By now everyone has noticed how much meaner DKos has gotten over the past few months. We need to ask ourselves "why"?
I think it is because of frustration by the inability of the Democrats to get anything meaningful done on important issues. Health care is just the latest and most pressing item on the agenda.
Remember Iraq and Afghanistan? No significant changes there. Torture? Nope. Domestic spying? Uh-uh. Reforming Wall Street? Sorry.
Even on the economy we are viciously debating the merits of whether we are bottoming. That's hardly a reason to get up and cheer.
Just saying that everyone should play nice isn't going to change anything if you don't understand why people are angry in the first place.
On one side you have people who are frustrated and are demanding action. This is a normal reaction and is healthy for democracy.
This group could have all sorts of motivations. They might be out of work and behind on their bills. They are angry. Or they might just strongly believe in their causes and mistakenly thought Obama felt the same way they did. Or perhaps they didn't understand how politics actually works. Or maybe they did understand and are just disgusted with the whole charade.
Or maybe it is a combination of all of these reasons and many more.
Either way, they have a right to voice their frustration and they shouldn't be dismissed.
Then there is another group who feels that the only way we will get things done is with a unified voice. That we must rally around the leader.
They correctly believe that a strong, unified group has the best chance of getting their agenda passed in today's political world. However, they must ask themselves if the current leadership still represents the original agenda?
If it does then they are right to criticize the dissension. But if the current leadership doesn't represent the original agenda that everyone signed on for then they need to listen to the critics much more carefully and with more empathy.
Allies with the last group is another group that is just flat out scared. They are scared of the right-wing. They are scared of what is happening in the world today, whether it is global warming, terrorism, crime, or some nameless fear. Most of all, they are scared of the economy. They see the foreclosures, and layoffs, the homeless, and all the other scary numbers.
So they cling to hope. They cling to the belief that the leadership will save them. Attacks on the leadership is an attack on their hope.
It's a perfectly natural reaction, but it is only helpful if it is based on something tangible. Otherwise you might as well go to church.
And then there is the extremely tiny group of right-wing trolls. They will never be a large group here, but they can start more trouble then their numbers would indicate.
The simple rule is "Please don't feed the trolls."
No matter what the motivations, people here are still adults and need to take responsibility for their actions. Just because you are mad about something doesn't mean you have a right to "go off" on the next guy who says something you don't agree with.
What I am saying is that people shouldn't just jump to conclusions of what people are saying and should listen closely.
For instance, I was recently accused of being an "Obama hater" when I wasn't even talking about Obama or anything he had said or done. The person I was debating wasn't actually listening to what I was saying because their personal motivations were driving the debate.
It's this "talking past" one another that leads to these flame wars. If people listened to what the other person was actually saying, rather than just assuming what they meant, then many of these flame wars would never happen.
If someone's motivation is fear, does it really do any good to flame them even if they are wrong? If you are angry, have you done anything worthwhile by venting on someone who doesn't deserve it? Does it do any good to try to shout down someone when you wrongly assumed what his/her motivation is?
I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't bother to even post this.
I've been on the internet for a very long time. Before there was the web I used to hang out on usenet. The anonymity of the internet lends itself to people behaving badly.
In the end, you have to ask yourself why you are here? Was it to shout down someone else? Was it to flame? Was it to find like-minded people? Was it to learn something?
Whatever reason brought you here, you should stick to it and don't let it become something you didn't intend.