I’ve had my fill.
Someone has to say this, and it might as well be me:
GET A GRIP, PEOPLE!
Yes, we get it: you have chosen a candidate to support in the Democratic primary. Huzzah! Bully! More power to you! But here’s the thing, folks...most of us are nothing more than words on a screen to each other. Sure, there are folks here with whom I’ve discussed and debated issues over the years, and there are several of us who follow each other on Twitter, but 99% of you know nothing about me beyond what I’ve shared online...and I know next to nothing about you. There are folks here whose diaries/comments I've been reading for years in my decade-plus as a Kossack, and I may have enormous respect for their writing, knowledge, and passion...but I really know nothing about them. It’s the same with you; in this case, you’re like that house in my neighborhood that always has yard signs for candidates, but whose occupants are never seen elsewhere. Outside the relatively few Kossacks who have attended Yearly Kos, Netroots Nation, or various meetups, most of us are just words on a screen to each other.
After the break...some hard truths about those words...
1. There’s no inflection or nuance to be found in words on a screen. You can’t discern tone of voice, facial expression or any of the other clues usually found in verbal or face-to-face conversation. Why do you think we use (or talk about) the “snark tag”? Many of you are spending WAY too much time trying to “read into” the comments of others, and that’s when confirmation bias rears its ugly head. Now, the flip side of that is that good written activism requires effort, and dashing off half-thoughts or supposedly witty ripostes does nothing but invite superficial treatment.
2. Many of you are coming across as complete jerks. You wade into diaries completely unrelated to the primary contest and attempt to turn the discussion into praise of your candidate or criticism of the other. That’s jerk behavior. Dipping into ad hominem attacks against individuals lands you in the same bucket, as do general insinuations that anyone who disagrees with you is less intelligent, poorly informed or just plain stupid. You can double that factor if you’ve only registered here (or only began frequent participation) in the last year or so; that isn’t a slam against “newbies” per se, but a simple acknowledgement that I haven’t seen enough of your contributions to form much of an opinion about your writing, knowledge or passion — first impressions, don’t you know...
3. Associating online “supporters” with the candidates and their campaigns is ludicrous. Just as you don’t know much about others here beyond their username and their history here (and you only know the latter if you go digging for it), neither do the candidates or their campaigns. Do any of you REALLY think that Clinton or Sanders reads Daily Kos, or even that some member of their close staff “keeps an eye” on comments and diaries here? Get real. If you actually consider these pseudonymous Internet users representative of their candidates or campaigns, you must have a field day making snap judgments about folks in your city/town based on nothing but the web of their daily experiences...”oh, he shops at the same grocery as [XYZ] — [XYZ] must support their Snickers abuse!” Give it a rest.
4. The “take my ball and go home if my candidate doesn’t get the nod” ploy is exactly what it sounds like — a playground taunt used by children. If you don’t see the bigger picture looming just beyond the primaries, I think that Bernie v. Hillary is the least of your worries. If you can’t look at the GOP Clown Car Cavalcade and see the need to work for the Democratic nominee—whoever that might be—then why should I pay attention to your opinions now?
5. You aren’t going to “convert” anyone. At this point, there are most certainly folks here who haven’t made their decision just yet. That’s to be expected, since there are states and territories that don’t even vote until early June...but because of the four points I’ve already mentioned, it’s highly unlikely that the vast majority of commentators here are going to sway anyone’s opinion of the candidates. In fact…
6. MANY of you are driving people away. For the first time in my 10+ years here, primary partisans have me longing for an old-school Usenet killfile. For those of you who never participated in Usenet, a killfile allowed you to specify subjects, usernames, etc. to be automatically weeded out of your newsfeed; in other words, a means by which one could summarily ignore other users. In Daily Kos terms, think of it as a personal “hidden” capability. That’s how bad many of you have become; I’d rather go without seeing anything you have to say—on any topic—than deal with the garbage. Is that really what you want?
7. We all have our own priorities. Let’s get down to brass tacks. There are wholly acceptable reasons to support either candidate, and there are are wholly acceptable reasons NOT to support either candidate. Most of us tend to base our choices on our particular “top issues”, and there’s nothing wrong with that; we just need to remember that we don’t all share the same “#1 issue.” This is one of those cases in which “different” doen’t equate to “wrong”. There’s a reason we often refer to ourselves as a “big tent”; some friction is both natural and expected in any coalition, but that friction doesn’t have to turn into conflict.
In closing, take it down a notch...dial it back...take a chill pill...pick your metaphor, but PLEASE start taking a few deep breaths and reflecting upon your words before you post. Not every diary has to turn into a campaign debate, not everyone who disagrees with you is evil, and—perhaps most importantly—when this election is over, folks here will still be working on issues (and for causes) that could use your help at national, state and local levels...no matter who the nominee/winner turns out to be.
So, yes, fight the good fight for your primary candidate (emphasis on the word ‘good’)...but remember that there’s a bigger fight on the way, and there are fights that never end.