It's Spring, and the Cliques are in Bloom

From May 15, 2005:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=3251835#top

Regarding the reaction to "cliques," please allow me to quote myself:

"The more one gets involved in what goes on here, assuming that involvement is accomplished from a position of sincerity and openness, the more one is noticed and accepted, the more one "belongs." I'm not a very social person, and I realize this. It doesn't stop me from feeling a bit left out at parties, but I do know deep down that if I'd just get up off my ass and introduce myself, act like a human being, and try to get to know people, I'd not be left out any longer. A lot of people approach social situations from a passive aggressive standpoint and almost demand others to invite them into their circles. I know this because I do it. But, good luck with that. It doesn't work very well, as I also know. You may find an enabler or two among the crowd, but at some point you have to stop relying on that and actually stand on your own feet."

The thing I find bizarrely interesting about this, enough to comment again after posting in one thread about it and then not another one in the last four years, is the repetition of accusation and denial that goes on. This also seems to be accompanied by an implication that DU is somehow unique.

The "clique" of which I was a part without my conscious awareness at the time and which I mentioned in my original comments in the thread linked here provides an interesting perspective for me. It might for others also who aren't into this just for the lulz or to fulfill their manufactured outrage quota for the month.

I've had time to reflect more on those associations and that time period it in recent years, and I have done this in part because some of those people are still very important parts of my life. Back then one of our chief "accusers" labeled us as The Groupe. (The typo was his, and we later adopted it and from ever after referred to ourselves as The Groupe(tm).) He was ... odd. Some time later, this other guy came along who, for reasons I still don't entirely understand, felt marginalized by us as well. He initially was "accused" of being part of The Groupe(tm) but later broke with it in a stunning display of insanity, after which some of us genuinely questioned his sanity.

Rhetorical war erupted. Virtue was questioned. Mothers were insulted. People were beaten within an inch of their lives. Europe was in flames ... dogs and cats, sleeping together ... CHAOS!

Fifteen years later, five of us are now working on a book together, and one of my partners for my piece of the project is the insane guy who, it turns out, isn't really any more insane than I am. You can interpret that how you want. He's just a guy who, like the rest of us, forgot for a moment that rhetorical posturing in a discussion forum is not really worth all the stomach acid it produces.

And life goes on ...

What is this about? No, I don't want details. I don't even want an answer. I'm just asking ... for whatever reason.

:fistbump:

This too, shall pass.