The acrimony on DU is getting to be too much

[Love Bug]

I can hardly venture out of this forum or the Lounge anymore because of the nasty snapping and fighting between some of the Hillary and Obama supporters. I've been on DU since 2001 I don't recall it ever being this bad before. I'm typically anti-censorship but I think it's time for Skinner to call a truce and tell them to either civilize the discourse or be prepared to see the worst offenders banned or have their threads locked.

How are these people going to kiss and make up after the candidate is chosen?

[ccpup]

1. I rarely -- if ever -- Post anything anymore

and find my time on DU shortened dramatically since the acrimony between the two camps has heated up. Just not worth it, in the end.

I do get the sense, though, that many of them are either a) high school age, b) bored with life with little to do, c) needing attention and willing to say anything to get it or d)psychotically sick with a desperate need to throw verbal flames regardless of fact or the consequences and watch the fire burn.

I could be completely wrong on all the above, but I do know -- for me, at least -- they're not good for DU.

[LiberalEsto]

2. Or so furious with the B*sh regime

and so frustrated by the inaction of the Democrats in Congress, that they are desperately pinning their hopes on Obama or Clinton to save our country.

Me, I've given up hope that things will get significantly better if either of them is elected. That hope died when Edwards dropped out of the race. I don't care which of them wins the nomination.

All I can hope for in the coming election is that a Democrat wins so we can gain control over Supreme Court appointments, and perhaps repeal some portions of the Patriot Act.


Nevertheless, the acrimony in DU is really awful. I wish people would cut it out and make some effort to get along with one another. After all, we've got to pull together for November.

I'm blocking the GD-P thread and trying to avoid any post that mentions the primary campaign.

[MorningGlow]

8. I find myself turned off by the desperate clinginess

Neither Clinton nor Obama is the answer to our prayers. (I was for Edwards, too, and I wouldn't say that about him, either.) NO single person is the answer to our prayers. (That way lies the basis of too many religions.) We can't just sit back and think if we elect the "right" person that everything will be fine (although I'm glad the Obama supporters are viewing things in a hopeful, progressive, change-the-world light--we need that kind of energy). We are still going to face an uphill battle to get this country back on track (or, rather, on a new track), and we surely will be disappointed at the compromises or cavings that are bound to happen along the way--this is politics, after all.

I guess I'm averse to the "all or nothing" point of view--that only by electing a particular candidate will this country be brought back back from the brink. S/he can't do it alone; we all have to work at that. And will those folks who cling so desperately to their respective candidates get burned if we don't reach utopia the day of the inauguration? I don't want to see them get bitter if they find the work is tougher than they expected...

[Mnemosyne]

21. Or

hired. :)

I shut off GD-P. Much quieter now. Shorter though. :(

[stellanoir]

3. It'll pass

I luckily have a fairly good "psychic ignore" function.

But every once in a while you come across something like this. . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4476428

priceless

[Celebration]

5. yeah

The upside is that it has inspired a few pretty funny posts. Love the ones where the "cult" gets together to make plans in code.

[Why Syzygy]

7. I find it amusing at times too.

After the brutal beating Dean took HERE AT DU in 2004, and I along with him, nothing fazes me.

[DemExpat]

14. Man, yesterday there were several hilarious threads

that had me chuckling and delighted at the insanity of it all, and, thankfully, it looked to me like people were generally adding to the glee in very funny and smart ways.

At one moment I scrolled down the thread OPs in GDPrimaries where almost every thread topic had the word "Cult" in it, Obamabot, Hilarites, or some such name, and it was so ludicrous and very amusing to me....
:rofl:

So, yeah, I see the nastiness and fighting, but the humor is there too.

DemEx

[Love Bug]

9. Bwahahaha!

That's what we need -- more humor and less nastiness.

[stellanoir]

11. totally

[davsand]

4. It really is pretty ugly on DU lately.

I'm kind of like you--I spend a lot more time in the Lounge these days, and I even spend more time on a local political board sparring with the local GOP guys. (I know and actually like several of those guys, if you can believe that!) It is good natured (for the most part) and I will say freely that it is usually more congenial than DU has been of late.

I am another old DU fart, and I remember some of the other Primaries. They got ugly, but nowhere NEAR this level of sustained anger-ya know? I honestly think that a large part of it is the fact that so many young people are here and active. The vigor of youth is a wonderful thing, but it can easily become overly passionate.

In a similar vein, I think people are just a a break point right now be they Dems or GOP. I am seeing a lot more people say they think we are simply screwn no matter which party wins this election. The Republicans are not happy (I can't begin to tell you how happy I am that the Neo-cons are finally being corralled by the saner factions of the GOP!) and many Dems are unhappy with the candidates still in the race for whatever reason.

The time is right for a third party, I think, and this may end up being the year it happens. If you take the social issues off the table, I think there is more common ground there than many people realize.

I know it will pass in time, but I worry that we are SO busy tearing each other up that the party will not pull together when it is all over. I am not a political guru, but I have been at this long enough to realize how dead on Franklin was when he said, "We must hang together, gentlemen...else, we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Regards!



Laura

[glowing]

13. I was surprised to find out.. and didn't realize, that McKinney is running

for President on the Green Party ticket... Now, that's a woman for the times... Too bad the dems let her get away... the DLC is truly ruining this party.

[Why Syzygy]

19. No third party person

is going to have a chance UNLESS they finance their own media time, as Ross Perot did. M$M is not about to take notice of an up-start, other than announcing his/her obituary, killed by M$M.

If anything, this election is screaming at me that we live with so much MIND CONTROL, with the media at the controls, and politicians at their controls, and vice versa. It's a snake's den. And not in a good way.

[Cleita]

6. True. My ignore list grows by leaps and bounds during these times. n/t

[stellanoir]

10. This one is fairly funny also

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=4482548

[villager]

12. Sadly, it's the rule and no longer the exception...

And very little sense of "Eye on the Prize," or long-range strategy n' tactics, it seems to me...

[BlueIris]

15. I sent a (polite) note to the mods expressing the same sentiment a couple of weeks ago.

It's a jungle out there.

[Shine]

17. did you ever get a response? I'd be curious to hear what their take is

did you send the note to the GD: P mods?

[BlueIris]

18. I sent it before the creation of GD: Primaries.

And I just stuck it in an alert form I sent out after red-flagging a particularly derisive comment from a Clinton and/or Obama supporter. I haven't received a response nor do I expect one. They're too busy these days to respond to every little note that comes through.

[Shine]

16. I agree it's disheartening...but I try to take it all with a huge grain of salt

....to go with my :popcorn:


:D

[I Have A Dream]

20. Shine...

:yourock: