I mistakenly believed that I along with hundreds of other readers, who recommended a diary by Sean Robertson posting a “confession” by a supposed former paid troll for the Clinton campaign, that I must remove my “rec” for this diary in order to remain here. I don’t know for sure the validity of this confession & the contention that the diarist was making, but it sure sounded authentic, considering what I’ve experienced here & elsewhere. This diarist has apparently been a member of this site for 13 years & posted frequently. In this diary, he comes clean about his own connections to the Bernie campaign. Therefore my inclination is to believe he is genuine. I have since been kindly set straight by the administration that it wasn’t for recommending that diary, but for instead uprating a comment that accused someone of shilling (which I don’t remember doing, but very well could have), & I am not in danger of being ousted from this site because of it. I’ll try to be more careful about that, since I agree that encouraging unwarranted accusations of people should be avoided. However, there are other points in this diary I’ve been wanting to make for some time, anyway, so I’ll proceed.
This kind of thing happened to me, too, when I posted a diary (well before the New York fiasco) showing that multiple primaries were, according to an expert in statistical probability, likely subject to some sort of election fraud because the election results were far from the initial (unadjusted) exit polls, making them statistically improbable if not impossible. (I have since thought of another somewhat plausible reason for those discrepancies, but that’s beside the point). I was immediately flagged by Hillary supporters looking for any reason to have a diary putting Hillary in an unfavorable light be deleted & a Bernie supporter be banned.
Many people here are being coerced to withdraw posts & recommendations in which they believe, because others on this site do not like thoughtful, provocative discourse if their candidate is put in a negative light. To be besieged with flags & warnings to withdraw posts by thought police is an extremely uncomfortable experience, giving a glimpse to how it must feel to be a member of the Chinese Communist Party (for example) being purged by the powers that be and/or zealots within the party.
From the beginning, I’ve been somewhat disconcerted by certain banned, or at least strongly discouraged, topics: comparing anybody or anything to Hitler or the Nazis, which apparently has been eased up some, considering hard to ignore similarities in rhetoric of certain candidates this election; advocating for anybody outside the Democratic Party (sure I get this is a site for progressive Democrats, but some of us are more progressive than Democrat, or more idealists than party loyalists, even if we tend to support & vote for Democrats the majority of the time); & anything associated with “conspiracy theories”, even if a so-called conspiracy theory is, if examined with an open, unbiased mind observing all the evidence & engaging in sound reasoning, makes more sense than the prevailing government line, which should naturally be held in suspicion by a site like this, considering the circumstances & the purveyors of the government line (Dick Cheney, for example): sometimes a certain entity, in order to deflect examination of its own side, accuses opposing views of being “conspiracy theories” so as to have those views dismissed in the public mind & not even aired by the mainstream media, even if believed by the majority of people in many places in the world. (For your entertainment, you might like to read this amusing piece: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/8c1DC1/:W1eD!7Kt:l25Y_Ep+/greyfalcon.us/restored/RENSE.htm/# )
The warning I received this time stated that accusations of trollery shouldn’t be taken lightly, & I agree. But by the same token, it seems to me that rule should be applied to this diarist (he’s now being accused of being a troll) & also to anybody who posts an agreement or recommends such posts. This siege/purge mentality that permeates this site, in which whatever post you disagree with you flag on this or that technicality, will eventually discredit & ruin this unique & highly popular site if allowed to continue. It is contrary to what I would assume a (previously) progressive site like this stands for, which facilitates in many ways lively discussions & even writes to members urging us to make our own diaries. It will sour people on Daily Kos & also on some of the causes & candidates it supports, & likewise with the Democratic Party. I urge the administration to consider carefully whether it is worth losing so many fine, thoughtful, interesting, & yes opinionated (but isn’t that the point of a site like this?) people just to keep control over a certain narrative for a brief period of time.CORRECTION:
CORRECTION: I just got this message from the administration, clarifying what they said:
Your reading comprehension is off. You were warned, along with a few others, for uprating a comment accusing someone of shilling. Here is the warning you received:
You uprated a comment accusing someone of shilling. (http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1519540/61201466#comment_61201466) Accusing someone of being a paid operative of a campaign is a serious matter. False accusations can damage a person’s reputation, not just at the site but in real life. Consequently, such accusations should not be made in diaries nor comments. Instead, the accuser should present evidence privately to the moderation section of the Help Desk for investigation and adjudication. An opinion is not evidence. False accusations determined to be malicious will result in banning. Further ratings abuse on your part may result in loss of your ratings privileges. Public accusations of shilling are strictly against site rules. You still have time to remove your recommend.
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There is no threat of banning you for recommending the diary, nor others.
We hope you correct this diary.
I fully expect with these comments to be banned from this site. While I have much more in store apart from this campaign to offer this site, I guess I’ll have to sacrifice it. But I have to stick to my principles (which, from my point of view, sets supporters of Bernie apart from supporters of Hillary & of Republicans) & not cower to threats, & thus take what will come.
If you are at all interested in what I have written & want a chance to read them before they disappear, here are some of the ones of which I’m proudest: http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/23/1474310/-FDR-or-Hitler-The-Choice-Is-Up-to-Us
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/10/1468300/-Vote-Republican
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/1/10/1468296/-Why-the-Democrats-Need-Bernie-to-Win-the-White-House-Congress
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/22/1453328/-October-Hottest-Month-Ever (by the way, the streak continues by ever widening margins)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/11/6/1446205/-Obama-s-Speech-Rejecting-Keystone
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/8/13/1411979/-Worst-US-Presidents-Since-1900
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/7/19/1403850/-Greatest-Crime-against-Humanity-AND-against-Nature-in-History
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/6/5/1391060/-Liberals-Making-Common-Cause-with-Libertarians
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/5/18/1385784/-Arguing-against-Climate-Denialism-Using-Logic
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/4/21/1379352/-Did-Nader-cost-Gore-the-2000-presidency
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/3/22/1372657/-Why-Bernie-Sanders-Should-Run-in-the-Primaries-as-a-Get-This-a-Republican
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2015/2/12/1363720/-Consuming-vs-Preserving-Our-Resources (especially this one, a subject too little discussed)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/12/1/1348747/-Injecting-Logic-into-the-Case-of-Brown-vs-Wilson
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/11/21/1346642/-Democrats-Are-a-Cinch-to-Win-in-2016-or-Are-They#view-story
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/11/2/1340970/-Republicans-Much-Better-at-Messaging
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/9/8/1328216/-God-Said#view-story
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/8/14/1318683/-Should-Hillary-Be-the-2016-Democratic-Nominee-for-President (What foresight I had!)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/7/31/1318255/-Environmental-Messaging
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/7/31/1318217/-Triggers-to-Global-Warming#view-story
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/3/22/1286731/-Ridding-Our-Nation-of-Kochroach-Infestations (before the Exxon revelations)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/3/22/1286730/-Some-Sensible-Extreme-in-Our-Current-Environment-Positions (I’ve extended & refined this list, which I had hoped to present to Kos one by one in more detail at a future date.)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/2/11/1276948/-Political-Ads-Democrats-Should-Make-about-Republicans#view-story (before the 2014 Election)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/2/1/1274348/-Strategies-for-Dividing-the-Republican-Party#read-more (more foresight!)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/1/25/1272540/-Strategies-to-Confront-the-Climate-Change-Catastrophe
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/1/5/1267095/-Corporate-Corruption-of-Our-Democracy (one of my best, which apparently almost no one read)
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2014/1/1/1266552/-Questioning-Patriotism (n early & controversial one, but I stand by it)
Here is the site to which I referred above:
https://richardcharnin.wordpress.com/category/2016-election/
There are a lot of really good people on this site, whom I admire immensely — too many to name — & I will surely miss them if I’m banned. But I spend more time on this site than is good for me — it’s addictive — so maybe it would be better for me. I will also miss this unique format, even with its various shortcomings, because it really is conducive to an intellectual exchange of ideas & opinions, if only some people would let it happen.