What do you plan to do in response to the inevitable flood of Pope posts?

2 weeks ago the topic du jour was Terri Scheivo

Last week's was Jerry Falwell.

The latest "topic du jour" appears to be the Pope.

I'm curious how DU feels about "sensationalist" topics and encourage your vote and thoughts.

thanks

p.s. I thank "nickshepDem", who just added "Instead of focusing on Terri Schiavo, Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, and Robert Blake than MSM could be focusing on ________________________...?"

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3401897

Really though - I LOVE DU!!! I think it is good that ANYONE can create a new thread without it getting "approved". I came here because it was the only place I could keep up to date with the election fraud investigations!!! Then I started going to the "latest" page. It was a great place to keep up on what bills were going before congress, and what we could do to help. Then came TS. All the TS posts got old. I couldn't believe how strongly so many at DU felt about the TS issue. I was quite ambivalent. I don't like the idea of starving a girl to death - but I actually don't care when the world is going to hell in a hand basket and the US may no longer be a democracy. I am also ambivalent about the Pope. I was raised Catholic and I know the Catholic Church has many good things - and many bad things about it. I think the Pope really tried. But in my case, I no longer practice Catholicism and I no longer care.

EDIT - Now that they are reporting he died - I'm very sad.

looking ones and ignore the vast majority.

Hmm...where isa the pope?

but it would be useless....you're either awake and aware or not.

Are you saying I'm a sheeple?

LOL....no flame wars please. your right and I'm right so lets go on like 2 ships passing in the night.

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read the source of your mythology and you'll understand the humor in religions.

http://www.medmalexperts.com/POCM/

:P

First, I've already weighed in on all the religious content that DU has been experiencing in the last few weeks (and apparently someone got rather offended, which strikes as just perfect considering how offended *I* am BY the religious content):

My Little War on Religion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3389123#3389591

I nearly wore out my right hand hiding Schiavo threads, and I'll either do that again with any pro-Pope garbage threads, or will simply continue to spend less and less time at DU as I have been in the last several months.

how is that going to help? I mean, DU has been my primary source of information about what is going on in the world. I've AVOIDED the topic DU'jour :) and tried for a time hiding all the threads that didn't interest me, but that became FUTILE.

I feel very frustrated right now. At the same time, I'm not going to give up the good fight. There HAS to be some way to help us STAY ON TARGET.

when the rest of us get tired of all this fucking religious crap.

Post more of your own.

and will not read or contribute to or argue with anyone who feels differently. Good grief!

It's hard to resist the temptation to sound off a bit... we've all been living with such real and significant outrages for so long; these diversion threads are a safe way to blow off a little steam...
But it's too bad, cuz there are so many more important issues out there...
Seems like it's a bit easy to get us all distracted, even now...
It makes me think that we are easily distracted and turned around and dispersed because we have no real leadership to look to; there is nothing to keep us cohering together and functioning as a coherent whole... except our shared sense of urgency about the need for change, as well as the humor we all bring to it in these forums...

Everyone knows it all sucks, that our beloved democracy is about to go right over the edge... everyone except the Hairdo Newsmedia and Joe Average Dumb SucklePig Citizen, who is apparently legion...
We need demonstrations that make a difference. We need to stop splitting hairs with each other and unite under a common banner, maybe a brand-new one, and direct our full efforts toward thwarting and stymying our TRUE enemies at every turn.
And we need secularism. It's an important component of what we're trying to preserve here.
We need a freakin' miracle (and a SECULAR miracle, to boot!) We need another FDR, We need JFK and MLK back...
And we need them bullet-proof this time...
These are dark times indeed... everyone's just waiting for the other shoe to drop...
D

Welcome to DU! You're funny & cynical just like me!
:yourock:

:applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause: :woohoo: :applause:

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

Other than this post - I could care less really.

It'll be raining this weekend and maybe some snow!!

I like the personal freedom we have in making new posts, but I equate this with smoking.

Do it in your own space, don't pollute mine.

:thumbsup:

Me, I'm gonna create my own world (threads) and invite all my friends over. :) Any buttholes who crash the party, by their own doing, become the whipping boy. :D

:silly:

and go out and ride my bike.

Isn't that where they belong?

It is something made out of the individuals that come together under the name of the Democratic Party or the Ideals it stands for. We each bring along with us other aspects of our life and present them for consideration. The impact our views and life have on the politics of this nation being the relevant connection.

Now an event is happening that very strongly impacts a large number of our members and we would tell them to take it elsewhere? We can argue and point fingers another day. The point behind the party and ideals we hopefully share is the real sense of compassion for the human condition. Well this is part of it.

You can walk away. You can turn this into a DUfree weekend. But I say you are missing the point. Compassion binds us together as one of the seams within the ideals we support. Compassion is not something concerned with being right first. It is concerned with how another is doing.

Reason and critical thought are important to our cause. But without compassion they are heartless. This time should be where we bring the compassion to the front. There will be other days for us to bring our critiques and arguments to the field.

But as there are rules to prevent a rowdy crowd from trashing a nature preserve, I am suggesting that these "du jour" post be a but more self-regulating.

Instead of launching umpteen new ones when appropriate threads exist, add comments to one of them.

Is that unreasonable?

That would help a lot, I think...
It is getting decidedly untidy around here lately; last week it was hard not to trip over all the Terri posts... and these can be awfully tempting to a dark humorist...
DXS

In the GD forum, on the first two pages.

Number of "Pope" posts: 17.

Number of Abu Graib posts: 1.

I don't even want to go there anymore. It gets tiring and old. I'm glad I missed the past couple of weeks due to travel. And sadly, it doesn't seem like I missed out on too much.

Maybe this coming week will bring about new discussions and fresh topics.:shrug:

After the new Popereno is announced.

If any of you think that the deaths of:

1. John Kerry
2. Ted Kennedy (unless, like Bela Lugosi, he's already permanently embalmed)
3. Al Gore
4. Paul Wellstone (oops, he is dead, isn't he. I remember the world mourning, sort of)

would have more impact on the world, even if they all died together, you are sadly mistaken. This board often criticizes those who do not have an international perspective, those who feel that the local politics of America are more important than those of the world. This man, a great man (and I am not particularly religious), impacted more people than 1-4 above could ever hope to, helped defeat the scourge of communism, gave comfort and solace to the weak and poor, and generally impacted billions of people in a positive manner.

You can love him or hate him, but to denigrate the impact of his death is just plain stupd.

Express all the thought you want, just PLEASE do not open yet another new thread. Add comments to an exsiting thread.

I wrote a Perl script to automatically hide all threads with a certain keyword. Worked like a charm for Schiavo.

% perl du_hidebot.pl --forums=gd,gdp --hide=pope --username="Ellen Forradalom" --password=(Riiiiiight_smart_guy)

...policies on HIV/AIDS and birth control that will cause millions to die.