It's Friday. It rains every 30 minutes and I can't hang the laundry on the line so I'm needing something to do. Let's fight!
I read 2 good diaries this AM, in between nervous breakdowns about being out of bread, butter, and milk so no breakfast for mom unless we go to the store but she's heavy into helpless today and can't figure out how to take her nightgown off because if she does figure it out she'll have to do something she doesn't want to do, ie go out, and I've been alone with her for 3 days, 16 hours a day no breaks, and I'm fucking crazed. [Diagram that, elitist progressives!]
3 different sets of brackets in one diary - a personal best.
So, one was a reasonably well-written plea to rein in some of the rhetorical carpet bombing that's infesting this place, with criticism for both factions, and I responded. I was immediately informed that I'm Wrong, apparently for not fully agreeing with the diarist. I think. It's hard to say. I was critical of the recent spate of diaries lambasting the President for various crimes against humanity re: Shirley Sherrod, and I may have crossed an uncrossable line by mocking Cenk Ungyar's exercise in spawning paranoia. I guess that places me square in the camp of Obama worshippers. My response to the diarist resulted in my being placed clearly in the "You Guys" camp, those formerly known as 'bots.
The other was dynamite advice for Dems about how to win in November by going on the offensive. I responded in that, and was allowed to have my opinion. Hmmmm.
So here's my True Confession: I hang out in diaries about Democratic successes! <gasp> I read pootie diaries, and revel in HinH's photo diaries. I love action diaries with focused action - look around for the people who are interested in changing the filibuster rules. I love BiPM. I rec every BP mothership, and when I can I visit the IGTNT diaries. They're a struggle, I have family in Iraq. I read 40 or 50 diaries a day - some I just scan and bail on, some I read, rec and leave, some I stay in and comment in, some I scatter mojo in. Pretty typical kossak, I'd guess. I read TomP faithfully, even when I don't fully agree with him, because he's one smart man with a sane approach to politics and an ability to assess things realistically without descending into name calling and cheesy talking point positions. (Is there such a thing as a P-bot? Oh noes! I may be one.)
There's a list of people I don't read because, IMO, they don't share those traits and they're wasting my time and energy. The amazing thing is, I get to do what I want to do, within site rules, because I'm a reader and contributor to this blog and I give a shit.
I can choose who I find worthy of respect of who I find laughable. For the most part I avoid the people I don't have much in common with, and I try to stay out of flame wars. Mostly. Some days it's just fun to irritate the self-important and I give in to my worser self.
Some days I question the sanity of the people posting here. Other days I'm impressed by the range of passions and opinions. Here's the real confession, though. I'm probably a pragmatist, and I admire that in Obama. I read, I study history, my father quoted Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, and Jesus Christ, and Mahatma Ghandi, and various Romans and Greeks, often in the same conversation. He taught us the importance of knowing root words, of understanding language. He could have diagrammed opening sentence from hell. He helped me understand that politics is nuts and democracy is hard. He taught me that I'll never get everything I want and only some of what I "need", and that it'll be my attitude about that reality that will make or break my life. I also learned from watching him that being angry about unfairness can poison you, it can overtake you and alter your relationships with people who matter.
I'm 60 years old. I marched against Vietnam and for Women's Rights. I worked as a very young woman for local politicians I was passionate about, even though I was fairly clueless about how things worked. I was devastated when the Kennedy brothers and MLK were assassinated, and I withdrew for a long time after that. I love Bill Clinton's mind, his memory, his grasp of facts, his humanity and warmth. It pissed me off that he was vulnerable to the moods of his dick. (Like that's unusual in a guy.) Watching the RW machine take his administration apart was what reignited my passion for politics. I met the enemy, and I began to understand the depth of what they had planned for my country. I was born in a democracy, I don't want to have to emigrate in order to die in one.
I started looking back at my own history, and saw that it wasn't just the assassinations that sucked the energy out of me, it was seeing formerly committed anti-war marchers co-opted into doing business as usual, voting Republican because hey - taxes! and it'll cost me a lot to avoid polluting the ground water if the tree huggers get their way. It was seeing women don pinstriped suits, acting like men in order to get ahead in business, whatever that means. Carly Fiorina: not my role model. I'm more a Julia Childs kind of gal. I wanted to be respected as a woman not as a man-wannabe. I wanted world peace, not a gig on Wall Street.
I'm a pragmatist because I've been married in love and divorced in disillusionment 3 times. (Okay, so I have a long learning curve.) I'm a pragmatist because I know that FDR didn't sail through his various administrations with ease and endless success. I'm a pragmatist because I belong to a group of people who have ideas that are terrific but don't fit into cute sound-bites. And I'm not part of the majority cohort in this country, so I'm not going to get everything I want, and that's what makes democracy hard - it's loving the reality of it, the fact that if I can't sell my beliefs and values to enough people I can't expect to come out on top every time, and that's the way it's supposed to work.
I'm also a pragmatist because I've suffered and struggled and lived on the margins for most of my life. I don't expect things to be rosy. I don't expect life to be fair. I expect that I'll work my ass off and not always be rewarded. I know what the future holds if Dick Cheney and his pals manage to steal another national election. If I think you're doing anything that might enable them I'll slap your silly ass from here to breakfast, verbally, because I don't like stupid on the left anymore than I like stupid on the right.
I'm not calling for dialogue and cooperation. I'm not trying to improve DKos, I really like it the way it is. I will try to change your mind if I think it's open enough to entertain a new thought. I'll mock you if you rely on someone else's talking points. I'll challenge you if I think your thinking is shoddy. I'll ignore you if you prove to be one of those internet stereotypes. I'll enjoy talking with you, even if we disagree, if you have a solid grasp of what you stand for, some interesting ideas that are worth considering and you treat others with respect. It's just like real life!