Friday Night (I think) I logged on to dkos to check things out.
The "Fuck Karl Rove and the Horse He Rode In On" rant/diary was on recommended list. Gave me a chuckle and put me in a good mood for sleep.
The next night I read the "Fuck Bush That Lying Cocksucker" diary. (or maybe it was the other order - working too many hours not sleeping and being a parent will do that to you.)
A friend who was over asked me what I was giggling about. I said "Thats what I love about this blog site - people say what they are really thinking - after all the carefully worded BS you hear on the news I love to just hear real people who think like me say whatever the fuck they want."or something like that.
I probably really didn't say all that. I probably really said "This is some funny shit." but I was thinking all that other stuff.
So If the question is:
What the fuck are the rules of this blog anyway?
Then the answer is:
Whatever Markos makes up.
End of story.
Thus far In My Humble Opinion Markos has struck a decent enough balance with front-page entries getting the ol' "stamp of approval" and recommended the "peoples choice". Moderators like Armando make sure that possible calls to violence like "kill bush" get axed (and rightly so, IMHO.)
So anyway I guess another question is:
What the fuck do people want this blog to be?
To me the absolute best quality this blog can offer us is community. A place that fairly like-minded people can come together to get and report news & action items, argue, rant, get support, celebrate victories (woo hoo Nov 8 was great!) mourn defeats and regroup, etc, etc. This blog is a living thing. Markos choice to moderate parts of the blog and leave others to grow wild is wise, I believe.
So when MSOC says (paraphrasing) "there's nothing dirty about a good 'fuck.'" She is talking about the freedom which springs from community, and the community which springs from speaking freely. Feels good in this age of censorship huh? But a good "fuck" doesnt just feel good. It frees us from fear.
I just came home from seeing "Good Night and Good Luck" about CBS, Edward Murrow and McCarthyism. scary shit. The movie points out how censors succeed because of the fear in all of us of being singled out. That so much of censorship is self-censorship and that it takes an enormous amount of guts and a community of people working together to counter that.
So anyway to Jeffrey Feldman: Yes, all these freely flying fucks may offend some. And if Markos wants to pull the plug on fuck talk then maybe we'll all have to fly over to my left wing or somewheres when we want a good fuck. Yes, I will grant you there is a place for the public face - couched, rehearsed political speech. Reality is that's what politicians need to win...
Front-page maybe. But here in my diary?
Fuck no.
(Unless of course Armando decides to fuck with it :)