I hope this is not too irritatingly meta, but I resisted having Daily Kos as my home page for months. It has been my first stop on the internet since last spring, but I still kept Google as my home page, even though I've long had the google toolbar. I just didnt want to get sucked in I guess. I kind of liked the wide open space of the Google, the promise that I could go anywhere, do buy research anything. The Google had the promise of an interstate highway, whereas I thought locking in to Daily Kos would feel a bit like getting stuck in a small town. A true community, sure, but oppressively insular. The psychology of having DKos as a first destination, as opposed to "home," felt right. But then, a few weeks before the election, I changed my home page to reflect my addiction to this place. And, it seems like almost immediately, I soured on the place.
Oh I'm know I'm not the first person to experience the souring. A certain tone of testiness prevails here for a while. Bizzare post-election interneccine warfare followed victory. I got really irritated by this sentiment that "hey man why conform?," like any sense of unity after victory was somehow a call to lockstep singlemindedness.
Then I against my better judgment got caught up in the Obama war diaries and it reminded me of when I used to post on the old alt.politics newsgroups at the turn of the century. The hostility, the dread after responding and awaiting a response, the sense that there is no sustaining core community-- this is just arguing with strangers about nothing.
Then it seemed like FP posts were way more about the presidential horserace then Congress's 2007 agenda. Then I spent a good while on a diary that got no love ( okay 10 votes in the poll-- some love). Then I lost my TU status.
Now as a meaning making animal, I sometimes take it too far and lapse into magical thinking. I guess my subconscious working theory has been that making Daily Kos my homepage caused the souring. It's nice to make the subconscious conscious, so there it is in all its embarassingly shameful glory. I've decided at this point we're in a bit of a holiday dead zone, spinning our wheels waiting for the great Comeuppance of 2007. After the incredible high of November 7, we have to wait with Leonard Pinth Garnell for Bad PLayhouse to end.
A couple of days ago TU status popped back up even though I felt like I'd been laying low. Then Wednesday I was at work and read some of the liveblogging here on the Residential press conference. Its was a joy to read such insight, such humor, such knowledge, such shame on the ugly plutocracy that's taken over our government. It was a real reminder of how great this place is. SO thanks thanks thanks is all I guess. Here's to a 2007 of peaceful purge. The nights get shorter from here. I checked the paper and we get 2 more seconds of daylight today. And more the day after that.