I comment and blog here on the DailyKos, but I also comment on Huff Post, despite the awful fluff. About eight months ago there was a decided change in the comments appearing there. I whole new group showed up. The comment sections went from Democratic/liberal to a whole chunk of right-wing “oh yeah,” dogma. Don’t get me wrong, the liberal voices are still there, there’s just a whole lot of white nationalists now, too. Well, with the introduction of the Sandmann story, I’ve noticed that they’ve now come to Daily Kos.
The first question I asked was why? Are they thinking to change minds, really? Is it their hope to run off more moderate commenters and switch the sites to conservative? Is it the pursuit of name calling that somehow makes them feel good about themselves, basic spleen letting for better health? I don’t really know, and frankly I don’t care. That said, I’m glad they’re here. They serve as a cautionary tale of what our country can become if we don’t do our jobs.
Let’s take Sandmann and the Washington Mall. You don’t have to look far to see a bunch of antagonistic teenagers who were looking for trouble while their chaperones stood by. The statement, “I had every right to stand there,” by Sandmann, vs, “I was looking to lower the tensions,” by Phillips, shows clearly where the problem was.
Now, go peruse the comments by the “Covington supporters.” They can’t see a thing wrong with the behavior of the students or their teachers, period. Let me present you a scenario. Let’s suppose that the students had been African American. Would the response have been, “well, they’re just kids after all?”
Why write a blog about this? Nothing I’ve written is new. Those folks, no matter what they say, are overt racists who justify their positions based on individual cases taken out of the greater context. They are overtly sexist, ignoring the clear and well-documented problems that exist within our country. They are overtly biased, harping on about Democrats who break rules, ignoring that other liberals have already called out the misbehavior, while also ignoring or excusing similar behaviors in those they support.
The fact that they are willing to come here, and demonstrate what they are, is a boon. It shows us exactly what we are facing. It shows us exactly why we need to not just vote, but why we need to inform and then help others to vote.
This group is large. Let’s go with 25% of the population. We can’t afford to not vote, to not participate, or that will be America’s legacy, allowing an ugly portion of our population to determine the direction of our country. So, read their comments, think about what they are saying. if you want to waste your time, and sometimes I do, debate them. But understand, they are driven by their hate and have shown no inclination to change. Vote. Vote like your rights depend on it. Vote like your freedom depends on it. Vote like telling the bigoted in the world that we disapprove, is an important thing to do… it is.