I will, in the greatest spirit of American Democracy, be quite blunt and plainspoken.
The fact is that there is a substantial rift in the Democratic party along deepening lines and that both sides can claim legitimate beef with the other side. It's obvious that elements on both sides want conflict, as that is how political differences are usually settled. Given that this is a political forum, and a discussion/debate/policy forum at that, 'fighting' at some level will be not only natural, but necessary to advance a particular view. No amount of group hugging or person worshiping is going to heal this rift. "It's on like Donkey Kong, my friends."
I will, in the greatest spirit of American Democracy, be quite blunt and plainspoken.
The fact is that there is a substantial rift in the Democratic party along deepening lines and that both sides can claim legitimate beef with the other side. It's obvious that elements on both sides want conflict, as that is how political differences are usually settled. Given that this is a political forum, and a discussion/debate/policy forum at that, 'fighting' at some level will be not only natural, but necessary to advance a particular view. No amount of group hugging or person worshiping is going to heal this rift. "It's on like Donkey Kong, my friends."
The real problem is when one side takes umbrage at the other side's incivility, when no one was threatened or seriously demeaned. Then it becomes so much flopping for the ref to blow the whistle. This is why I did not uprate or recommend Buddydharma's gripe diary or the other one I don't remember. I didn't even bother to comment in it. They were loaded, made all kinds of hard-to-prove assumptions about the motivations of the opposition and tried to paint themselves as a victim when they were clearly combatants.
I'm sorry, but that was as much bunk as the claims in this diary. This is an advocacy site. This is a debate site. This is a site where disagreements will be aired. This is a democratic, Democratic site. This is a leftist site. We fight, using events and history as evidence, and one side's views prevail and we form a new consensus. There is no room for tenderfoots or flopping to the ref to advance a platform and BWD diaries are a platform as much as a slinkerwink diary is a platform.
No, we fight because we care. We have a fights, but we eventually come to a conclusion and move on. It is not 'no holds barred,' but we shouldn't shield anyone here from a clean, honest fight. If you don't want any fight or you want a tree-house to stay above it all, then don't post a diary here, dammit.