My apologies if similar suggestions have been made or discussed elsewhere on the site; I've been reading only erratically and may have missed stuff.
What I've gathered is that there is a large scale effort to paint the left as moving back to the extremes, of supporting terrorism and Al-Qaida and other assorted enemies of freedom, and of being treasonous. While nothing new, these attacks have picked up in scale (hell, they even get repeated in the lefty mainstream European press) and there is a definite attempt to make the meme 'stick'.
So here's my proposal to fight back:
Some of us have the luxury (or the recklessness) to think that they are safe to provide their real identities when blogging on dKos or other sites of the 'angry left'. Why don't we put this to good use, by flagging how so many of us are 'real' people, with serious lifes or jobs, well integrated, and in no way cut off from our communities?
My idea is simple: let's have one diary (or a series - but there should be a single one that can be pointed to easily) with the biographies of various volunteer kossacks, their jobs, families, social activities and any other similar information pointing to the fact that we are normal, reasonable people, and that if we are pissed off, it is not that we are crazy, it is that there are good reasons to be pissed off.
So, what do you think?
I'll post my short bio below; do provide your comments, suggestions, and, if you care to, you own bios.
Also, I'd like a better title for the series. Any ideas? Take the poll or provide other ideas.
My name is Jerome Guillet. I post on DailyKos as Jerome a Paris. I am an investment banker and I finance the energy sector, including both the oil & gas side of the business as well as the nascent renewable energy activities of my clients. My employer is a well respected European banking institution, my bosses are aware of my blogging activities and, as far as I know, they are happy with my work.
I am married, with 3 children, I am 35. I have a car, I rent my family apartment, I vote, I pay my taxes. I did my one year military service in Germany in the late 80s, in a tank battalion where I trained to fight the Soviet army.
I am worried about the incoming energy crisis, the accompanying global climate changes, amd the imbalances in the zorld economy, and disappointed to see politicians do so little about it.
I am angry at the politics of fear peddled by our governments these days. We can do better. We deserve better. We need better.
(oh yes, include your military experience)
Now, as you know, I am French, so will be happy to step aside if this effort goes anywhere and you guys would rather have 'angry American lefties' spearheading it. But I hope this can be a step towards showing that we are not extreme, quite the opposite.