This Board is Getting Creepily Freepy...

'Llo All.

What follows, I realize, is only MHO. But in said HO:


After a brief period of lacking regular internet access, I'm afraid I can't help but be struck by how much of what I now see posted here characteristically contrasts unfavorably with what I had been used to reading a few months back. There seem to be fewer posts marked by the civil, fair-mindedness and intelligent articulation that initially drew me to these boards, with a fair number of posts that, dare I say, seem to echo the 'tone' of the what passes for discussion on the worst of the wingnut sites. E.g: Joe Scarborough is a murderer; a link to a site claiming Laura Bush committed vehicular homicide at 17; plus plenty of vulgarity on the part of some to boot. To be honest, a little of what I've read is uncomfortably close to the 'tone' of what I read during the 15 minutes I once spent reading the Free Republic forum...

Come on people!!! We're liberals, we have been, and--should remain--above this! The rise of the American far-Right--those who epitomize the least admiral aspects of our national character (not to mention human nature)--has been probably the most disturbing development I have witnessed in my life. Yet what has remained an immense source of comfort throughout, and an affirmation of my beliefs, is the fact those of us on the left (and, to be fair, what little is left of the moderate wing of the Republican party,) have largely stayed well above the sort of biliuous behavior that characterizes the yahoo Right. (This and the simple circumstance that the facts are almost entirely on our side...) It is troubling to me that I now I see a bit of almost mean-spiritedness and less of the fair-mindedness characteristic of the DU boards in the recent past.

We can play hardball, we can fight to win without resorting to any cheap shots. The far-Right ultimately cannot defend its arguments on any rational or moral basis. Thus, to win, they need to divide and conquer by demagogic appeals to the least admiral facets of human nature. (Any who think this untrue I have two words for you: "Southern Strategy.") Need I say that a polarized polity characterized by crude vindictiveness is essential to this 'strategy.' If our behavior starts to echo that of the yahoo Right, we will ultimately only further their agenda.


Robert

P.S. So, you ask, who appointed me moral authority of the DU forums? No less an authority than me. :D

start your own forum? It's not that hard to do.

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I know DU is a lot of fun, informative, and addictive - but geez, its not that important. You'd think the actions of the Democratic party and our elected officials would have more of an effect than a message board.

In conclusion: fuck Laura Bush, fuckity fuck fuck a-fuckfuckfuck. fuck? fuck.

Feel free to take the high road - sipping tea with an extended pinky, using language no harsher than "gosh."

It still isn't going to win over mythical swing voters in an election 4 years from now...

Fuck her in the ear with a fishing pier!:D

not with MY equipment.
Is Bob Dole in town?

see.

Oh, there she is. :)

Dort ist sie.

and intimidate media members, I don't care what anyone thinks.

Right-wingers didn't take over this country by being civil, kind and polite.

As long as Dems, progressives,etc, keep to the truth, they can crow it any way they like. this is a message board for gosh sake, not the Wall Street Journal.

Edit: This nation has a long history of crudeness and acrimony. It's tradition!

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You'd think what with owning most of the government and media, you guys would be happy. Such sore winners!

You really are a pillar of moral authority... then again, this is the party of bloated, drug addicted Limbaughs... and gambling, dominatrix-loving Bennetts... and cokesnorting, lyin' Bushies...

I love the right's strange ability to speak for "Most Americans" - as if far right fringe nutballs have anything to do with "Most Americans."

"Most Americans" couldn't even tell you who your precious VP is...

A crypto-trollish parody just asking for a nuclear response.

for his next College Republicans coffee clatch.

with Diebold in his back pocket....bye bye

It is interesting that your post is at odds with your screen name.

</sarcasm>

About 0.001% of them, at most?

If anything, FreeRepublic is a lot worse.

Hubris isn't good. God tends to be very unhappy about that especially when people claim to speak for God when they really don't.

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However, crimes have been committed by rightwingers, and we'd be remiss in not keeping them from disappearing down the memory hole. Scarborough may well have murdered someone and I understand it's established fact that Laura Bush was at the wheel (and considered to be the driver at fault) during a fatal crash 30-plus years ago.

The Laura thing doesn't especially fly, politically, but the Scarborough thing does (if true).

I agree that we're supposed to be more evolved -- politically, morally, and intellectually -- than the no-opposable-thumb crowd who love Bush so much.

But the cabal of wicked wingers who are driving Americans to vote against their interests are not stupid, not delusional (except maybe the God-thing), and don't even bother to play hardball: they jump immediately to knife fights, and preferably three-on-one if they can get it.

They are a danger to America and the world and need to be opposed by a wide variety of means -- one of which happens to be cogent discourse.

Do we do ourselves any good when we foam all over ourselves in rage and do a fair imitation of the Freeper Drool? Probably not. However, I wouldn't suggest we surrender an ounce of passion in opposing these evil bastards, 'cause we're going to need it.

A similar rant was made (and mocked heartily by DU) on that Freeper site:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3594239

Wow. Guess we really are more alike than we thought.

(cue Twilight Zone music...)

I also think there should be a rule that everyone has to use some form of the word civil, and preferably civility, in every post. I'd also like to see bilious more often - spelled correctly, of course.

Who's with me?

Bloviate, adumbrate, and calibrate in every OTHER post (just to maintain some kind of balance).

are better demonstrated, don't you think? If too many of us said bloviate very often, it would just be that much more creepily freepy.

I also like alliterative phrases, like polarized polity, and whatever the heck it's called when one does the same thing with vowels - e.g., admiral aspects. I might add that it's nice to see the Navy get some recognition every once in a while.

You best stop using 'em!

Tres bilieuse!

smile on your brother, everybody get together and love one another right now. right nowwww. RIGHT NOW!

Couldn't resist.

Repukes are great at talking the talk, but they don't walk the walk. I find them to be real chest beaters on the boards, but like the neo-cons in the White House....just a bunch of yellow-bellied cowards. Why aren't the creepy freepys enlisting in droves to fight for their hero AWOL Georgie?

and mediawhore Gannon spend nights at the White House.
Poppy, Babs, and Dubya all had naked photos taken of them when they were in college and Jenna is a girl gone wild.
Dubya gives people the finger and his daughter sticks her tongue out at people.
Noelle is strung out GodKnowsWhere and Neil is getting himself some off on some foreign cootchie.
Lynn and Mary are doing the mother-daughter lesbian thing while Dick told a Democratic Senator to, and I quote, "go fuck yourself."

And you stroll in here and tell us that WE are the ones who should seek higher ground?

We so need a woodshed emoticon.
But since we do not have one, here you go.
:spank:

And the creepy nude-photo thing was a humiliation many others had to endure for what? Eugenics? Posture? I don't recall.

Everything else is on the money.

Like a rebellious teenager.:evilgrin:

The freepiness that you refer to comes and goes, waxes and wanes. I've seen it before, hell, when I had about 700 posts I asked if I should be run off of this board because I, er, happen to agree with Harry Reid on abortion.

Most of the responders to that thread said that I was like Dennis Kucinich while he was still pro-life, and told me to make myself at home and just avoid the abortion threads.;)

Hey, on a board with 60,000 members, shit happens.

It gets boring reading a lot of frat-house language and the kind of cheap shots I despise coming from conservatives.

call them, which is something of an unintended insult to conservatives both Democratic and Republican.

Strong language is part of a Democracy, and I enjoy the imaginative and expressive way many people here put it to use.

It rustles my bustle, it leaves yours flat. So goes the world.

we don't vent our anger at one another anymore. That's the only real difference I see. It's Democratic UNDERGROUND. We vent frustration and anger in between meaningful discussion...that's pretty much the whole point.

them damn freepers, fundies,bushcos and media whores refusing to report real news, keeps us pissed off all the time. Keeps ya spittin.

I mean, who really cares if information came out regarding Tony Blair's acknowledgement that the war in Iraq was based on bullshit? We NEED TO KNOW about the freakin' woman who got cold feet! And look, she has a towel over her head!!!! I'm so glad there's a camera capturing every single step she takes through a goddamn airport!

And yes, I am shocked SHOCKED that cheating may have occured on American Idol! Black box voting isn't news worthy and the fact that W won Ohio by a narrow margin...Ohio...isn't that the same state that the President of Diebold promised to "win" for W??? Oh who the fuck cares...someone cheated on American Idol!!!! Oh the shame!

:grr:

and people wonder why we're so angry.

Blah blah blah..... He didn't know it was a male horse!!

We - probably - couldn't have thought of a better joke ourselves.

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> The rise of the American far-Right--those who epitomize the least admiral aspects of our national character (not to mention human nature)--has been probably the most disturbing development I have witnessed in my life.

Well, if you witnessed it, why aren't you aware that one of the reasons they 'rose' was that the US put a spell on it's media lingo during Reagan?

Parental Advisory, anyone?

Not in any order:

You mean you do NOT extend your pinky when you drink your tea? My Go... I mean golly-jeepers!!!

And I will not tolerate bad language!

Do not ever post words like FUCK! Such behavior is FUCKED!!!

Er, yes, this board admittedly has relatively little significance in the overall (national?) scheme of things. But despite this, you post here too...

Please understand: I do NOT advocate more of the sort of deer-in-the-headlights sort of 'civility' typically displayed by some (most?) Democrats in the past. I'm as fed up as you are. BUT... Do we need ape the demagoguery of the yahoo right to stop losing elections? Morality aside, I really doubt we can beat these lizards at their own game. As an opposition party we are galvanized; we need to (for once) get organized, and get on the same sheet of music. As Bob Somerby (The Daily Howler) has lately pointed out, the very fact that the Dems can't even present their (factual) stats consistently on the SS issue is highly illustrative of what ails the party. (Worse: some Democrats have even Liebermanned (to coin a verb) the mendacious figures of the Repub. TPs)

BUT!

Back to my original point, I ask you how sophmoric nastiness furthers intelligent debate, be it from a tactical (ie. winning elections) perspective, or where we ultimately choose to stand on the issues?

As for vulgarity, well, as you surely know, the word itself is not synonmous with 'profanity'; if I may CTRL-C the Merriam-Webster site:

4 a : lacking in cultivation, perception, or taste : COARSE b : morally crude, undeveloped, or unregenerate

(Who needs college, when you have the Net? :D )I doubt not that you know the definition of the word; I paste this puppy here for it seems to aptly and succinctly describe the character of that which I take issue, specifically those posts "lacking in cultivation, perception or taste, morally crude, undeveloped, unregenerate." I.e., approaching what one sees on I'm-a-neo-fascist-creep-moron.com. (Aka Free Repulic.)


Robert

P.S. BTW, I'll have you know I'm a real macho guy, who never dreams of lifting his pinky when he drinks his tea. Geepers! The last time I did that I spilled Earl Grey down my favorite ascot!!

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