After reading a fellow diarist detail how the words of Bill O'Reilly brought him to DailyKos (ah, one must love unintended consequences!), I figured it would be interesting to have an article in which others could share their stories of "first contact" with the Big Orange.
For myself, I remember it clearly. It was an email I received that linked to an article by Darksyde entitled, "What It's Like to Be an Atheist", in November 2005.
I can't remember who sent me the email; if I did, I would thank him/her. At the time I had not even heard of DailyKos. I assumed it was Darksyde's own blog. I was pleasantly surprised; I enjoyed the article greatly. It spoke to how I felt on the subject of religion, with a biting wit and yet not too condescending to those who were religious. It just spelled out the way many atheists view certain religious beliefs... with extreme skepticism. I think the beliefs somewhat peculiar, but have no problem with people who believe them, as long as they do not push those beliefs on myself. Don't tread on me, and I shall not tread on you.
After I saw that it was one blogroll of a larger site, I started delving deeper. To tell the truth, I was never very political before 2006. I assumed all politicians were mostly the same, and out for themselves. (To be fair, it's not like that opinion has been earthshatteringly changed.) But the site grew on me. I scanned the front page and found some interesting articles on science, and read on. Then the next day, I found stories on the aftermath of Katrina, a personal topic to me, and read on. And each day I kept coming back to well-written, enjoyable articles. Eventually, I took a dip in the politics. And what a refreshing dip it was!
Diaries by freethinkers, ones who did not have the mindset of older generations. Ones that espoused their beliefs strongly, the same beliefs that I had shared quietly. Until now. Until given a venue to share them louder, first online, and then at home and at work, with friends and family.
I have since taken to politics with an eager curiosity. I find myself checking the blogrolls to see if there's analysis of the next horserace. I donate to my state representative's campaigns. I read up on pundits and platforms. And still, I learn more each time I come here, from Nate Silver's new polling theories, to varied opinions on economic theory, to posts linking to exciting new empirical studies.
I'd like to thank the community. In fact, I'd like to give it a standing ovation: to those who posted a thoughtful diary that made me reflect on long-held ideas, to those who shared humorous tales that made me chuckle and smile in glee, even to those commenters who add so much to the discussion. This community is wonderful, and I hope it maintains its fierce, generous and uplifting message for a long time to come.