General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Why is DU's popularity waning? (Title edited, explanation within.) [View all]LostInAnomie
(14,428 posts)It's MIRT in conjunction with the jury system. Working together they turn DU into a place where only orthodoxy is accepted as valid. The jury system allows DUers beyond MIRTs reach to be targeted for suspension, and MIRT makes sure that only the sufficiently pure are allowed entry. The end result is a narrowing of allowed views and intellectual homogeneity/hegemony.
Just take a look at Oktober's transparency page:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=profile&uid=317225?=trans
Tell me he honestly deserves to be suspended right now because of those posts. He doesn't, but you know why he is... because he has the audacity to go against the DU zeitgeist a little too often.
Or take me for example, I've been here for over 10 years in good standing for all of them. Personally, I think the idea of rape culture is ridiculous, the talk of white privilege strains credulity, the ranting about the third way is clueless, Michael Brown undoubtedly robbed the convenience store, and there's no proof Darren Wilson is a racist. And, I have not held back in voicing that opinion. Now, if I didn't have 14,000+ posts under my belt, what do you think my chances would have been of making it past MIRT? Out of the thousands (according to cyberswede) of people banned from DU by MIRT, how many do you think are like me that had the potential to be a good duer but spoke out too soon?