On this blog site, I have noticed that whenever someone disagrees with either a story, diary, or comment, the author is condemned as a "Troll". I am worry that the use of "Troll" would limit free speech similar to the way Bush, Cheney, and the Republican Party have used 9-11 to quash dissent aimed the Bush Administration.
The "Troll" label has become a subtle way for some to impose censorship in order to prevent other views from being heard. Any form of censorship limits the scope of debating the important issue facing this nation and the World.
Do you think that the use of "Troll" by some bloggers is censorship?
Addendum 1
Markos Moulitsas -- a.k.a. "kos" -- created Daily Kos on May 26, 2002, in those dark days when an oppressive and war-crazed administration suppressed all dissent as unpatriotic and treasonous.
This site is primarily a Democratic site, with a heavy emphasis on progressive politics.
The community, however, is currently self-selected to be a moderate-left, progressive, and almost exclusively Democratic site.
This is not a site to debate conservative talking points.
This is not a site for conservatives and progressives to meet and discuss their differences.
Knock yourself out bitching about the Democrats, but the stated goals of the site are trying to fix them, as a party, not dismantle them.
This is a site for progressive Democrats.
Conservative debaters are not welcome simply because the efforts here are to define and build a progressive infrastructure, and conservatives can't help with that.
This is an explicitly partisan site: the goal is an actual infrastructure, and actual results.
Put simply, we aren't here as a fully representative slice of the world, we're here as a place for progressive Democrats to hang their hats and get things done.
What Markos started in 2002 was the proper response for that time. But since then, the world, the nation, and the Democratic Party has evolved. Congressman Murtha criticism of the Bush Administration's handling of the Iraq War of Occupation was the first of many public statements by elected Democrats to inform the nation of Bush's incompetence. Next came Hurricane Katrina that provided the documentation of Bush's incompetence. The results from the elections of 2006 showed that nation has finally awakened from its long sleep that begun in 2002.
The Democratic Party is on the verge of capturing the White House and both Houses of Congress. With that goal within reach, the Daily Kos must changed accordingly. Debate is the only way to reach a consensus on the issues that are important to all Americans. Debate provides the way to ascertain the facts. As Markos opposed Bush's effort to suppress dissent, then the Democratic majority must not govern in the same manner after the 2008 elections. But how to govern when the Democrats' opponents are not of the same mind set is the question.
An open forum provides the best means to understand and decide the important issues that confront this nation. Facts are debated, not one's prejudices. Policies are debated, not one's pet idiosyncrasies. Issues are debated, not one's own personal desires. From this open forum, a consensus can be reached based on facts on how to implement a policy affecting a given issue.
To reach such a consensus, this community will need input from all sides – not just liberals, progressives, and Democrats. Opposing points of views must be heard which is alien to this community. As the Democrats will not govern in a vacuum nor impose their will on the nation like King George III has done, the Democrats must make an earnest attempt at inclusion of our opponents only because they are fellow Americans. If the Daily Kos community does NOT adapt to the changing political landscape, then they too will in time become irrelevant.
Addendum 2
When one blogger accuses another blogger as being a Troll, this is a form of Ostracism.
In Ancient Greece, Ostracism was used a political tool used to silence the opposition. It was humane way to suppress one's opponents by expelling them rather than killing them. Ostracism allowed the Greeks to temporarily expel a fellow citizen whom they feared. The Greeks wrote the name of their candidates for Ostracism in the shard of pottery called ostraka.
For Ostracism to occur, at least six thousand potsherds, votes, must have been cast. If the requisite number of potsherds is obtained, then the presiding officials sorted the potsherds by name. The person receiving the highest number of votes was Ostracized.
In 461 BC, Pericles had Cimon ostracized. Pericles supported the replacement of the aristocratic institutions with popular ones. Cimon wanted the aristocratic constitution of Clisthenes restored whereby power will be share between the aristocracy and the middle class. In response to Cimon's attempt to restore the aristocracy, the popular party of Pericles began a libelous campaign to smear Cimon.
The ostensible accusation was that Cimon betrayed his city by acting as a friend of Sparta.
Even after Cimon's ostracism, Pericles continued to espouse and promote a populist social policy.[21] He first proposed a decree that permitted the poor to watch theatrical plays without paying, with the state covering the cost of their admission. With other decrees he lowered the property requirement for the archonship in 458–457 BC and bestowed generous wages on all citizens who served as jurymen in the Heliaia (the supreme court of Athens) some time just after 454 BC.[24] His most controversial measure, however, was a law of 451 BC limiting Athenian citizenship to those of Athenian parentage on both sides.[25]
Such measures impelled Pericles' critics to regard him as responsible for the gradual degeneration of the Athenian democracy.
Hence, he enacted legislation granting the lower classes access to the political system and the public offices, from which they had previously been barred on account of limited means or humble birth.[27]
Cimon, on the other hand, apparently believed that no further free space for democratic evolution existed. He was certain that democracy had reached its peak and Pericles’ reforms were leading to the stalemate of populism. According to Paparrigopoulos, history vindicated Cimon, because Athens, after Pericles' death, sank into the abyss of political turmoil and demagogy. Paparrigopoulos maintains that an unprecedented regression descended upon the city, whose glory perished as a result of Pericles' populist policies.[26]
As we can see, things haven't change much in politics in 2,500 years. But, this diary isn't about the state of politics today. It is about Democracy and how different viewpoints are allow to be heard whether in this blog community or in the real political world where competing policies must be decided upon and diverse issues must be ascertained in order to set policies. Whether its policies or issues, facts must be presented to make the correct decision.
Markos created this blog community. This community is a microcosm of America with an open bias towards liberals, progressives, and democrats in keeping with Markos' intend stated in 2002. The bloggers of this community have no right to expect that their views be heard. Nor is the Daily Kos blog community a Democracy. By bloggers strictly adhering to the original concept established by Markos by calling anyone who strays from that original concept as an Troll, heretic, that in fosters a community that does not evolved. This blog community is no different than the community of fundamentalist Evangelical Christians who endorse a literal interpretation of the Bible as the foundation for their faith.
Troll Hunters are the new enforcers of this Inquisition to maintain strict obedience to their holy scriptures handed down by their creator, Markos. No departure from said scripture can or will be tolerated in this blog community. The Troll Hunters make sure of that.
But what I fear most are the Troll Hunters who express purpose in to limit discussion by Ostracizing the author of a comment which the Troll Hunter disagrees. By ridding this blog community of comments that this Troll Hunter doesn't want discussed. By doing so, this blog site effectively becomes an echo chamber as warned by Markos.
Because of the Troll Hunters and the other rude comments lacking facts with regard to my diaries on Hillary Clinton, that is why I wrote the following:
This community sucks
I am out of here.
Go play with yourselves
As a Liberal, Progressive, Democrat
The bloggers of this community were acting like children. As such, their blogs were how they play with each other. If this community does not grow up and behave like responsible adults, then it becomes unreasonable for me to expect mature comments from adolescent minds.