One of the best things about this site is also one of the most dangerous things about this site.
Each of us has the ability to mobilize potentially thousands of activists to write letters, make phone calls, attend meetings, and send emails. That's an amazing, wonderful thing, as was evidenced when nyceve led the charge and mobilized us to try and force an insurance company to provide the care it's supposed to (tragically, it was too late for Nataline; we experienced later successes with similar campaigns).
It's also dangerous, as was clearly evidenced by the Buffy Orpington fiasco.
Such things happen. Luckily not often, but the damage they can do is very real.
Clearly, the power of this site is a blessing and a danger. Responsibly used, it can save lives. irresponsibly used, it can do harm to people personally and to the movement as a whole.
With the election looming, we need to exercise extreme caution, both about the charges we level and about the actions we take. We can't afford to be distracted by non-issues or by poorly thought out actions.
We have to focus. The election is almost here, mere days away.
We can't be calling newspaper offices because of misunderstandings.
We can't try and organize boycotts because of a poorly researched diary.
We can't flood TV stations with angry calls and emails because of a mistake.
To use a diary posted today as an example, there was a diary (now deleted) saying that CNN was going to give free air time to McCain because Obama bought a 30-minute ad. There was anger, there were people called and emailed, there was a flurry of activity.
It turned out to be wrong. Luckily, the diarist is excellent and monitors their contributions, so it was deleted right away. But what if the diarist had posted it and then left for an hour?
"Leftist-bloggers flood CNN with angry calls over fake story" would be the headlines. Credibility would take a hit, and people will be less likely to listen to us when we talk about disenfranchised voters, or scandal-plagued Republicans, or whatever. The movement would be damaged, despite the intent of the diary.
I'm not trying to pin this on the diarist, by the way. I've made similar mistakes in the past, and the diarist was all over it when it was determined that the diary's premise was wrong. But the problem is that it got 50 recs in under 10 minutes. I was shocked it wasn't on the list, but thankful as well.
I want to be clear that it is up to each and every one of us to look at things with a critical eye, to take time to see what is going on as opposed to quickly reacting (as I've often done in the past, much to my chagrin). And again, it is not my intention at all to point the finger at one specific diarist as the problem (because she's definitely not).
We've got only days to go, kids. We can't get distracted. We need to volunteer, donate, GOTV and make this happen.
Let's bring this one home.
Volunteer.
Donate.
And above all, focus.