Dear Fellow Kossacks,
Over the last little while, since the primary season officially ended in fact, I've been noticing a disturbing undercurrent to some of the comments and diaries here on DK. I've registered my disapproval as I've noticed them, but at this point I felt like I had to say something a little more comprehensive.
To put it simply, a certain segment of the DK community seems to think it's perfectly fine to launch personal attacks against "the other side", and it's a trend I'd like to nip in the bud.
Now before the concern troll posts start flying, I want to make it clear that this attitude seems to only be shared by a small minority of Kossacks. The point of this diary is not to call anyone out (hence my reluctance to link to any examples) or weep about some loss of DK innocence; it's merely to open this up as a topic of discussion, and find out what the community as a whole thinks is or isn't "fair play" when it comes to the upcoming campaign.
That said, over the last week or so I've noticed the following:
- numerous references to Republican spouses as "Stepford wives", and users who seem to think nothing of hurling insults at Cindy McCain
- multiple calls to "fight fire with fire", "use the Rethugs tactics against them" etc.
- multiple diaries attacking John McCain on a personal level, ranging from accusations of infidelity to the infamous "teeth day"
- a front page story in which Senator McCain gets raked over the coals for a seemingly innocuous off-hand comment in the wake of Tim Russert's death
I fully appreciate that, having been "down" for so long, that Democrats would revel in the reversal of fortune this election cycle is bringing.
I also want to be clear about this. The public faces of the Republican Party, in the White House and Congress and the corporate media, have for the most part been reprehensible scumfucks over the last seven-plus years, and I have zero sympathy for them as their party crashes and burns.
But among the many bitter lessons we've learned as a country under the Bush regime, one might be slipping through the cracks: The end never justifies the means.
It matters how you treat people. It matters whether you act with dignity and grace, or whether your instinct is to dive for the gutter. It affects how we're perceived around the world. It colors how open we are to viewpoints that we don't share.
Hunter posted an interesting diary this evening, pointing out that the calls for "bipartisanship" from the corporate media are badly misplaced. The problem for the last decade hasn't been generic "partisanship", it's been Republican partisanship that has poisoned the atmosphere and led us down the road to Hell.
Hunter's point is that it's a mistake to blame Democrats for the things Republicans have done. But if Democrats, in their rush to take the reins of power, fall into the same philosophy of doing anything and saying anything to accomplish their goals, then they prove the corporate media right.
Again, I'm not saying all Democrats are doing this, or even all Kossacks. I'm talking about a small minority, and I've seen at least as many users criticizing that attitude as have been advocating it.
But that attitude exists, and I think it needs to be addressed directly. The Obama campaign has done a fantastic job so far of not falling into the final trap set by the Bush administration -- that of becoming the Bush administration, in any way, in the effort to get rid of them. Remember, when Karl Rove talks about "Republicans", what he really means is "people like him". That's the true intent behind his efforts to create that "permanent Republican majority"; it's to create a permanent Rovian majority so that no matter which party wins, the only true winners are the ratfuckers. And the rest of the country loses.
That's not the path I think we, as a community, should be following.
