I promise to try not to rant in this diary... remember I said try.
Okay so today I was watching countdown with Keith Olbermann and I was surprised to see a factor fiction segment, but it intrigued me so I continued to watch. I then saw Bernie Goldberg and almost turned off the tv, when I decided this may be slightly interesting. So, I pressed on. I then found out that he had listed the daily kos as one of the worst media influences or whatever. He listed a bunch of others that can be easily refuted, but I figured I would make a diary considering I am a dkos member, and so are you, and this is the daily kos and all. Don 't you love my logic?
Heres what I don't get. I have only been a part of this massive forum since a few weeks before the election. I am still learning new things about the site, but I have yet to be turned off by anything (except of course for the time some took credit for a diary of mine and I was called a troll) but that is over and done with and apologies have been made. Anyways, I have read many diaries, and many articles by many different users here on the kos. I enjoy the commentary as well as the writing and have seen a few good debates here and there. I have yet to see anything wildly insane or untrue.
Recently, since I joined the kos, I have heard a lot of negative things about it. A lot of people have been talking in my ear about how leftist it is, and how crazy the people are, and how mean and disparaging everyone is. I have heard that this site frequently defames conservatives characters. I have heard so much bull and I don't understand any of it. Maybe I am just dense... maybe I am reading the site at the wrong times of day... or maybe... just maybe this isn't going on at all.
I try to take in everything from a sociological perspective. When I hear a republican talk, I try to understand why they believe what they believe, this is the only true way to understand culture. Yet, I have not read anything on this site (not troll rated) that is deserving of the name horrible. I see statements, back up by logical and solid facts, that come to clear cut conclusions. I see no hate speech that has not been disparaged.
What I have seen on other websites however is just the opposite. They put this site into the category of extreme leftist, so I will put them in the same categories to be equal. When I go to rightist conservative blogs there is no end to the hateful speech. There is racism, sexism, and all sorts of other crazy things. I am not saying all conservative sites are like this, but there are many. Why aren't these people being called out? I just don't understand the hypocrisy. Maybe I am missing a key factor in all of this... but what I see on the kos is respectful people that don't tolerate disrespectful remarks. I love that. I actually appreciate when people call me out on something I say that might be deemed as offensive. In a former diary of mine about Coulter, I edited the text because something I said offended someone. Thank god they told me, or else I may have actually said it out loud one day. So from that example alone... where are these people getting this idea.
This diary was basically made to pose a question to those that have been here longer than me, which the majority of you have of course. Where are these ideas coming from and why is this site attacked? I have come to the knowledge in my 21 rotations around the sun, that every rumor starts with a kernal of the truth, but I'm not getting the connection this time.
Also, I just got a laptop, and I'm not used to using the keyboard, so if there are any serious errors that I missed during proof reading, please please please point them out.
Comments are much appreciated on this topic. Let me know what you think.