I am contemplating taking a break from DU.

[Danger Mouse]

Here's why:

1.) The thread I posted last night, my feelings about Iran...sums a lot of it up. I feel kind of hopeless about that situation, and I don't feel much more hopeless when DUers seem more interested in spending more of their time sniping at people.

2.) It's not as much fun anymore. Honestly, being on DU just reminds me of what's bothering me about the situation in the world.
If I start to think about it, I begin to get overwhelemed. Because I realize that it's all so much more evil, so much more complex, than I ever realized.
I can't BE on DU and forget about these problems...in fact, lately it's all I can think about. I don't know what to do about it.

I don't really know. I'm really torn about it. On one hand, I love you guys (those of you that bother to pay attention to me), but on the other hand, I'm not sure if this is...where I want to be...at the present time.

Feel free to contribute any...thoughts...you might have, I guess.

Or ignore this thread completely and let it sink like a stone. I guess, it doesn't really matter either way.

Man, I really DO feel hopeless :P

[KitchenWitch]

1. Take the time you need, and come back refreshed and ready to fight the next round!

I will miss you.

[gemdem]

2. Just come play in the Lounge

It's a break from all of the other crap going on IRL -- including stuff out of the WH and the rest of the world. I check out the other boards, but this is where my friends are, this is where I play, this is where I escape from all of the other crap.

You can look in on the other stuff when you choose. When it gets to be too much, come play here.

[Danger Mouse]

5. That's what I'm asking myself...

if I can separate even the Lounge from all the other garbage.
Not sure.
I'm just starting to wonder...if America has completely lost its soul.

[KitchenWitch]

7. No America has not

Many of its people have, but as long as there are warriors among us, America's soul is still alive.

[Danger Mouse]

8. What happened to it, then?

I'm looking for it, but I can't find it.
:cry:

[SPKrazy]

13. Open Your Eyes And Look Around Man

the soul of America is in here, in your community, in your world.

Don't watch the corporate mass media, they just want to fuck with your head and take your money

follow your heart and use your head

:hug:

[Danger Mouse]

16. It's not gone from the people...but from the country itself...

I just feel that America as an ideal might have been irreparably tarnished.

[KitchenWitch]

18. No, the ideal is still there

As well as the American Dream. The principles our founding fathers put in place have yet to be completely obfuscated. What is in place now is an illusion. But people are waking up and realizing the madness, and it is not too late.

[Danger Mouse]

23. More than an illusion. A nightmare.

A nightmare that's been going on for years. A nightmare that began with Ronald Fucking Reagan.
The inevitable consequence of Raygun's sleaze was the Bush administration, evil enough to make Nixon jealous, corrupt enough to make Grant say, 'Now THAT is an embarassment'
It's just hard to maintain that faith in the American ideal when that ideal has been brutally raped by the lowest kind of scumbag politician.

[SPKrazy]

22. America as an ideal has been fluid

from the beginning

it was never the ideal as stated

they held slaves

the revolution started in 1776.


It still goes on, battle by battle. Don't lose sight of the war. These are but battles along the way.

:pals:

[Kutjara]

27. That might not be a bad thing.

All countries have to grow up, sooner or later. Maybe a little tarnish, a little reality, a little understanding that we're not the be-all and end-all of human civilization will be good for us in the long run. After Vietnam, I thought America would learn a little humility, but all it did was wallow in self-pity for awhile, until Ronnie Reagan started rattling the jingoistic sabre and replaying the old "rugged individualist" cowboy script. Then we were suddenly "Number One" again, crowing about ourselves and our way of life like a bunch of testosterone-filled teenagers, ready to "take on the world" again. Except our perceived superiority was just an illusion, so we're having to learn the lesson all over again. Let's hope it takes this time.

The real tragedy is that, whenever America needs to learn a lesson, it seems to cost a lot of other people's lives, as well as our own.

[Danger Mouse]

29. One can hope. And hope.

But until this country is no longer dominated by cynical politicians and corporate supremacy, that day will never come.

[gemdem]

21. Lost its soul?

I dunno. Lost its way? Yes, but that course can be changed. As long as someone gives a damn, there is hope. It will take time -- longer than we would like. It will not be painless. But change will come. There have been plenty of dark times in the country's history -- this is one of them. But the light will dawn anew at some point -- it should have been with 9/11. But the cretin in the White House tapped into our fears and demons instead of our better angels. It will take time to undo the damage.

I don't agree with or even like many of the voices on DU, but there are voices of decency and reason. Throughout American history, those voices have been the ones that ultimately were heard. But they start as a whisper and it takes time for that whisper to be heard above the howls of hatred and mistrust. My hope is that someone (or several someones) comes to the fore in the 2008 presidential campaign who can add volume to that whisper, and give strength to our hopes so that we can overcome our fears.

Stay close. Listen for the whisper. Help give it volume. There are others who will help. And when it all gets to be too much, rest. Pause, come to the Lounge. Play. Refresh. Renew. Begin again.

That's my plan.

Peace.

[SPKrazy]

3. Well When The Camps Are Set Up

we can all play cards together and we'll know each other already...

seriously, if you leave you leave, I'll be sad, but a bunch of people seem to feel the need to leave for different reasons. Life will go on. I'll miss you, but if you need to do it, then do it.

I hate that you feel hopeless. In some ways, there is little we can do except keep writing representatives, ltte's, joining democractic party, joining activist groups, protesting, and supporting each other on DU

But keyboard warriors are limited in what we can do. REal warriors get out from behind the keyboard every once in a while too.

You don't have to leave DU to be a warrior.

:hug:

:hi:

[Danger Mouse]

10. Yeah, at least at the gulags, there will be plenty of familiar faces...

[SPKrazy]

26. And if that is what happens...

then that is our lot and we fight...

I don't believe that is it... but I did see V for Vendetta


I did see resemblances to early Nazi Germany before.

We live in changing times. Country loyalties are vanishing amongst the wealthy class. Money is their master. Cheap labor is the rule. No country can meet this new aristocracy's needs. Global domination is the plan. One economy at a time.

What do we do? We fight back. One school board at a time. One state legislature at a time. One statehouse at a time. We get rid of corporate lobbyists and put the power back in the hands of the people.

easy? hell no.

how will leaving DU change what needs to be done?

:shrug:

[Danger Mouse]

30. I don't know. That's why I said...i was contemplating. Not actually up and leaving...

and asking for my granite chicklet. :P

[Pretty Go Pale]

4. You feel hopeless . . .

. . . but at least you feel something.


"I Feel"

“Sometimes I feel like . . .
I’ve got the world on my shoulders.
Sometimes I feel like . . .
I wanna start all this over.
But there ain’t no doubt in my mind --
it’s better than feeling nothing,
at all.
No, there ain’t no doubt in my mind
it’s better than feeling nothing.

Wash away sin.
Wash away everything.
(I’m unchanged--not unchained.)
Wipe the slate clean.
Wipe away -- everything
that means a thing to me --
I just can’t stand this misery.

Sometimes I feel.
And that’s what matters.

It was late afternoon
on a summer day--
I was sitting on the banks
of Thunder Bay -- oh yeah.

Just kickin’.

There was a one-eyed girl
in a yellow sunbonnet --
ponytail bouncing
I was trippin’ on it -- yeah.

Just trippin’.

Then she stood beside me.
Sandals right beside me.
I felt something inside me --
fall away.

Gap-toothed smile
With a freckled face.
Sundress cut
with the neckline lace -- oh yeah.

Just spinnin’.

Butterfly bobbing --
She gave chase.
Laughin’ and squealin’
All over the place -- oh yeah.

Just grinnin’.

Then she stood beside me.
Sandals right beside me.
I felt something inside me—
fall away.

Sometimes I feel like . . .
I’ve got the world on my shoulders.
Sometimes I feel like . . .
I wanna start all this over.
But there ain’t no doubt in my mind --
it’s better than feeling nothing,
at all.
No, there ain’t no doubt in my mind
it’s better than feeling nothing.

Wash away sin.
Wash away everything.
(I’m unchanged--not unchained.)
Wipe the slate clean.
Wipe away -- everything
that means a thing to me --
I just can’t stand this misery.

Sometimes I feel.
And that’s what matters."

[uppityperson]

6. I just posted in your other thread. Could copy here but go there instead please.

Sometimes it is difficult. Peace to you.

[Danger Mouse]

12. I read your post...and you make an excellent point.

Humanity...I don't understand it at all.
The need to kill. The need to hurt and exploit other people. The lack of love that so many seem to have.
I don't get it.
I don't understand hate, evil, killing.
I don't get any of it.

[texanwitch]

9. I will miss you if you take a break.

I more then understand if you do.

I feel the same way about Iran.

I am afraid that Iran will be hard to avoid, I do try to take a break from the news every few days.

Do what you need to do, but please come back.

[Danger Mouse]

15. I've stopped watching and reading the news by this point...

because it all stinks.
It stinks of the corporations that fund it. The stench is enough to make me :puke:

[texanwitch]

20. I stopped watching the news on tv along time ago.

I get my news from the internet.

I spend this week at the beach for this reason, just to get away from everything.

Taking a break is a good thing.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

11. Seems more than a few here are having similar feelings.

I've cut back my DU time considerably, and don't post nearly as much as I used to. I've just had increased time to sit around lately, so I've come back to refresh myself.

If you go, go in peace. If you stay, you and all you have to say will be listened to by all here.

Peace out.

[Danger Mouse]

17. It seems like it. And seeing those people leaving made me start to introspect as well.

And made me realize that I just don't know anymore.

[KitchenWitch]

31. I do know that it is not good to be alone with such thoughts and feelings

:hug:

[Danger Mouse]

32. Part of the problem...a huge part...is that oftentimes, I DO feel alone...

The thread last night made me realize that it's silly of me to think that...
but it's hard for me not to...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. My dear Elrond Hubbard.......

Please take care of you...

And do what you want for yourself!

I will miss your threads if you go........

But then there will be rejoicing at your return!

:pals:

[Danger Mouse]

19. What that is has yet to be seen.

I'm sure..at some point...I will know.
Thank you for being supportive.

[TheBaldyMan]

24. loser!

:P

Please don't lose heart, there will be no war against Iran.

There will always be the lounge lizards to cheer the crappiest.day.ever

If you are going to take a break - remember you are always welcome here.

[file83]

25. I've gone through those same motions before too...

...all I had to do was take a break for a few days - stop reading the newspaper, stop watching the news, stop browsing the DU/Raw Story/America Blog/Daily KOS/Crooks and Liars/etc...

After about a week, I felt SO MUCH BETTER.

Getting worked up about things you can't control begins to take its toll.

I don't "blog" now as much as I used to which is good, but I still do, only in moderation.

I've struck a balance between what I need to do for myself/family/friends, and what I need to do to become a well informed citizen.

Change it up a little and see what happens. Figure out something different because if you have feelings of such dispair and frustration, its because you are taking the weight of the world on your shoulders. Don't!!
:grouphug:

[Danger Mouse]

28. It might just be a few days of complete isolations...

and also, I've been reading Al Franken's book...'Lies and Lying Liars Who Tell Them'...it's a few years old, I know, but reading stuff in there I hadn't even KNOWN about is just adding to the disgust and despair I'm feeling.
Ugh.
Gotta put the book down too. Shame, it's a good book.

[idgiehkt]

34. I understand the feeling.

Reading books like that is one thing I don't do anymore because I already know what is in them and I am the only one around me that cares, no one else wants to listen to that stuff (I'm in a conservative region). About the only issue I am still following is voting machine stuff...it think election integrety is the only hope we have. As far as DU I have had to put some strict parameters on it. One is that I have aspergers syndrome and because I have a terrible time discerning motive and integrity in people so I don't look to DU for anything more than friendships; I have several good friends here whom I want to keep in my life but there are definite boundaries around any more or anything deeper. Two is that I have strictly defined what it is I want from this site and anything outside of that is not negotiable. I come here for a positive experience and the moment pain comes into my life through this electronic box I hit ignore, hide thread, alert, block replies or whatever it is I need to to keep that element out of my life, because this is not "MasochisticUnderground". Of course doing that may be easier for me than for others because I strongly believe that debating in GD is a waste of time and does absolutely nothing for the future of this country; I might as well spend my time under a bridge with a crack pipe, but that is just me. LBN I can definitely see because it is educational, and some of the other smaller forums where I can talk with people that have problems that I have, but I just pick up the scent of conservative skank everytime I enter GD. I used to have a tremendously more open viewpoint about DU but that has changed drastically in the last month, by necessity.

[Ariana Celeste]

33. Breaks are good, hun

I take 'em frequently. :hug: