very much). What brings us to the most current "now" is, perhaps, Darksyde's recently, somewhat cross-posted, diaries (see
Redstate version here, and
Dailykos version here.
Let me just say that while I appreciate and admire Darksyde's knowledge and information on the issues of evolution and creationism (a sentiment I guess some people reading this might object to), I feel let down by his methods, and maybe the motivations/intentions during this cross-posting adventure. At least initially, it appears that not much productive came of his "experiment". Without harping to much, I'd like to express a personal sentiment that going into a place with the expectation/dare that you'll be banned, perhaps, speaks of dubious will/intention. Either go to a place and give it your best - attributing and affirming the positive aspects about the place you're going into - or freaking don't. Certainly my experience is that in life you normally get out of things what you expect to. Going into a place and assuming the worst about them is not exactly the foundation for success. Final lesson, if there is one - and this goes for both sides of the dichotomy (e.g., Redstate and Dailykos): ...calling someone a fascist IS inflamatory - even if it is true. To use an extreme example: even a social worker or saint would not go into a den of thieves and prostitutes and expect to receive respectful treatment if they actually called everyone "thieves" and "prostitutes" (and this is specifically NOT referring to anyone in either community as playing the part of the thieves or the prostitutes - this is a GENERIC example). People that are acting badly likely already feel bad enough somewhere inside, and are likely harder on themselves when they're in the mirror than you could ever be. They don't need someone else 'hating the sinner and not the sin' (sorry if that's to biblical for you, but I've only got some many analogies to work with).
In any case, the events have led to a
purge at Redstate. Considering the nature of things, IMHO, it's hard to blame them. They took someone in and dialogued on the basis of understanding that they were having an honest discussion - honest in the sense of, at a minimum, trusting that they were not just being manipulated into acting out someone else's mental-projection(s), just so the results could be splashed up somewhere else. Please understand that I can hardly conceive to discuss the content of the posts themselves, since the underlying mechanics of the whole thing were so off. Which is not to say there is never a good time and/or place to address the content, it's just that time has temporarily passed for now.
Segue to this moment and the future...
While acknowledging the possibility (aye, the likelihood) that there are "wingnuts" on both sides of the equation who are, perhaps, unapproachable by any means - I still have to believe in the possibility of at least a semi-reunification of ideals. It is my intent, and my hope, for people everywhere, that they not be too specific and/or picky about what this re-unification looks like or how complete it should be. Anyone with kids or a wife/husband can attest to the idea that "good enough", is more often than not, indeed good enough when it comes to human relations. Maybe we can all chill out a little bit, lower our expectation of everyone else, uphold our own expectations for ourselves, and experience whatever level of compassion we're all capable of for the jam we've all managed to get ourselves in (and if you're still blaming everyone else for the jam you're in, well, welcome to the first step in your recovery).
Anyway, that's it. No kumbaya. No fireworks. Just the work of remembering that being a Republican or Democrat is secondary to being a member of the human race, a member of the American family, and the world family. And family doesn't cut cord just because someone is hard to deal with or is being obstinate.