I plagiarized the title from a paragraph in a Rec-List diary. Yes, the title of this diary is a complete paragraph in a diary that members of this community choose to hold up as one we admire/respect/feel worthy of recognition.
The diary that contains this paragraph is devoid of facts and full of anger. It is worthless. Yet it must strike a chord with a lot large number of members of this community. Why? Are the members of this community as fed up with the Obama administration as the diarist? Are the members of this community in love with the literary style of the diarist to the point where any drivel that is written is deserving of an automatic rec? I don't know the answers to these questions, I only know what I've seen over my time as part of this community.
As any community grows and becomes diverse it takes more and more sensationalism to get noticed. For some it takes excessive swearing when it isn't needed. For others it takes "breaking" news or "action" diaries to gain the attention of their peers. For a few, it takes the wisdom and research they provide that gains them readers.
But one thing that seems to get the attention and recognition almost immediately these days is negativity. Not just anger, nor disagreement, but negativity. An attitude that things just suck here in America. That, as Americans, we are the scum of the Earth, our president is a joke, and our laws are draconian. We are responsible for all evil in this world and are subjected to the evil that is our Federal Gov't. Some diaries embody bits and pieces of that negativity to get recognized, others embody all of it.
It doesn't make sense to me to continually support such negative attitudes and such negative outlooks on like. I'm not for putting my head in the sand and pretending its night time. But I'm also not for calling our President a failure because of 16 months in office. Especially when, if he quit today he'd have passed more liberal and progressive policies than any president since LBJ.
I've not always been an active member of this site, there was a time when I just liked to read the front page, the rec list and perhaps some other diaries. I always liked reading the comments because I liked to see how people interacted in these blogs. It took me a while to get active and since then I've gotten caught up in the META that's going on here, and it started with the author of the diary which inspired (cut and paste) the title accusing me of being in the dreaded FB group. This was at a time where I had some free time and wanted to get involved in blogging and progressive politics. Naturally I took great offense to such accusation because it questioned my intentions and my motivations.
I've now moved passed that but what I've noticed is that there are a lot of people on this site who are generally paranoid. They are quick to accuse people of impure motives and conspiracy. I've felt that a lot of the negativity on this site comes from the same members who are generally paranoid. They always seem skeptical of those who they say "don't get it". Or those who they say aren't "true progressives". Instead of engaging in debate there is a tendency to accuse people of being disingenuous.
Today is my first day back on the site (though I'd peed at it from time to tome) in couple of months as my busy season is approaching. I also had some free time so I thought I'd give everyone here my 2 cents on where I see this site headed. If I don't get to responses it's 'cause I'm at the gym. Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!
There are a lot of people on the other side of the political spectrum who base their lives around negativity and paranoia. I hope this community doesn't embrace those emotions and instead chooses a different path. Perhaps one of hope and change!
--side note, I volunteered a bit for Obama in 08, not since then. And I make my checks out to Howard Dean, not the DNC.