Concern troll diaries. We've all seen them, read them, and commented on them. I am writing this diary today to urge all other Kossacks to stop reading and recommending concern troll diaries. I like this place and when I see concern trolls trying to break us down and have us question our values it really bothers me.
I don't want the Republicans to take back the Congress in 2010, let alone the White House in 2012, do you?
So please, read this diary and let me know if you are troubled by these concern trolls too.
Concern troll diaries only perpetuate right wing talking points and instill fear into us on the left. What the writers of these diaries do not understand is that when they argue that its possible for us to lose our majorities in 2010 if we keep focusing on important issues-like providing health care for everyone, torture accountability, climate change prevention, fostering economic recovery and growth, ending our addiction to carbon based fuels, marriage equality and ending Don't Ask Don't Tell, to name a few-is that they are really harming our morale and our ability to win any substantive policy debate, let alone the next federal election in 2010.
Kossacks just don't understand that its really not hard to handle several policy issues at once. So when we're told that we should drop a controversial issue from our agenda it confuses us. We can't comprehend actually having a multi-faceted approach to governing. I am worried about this affecting the Democratic Party's priorities. If concern trolls are successful at convincing us to give up on certain difficult struggles, then we will be limited to issues that are only very broadly popular so as to not harm our chances at winning future elections. I don't want us to get into a frame of mind where we have to give up our objectives because they may make Democrats less popular.
I also think concern trolling makes us look bad to outsiders that may stop by this blog to see what we're about. What if they stumble upon a concern troll diary? They'll have such a negative view of this community that they'll think all Democrats care about is winning elections. I don't want our community viewed in that manner.
I must confess that concern trolls may end up helping to lose the next election for us and then we'll be stuck in the minority again. I don't want that to happen to us. I grew up during the 1990s and I wouldn't want the Republicans to control Congress again.
But if we don't act now, this may happen again. That is why we as a community should stop reading, recommending, and commenting on concern troll diaries. They need to go away completely. Let's send a clear message to the concern trolls on Daily Kos by not giving them any more attention. Then we can get back to the real issues and not be distracted by all of their worries.
If we don't do this, I fear that this community won't survive much longer. All of the good writers will blog somewhere else. The front pagers will get other jobs. Candidates and elected officials won't post here anymore. Advertising revenue will dry up and then Kos will be forced to shut down the site.
Do we really want this to happen?