Maybe we should ask Markos to rename Daily Kos to Fine Liberal Cannibals, the daily web community that eats their own. I suspect that Kos would secretly like to rename his site 'I Hate Caroline Kennedy' given his unending obsession and grudge against her because of that famous(or infamous) family. Perhaps, some bloggers would like to rename this site to "Media Matters II: Trivial Pundasses Edition". So many Kossacks love to diss Bill Kristol so much that his name appears on this site more frequently than all of the MSMs combined. (OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration.) Since President-elect Barack Obama's victory in the November 4th election, Daily Kos has changed into a different world. These days we seem to be spending more time tearing down Democrats, liberals, and other progressives.
Note: The title of my diary is meant to be a snark. I am not really serious about changing the name of Daily Kos.
Don't misunderstand me. There are many good quality blogs still be published at this site. I certainly have enjoyed Darksyde's, LithiumCola's, and definitely BiPM's front page blog posts, just to name a few. mcjoan is also another of my favorite front pagers. And there are still many excellent regular diaries published. Yet, the vacuum that was created by the decline in election coverage posts has been filled with many negative, offensive blogs attacking our own liberal community and values.
I joined this web community only a few months before the elections. I heard of Daily Kos through numerous mentions by MSM, I believe it was MSNBC, and checked out the site. I was impressed with all of the front page posts and many of the diaries. There was a great deal of information about different races going on around the country and on specific issues. I have read many insightful diaries like those of brownsox with election updates. I found the site overall fairly upbeat and positive. Daily Kos was about action, getting results, and helping each other.
How quickly the atmosphere has changed since the elections. Other diarists like dansac have commented on this seeming identity crisis. Offering constructive criticism and skepticism is certainly an important part of any healthy political blog. However, repetitive blind criticisms have been the rule these last few weeks rather than the exception. So many of the discussion threads have degenerated into such inanity - namecalling, expletives, or where one blogger asserts comments about what the other blogger meant - pushing the thread all the way to the right that out of exasperation I have started to put MAAN in reply comments. MAAN = Much ado about nothing. Shakespeare would love us.
My parents raised me to be a pluralist and to recognize there are other cultures, religions, political parties, AND opinions. Pluralism doesn't mean you have to tolerate hatred or bigotry. But it does teach you to show respect to fellow human beings. I have tried hard not to do any namecalling in my comments, to direct any expletives at others, or to put words in what the other commenter is saying. I simply try to express how I feel and what is my perspective. I am not particularly interested in personally attacking others for what they believe or say. Do I on occasion fail? Sure. But that is the exception and not the rule. I acknowledge that there is a wide diversity of liberals and many of them will hold varying moderate to conservative opinions on certain subjects. For me, the purpose of posting at DKos is to engage in a dialogue where I may learn more about different topics. Since I have been on Daily Kos, I certainly have changed my opinions about different issues to become even more liberal than before. I also look to Daily Kos to see what action is being taken and if I can help out.
I hope Daily Kos can find its way to a new identity which is more productive and more positively directed. And I wouldn't mind seeing more posts and diaries about people who are doing good in the world, pundits and journalists who are saying good things, or politicians who are enacting progressive legislation. There are some of these posts, but not enough.
Note: Feel free to suggest your own name for Daily Kos and perhaps explain why. Please feel free to vent. And if you have a good blog that you want to recommend or link go right ahead!
Note2: My thanks to Miss Blue for correcting some of my dictum. See! I can learn more!