"Do you purposely find the hottest questions to ask just to stir people up?"

On another thread, someone made the comment quoted in my subject line. I thought it was a good question. I've been a part of DU for six years in one form or another. I still think this is an amazing community. At the same time, I also think that it has gotten so large and the political landscape has gotten so polarized that the community has become kind of insular.

I don't like insulated circle-jerk groups that bathe in group-think and march in lock-step.

I don't think Democratic Underground fits that label. But I think it most certainly will if certain people are allowed to scream "troll!" and "flame bait!" every time someone asks a difficult question that challenges the prevailing dogma.

Not that there aren't "trolls" and "flame bait" posters here. But every community has those. I feel like the more we define the scope of our discussion and debate by the threat of "trolls" and the more we gravitate towards lock-step thinking and "orthodoxy" rather than free-thought the more we lose out.

I think questions in my mind and I don't feel afraid to ask them here. I've had my mind changed many times as well. My concerns about the presentation of information in SICKO? Remember that thread? YOU, the community, totally turned me around on that one. Lots of good points were made by reasonable people, even though I had to sift through all the asshole dick head comments to get to people willing to have a discussion.

It's a shame that I had to weed through all that shit just to get to civil debate. But I also understand that many times this community kind of feels "under siege." Hell the whole country and the fabric of our democracy seems under siege. I get that can make people tend to become a little insular.

But that doesn't change the fact that I believe DU will become a waste of space unless its members find a way to work past heir hyper-obsessiveness with who is a "troll" and who isn't and continue to be willing to engage people who claim to have honest questions with honest, sophisticated, mature, intelligent discourse.

I ask the questions I have. No more, no less.

It bothers me when they do it just to rile people. But if the tough question needs to be asked then it is right and just.

Besides, we are all still entitled to our opinion. Ask the questions you want answers to.

It bothers me when they do it just to rile people. But if the tough question needs to be asked then it is right and just.

Besides, we are all still entitled to our opinion. Ask the questions you want answers to.

The real honest-to-goodness astroturf trolls: to sow the seeds of suspicion.

Better use of critical faculties is something that never goes out of fashion.

It's a good feeling to have others agree with you, it kind of bonds you. But it's also interesting to have others disagree, as long as they do it with respect and don't insult, belittle, or disparaging toward you.

Some here seem like they just want to argue and fight. This is a waste of time, especially when they resort to name calling.

I've had disagreements with people on one subject, but then find that we totally agree on others. It's the mix that makes DU a good place, and you have to take some bad with a lot of good.