I am frankly sick, tired, and ill at the state of DailyKos over the past few months. Even when I have tried to post some diaries that aren’t focused at the Democratic nomination, inevitably, people try to spin them or yank them into the fight someway and somehow.
Even worse, the main reason I stayed at DailyKos since I first visited back in 2003 during the Primary contests of the day, was because the Rec List was rich with stories and topics that helped me to personally learn new things about both the Democratic Party, Progressive Policies, and our World.
I would personally love to see the site return to one that helps to spread the Democratic and Progressive party messages, pushes for other Democratic candidates at all levels of government, or helps place a new eye on Republican policies and programs across the country that are negatively impacting people and might become the next big thing Republicans will be pushing in other areas of the country.
To this end, I am personally going to commit, and encourage other people who like to write diaries here, to posting at least 1 dairy per day that has absolutely nothing to do with the current Democratic Presidential Primary process, results, or anything related to it.
- No Mention of Clinton or Sanders
- No Mention of their surrogates or campaign representatives
- No photos with either candidate in the diary
- No photos or mentions of any of their talking points
- No logos, signage, or other stuff that could be constituted in any way, shape, or form to be promoting either candidate or against either candidate
My hope is that I can do just my little part to help to change the atmosphere at DailyKos and return it to just a little bit of what convinced me to eventually join and become a part of this community.
If you are willing to join in, even if you can’t post every day, I encourage you to take a step back and think about the other stuff you want to write about or you want people to think about or know about.
Here are some topics I am considering writing about, just to give an idea.
- What it was like growing up in a Republican household
- What I feel like as an Atheist that has had to ponder what death means to me
- How our, admittedly weak, social safety net saved my family and gave me a chance to live the American Dream
- What I have learned from years of using Ancient Aliens as a quick and easy method to get myself to sleep when I am battling insomnia
- How video games have both shaped and changed my life for the better
- How I believe we can use video, board, and tabletop games to change the world
- A discussion about my mother’s experience teaching at a school for expelled and unwanted students that were still required to attend a school until they were 16 years old in Illinois
- What I learned and eventually had to relearn from growing up as white male and attending school in an area that was 99.3% minority population
- Why Machine Learning is about to change our world and what we might need to start thinking about from a Democratic Policy and Platform perspective to make sure we are ready and can lead as the changes hit
Please feel free to also post topics that you would like to see others discuss in a diary, even if you personally do not feel confident or knowledgeable enough to write one yourself.
Thanks, and I look forward to reading all the great diaries to come!