This is a big place. There are lots of different kinds of democrats here. There are folks who work to GOTV. There are folks who financially contribute. There are folks who call and write our representatives. There are folks who argue with their conservative relatives and friends and fellow citizens. There are people with the skill to cogently present an argument, and sometimes, also, not so much.
I think everyone is important. Maybe the most important person here is the person who is coming late to the party. They just started paying attention to politics and they don't know squat about being an activist and if they hang around long enough they might figure out how to help the cause.
But some of us here, because of who they are, are on the front lines. I'm thinking of our transfolk members, but there are others who don't have the luxury of being blind to the institutionalized bigotry that many of us have to be taught how to see.
It gets exhausting fighting against the status quo. And it is worse (in my opinion) when you are different enough that who you are has been used for demagoguery. When I'm exhausted I'm not always that gentle or polite. Maybe I'm alone in that tendency, but it feels like a pretty universal response.
I've been around DK for a long time. I remember when that fucking Rick Warren did the invocation and glbt people were hurt and mad and the site reaction was don't be mad or I won't listen. I think that is the typical mainstream response to issues of diversity. I remember being outraged as a kid when my family talked about how blacks were violent. They just sounded deeply angry to me.
I do think there has been positive change here. Of course it's not enough. God. If this is the change from the huge concentration of communication between those of us on this site… just… it feels hopeless sometimes.
So I'm writing to ask people to remember that although we all have deeply held political opinions, we aren't all on the front lines. Maybe we could cut each other some slack.