The author bases his statement on the demographics of DailyKos on conclusions reached by quantcast. Without providing any evidence quantcast states conclusions. Apparently they collect data based on cookies and draw inferences from that data on the audience. How these inferences are drawn is left largely undisclosed. See General Methodology Overview and Cookie to People Translation Overview. One commenter suggested they use "spatial statistics," a form of statistics I am not familiar with. So little information is provided by quantcast on what and how they reach their conclusions that no one can repeat their analysis and reach the same conclusion. That gives me great concern.
Having said that, I do not disagree with the conclusion. Why? First off I have no data that would lead me to draw any conclusions much less disagree with any conclusions. Okay, I might disagree that the demographics of consisted mainly of purple unicorns, but who really knows? I will even go one step further and agree that the demographics of DailyKos are White, Over 50, Well Off, Male. When I look at most democratic politicians they look white, Over 50, Well Off, Male. This doesn't matter whether I am looking at my city, county (whoops we have a black county executive), representative, or senators (whoops one of my senators is a woman).
I agree that the democratic party, DailyKos, and voters should be more representative of society as a whole. Getting there will not be easy. For starters I recommend people read Bob Herbert's op-ed Too Long Ignored. The op-ed starts with:
A tragic crisis of enormous magnitude is facing black boys and men in America.
Parental neglect, racial discrimination and an orgy of self-destructive behavior have left an extraordinary portion of the black male population in an ever-deepening pit of social and economic degradation.
Do you wonder why black men and boys are not well represented here. Well read the above again and repeat until you understand. The author of the diary Daily Kos Demographics: White. Over 50. Well-off. Male. UPDATED claims to be a sociologist and should know this.
Yes I want more black men and boys to be a part of DailyKos. We as a society need to make this more likely through better education, jobs, and better jobs for black men and boys. I will not be happy to all people receive a good education and have good jobs. We must do a better as a society than we are doing. I see a whole lot of concern here at DailyKos for better education, jobs, and better jobs.
Now to get to a specific observation:
The Daily Kos audience demographic is not the past of the Democratic Party. It is not the present of the Democratic Party and it is certainly not the future of the Democratic Party.
When Thomas Jefferson founded the Democratic Party, the party was an all white male party. I have no idea what the average age was, but I bet the politicians were relatively wealthy. The demographics are not that far past in the sense that the party of the past was whiter and more male. When I was growing up the party was definitely white, male, and older. It still is today. And despite our best efforts it will still likely be tomorrow. So I have to wonder where the author is coming from.
To move on to
Daily Kos is NOT the base.
Daily Kos is NOT the progressive vanguard of the left wing.
I do not agree or disagree that "DailyKos is not the base." I don't know who the "base" is. I do believe DailyKos members contribute a significant amount of money and time to democratic causes and candidates. I do believe there is a large intersection between DailyKos members and the base.
Again I do not know who the progressive vanguard of the left wing are. So again I neither agree nor disagree. What difference does it make? I neither come or go based on DailyKos being or not being the progressive vanguard.
And finally there is:
It is time and long past time for other voices -- Black Brown Young Female - to be afforded more credence in evaluating policies and current political trends, to be better represented, and yes to be actually heard here.
In general, not just at DailyKos, I believe the above statement is true. DailyKos is better than most places at giving credence to those voices. Rather than criticizing DailyKos the author should be complimenting DailyKos and encouraging more voices to come.
Two big issues must be dealt with. One is jobs. All people need decent well paying jobs. The second is education. All people need an education. In particular all people need to learn why current events and politics are important and the impact that current events and politics can have on their lives. Many of us older wealthy white males are struggling to help everyone understand this.
Instead of worrying about the short term demographics of DailyKos, I recommend we worry about fixing the problems we have, jobs, education, global warming, flooding, droughts, oil spills, . . . As we fix the jobs and education problems the demographics will change.
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