+100

Around here PC is used as a club. The most innocuous terms can be labeled as slurs by most anyone. The individual "Banned Word List" that are use to ambush the unwary, regardless of context.

Right on schedule, someone already has posted a few of the worst bad slurs as if to prove the case that banning other words is the solution. As if banning words, will improve the conditions, eliminate the prejudices, the inequality of the people those words are supposedly being used against.

No, it won't. Can't happen. The mind-sets, the prejudices, the bigotry, the inequality is still there, untouched. Banning words is helping to hiding the condition from public view a little better. Pushing it underground, as it were, a little more out of sight, so we do not have to deal with the underlying problems on either side, exposed by the use of the banned word.

In any case, the banned word will be replaced by other word(s) that will then eventually make it onto the banned list in turn, to start another phase of the word war all over again, till it is in turn also banned, to be replaced by yet another word(s)... In the meantime, the bigotry and prejudice, the inequality, remain basically untouched.

The real solution is not a list of banned of words that can be used as slurs. That is a fruitless quest, as any group of words can be used for such. The real solution is to work to eliminates the mindset of the bigot and their prejudice in the the first place. Work to eliminate the inequality among the various groups of people. Regardless of skin color, gender, sexual preference, social status, or anything else that we divide ourselves with.

Eliminating bigotry and prejudice will help much more in dealing with the inequality that plague what we call "civilization". Eliminating bigotry and prejudice is much harder than merely banning words. The words themselves are merely symptoms expressing the real problems. Hiding the symptoms almost always does what toward correcting what problem? Yeah, that's correct, nothing. In fact a case can be made that PC Correctness is in itself a form of bigotry and/or prejudice. I get the feeling some here want to banish that term as well.
Banning words, like praying, makes it look as if one is doing something constructive about the problem. In reality is just a show that wastes time and does nothing constructive.

The true nature of giving does not include the taking of innocent lives.

That is what war does.
That picture glorifies war. That soldier died in someone else's country, not here. A country that was in reality, not a threat to this county. He was sent there to kill the citizens of that country. They fought back and a wife lost her husband. A child lost a father. Parents lost their son. Brothers and sisters lost a sibling.

That point is quite evident.

How is all that anger, in all those rape threads that are turning everyone off, Disrupting DU in the process, helping anyone, anywhere?

Isn't the real problem the R/W conservatives, Republicans and Tea-bagger types?
DU is supposedly a Left leaning site, consisting of (mostly at least) empathic Liberals and not cold blooded R/W sociopaths.
You are in fact demonizing the very people you need to help deal with the problems you are angry about.
DU an easier target for you? Sounds counterproductive to me.

'Mob Ruled' is a good description for what Democratic Underground is becoming.

DU used to be a good Liberal/Progressive message board. Not any more. The rules of civility (and the SOP) are being broken with impunity and juries vote to leave or not, based on who did the supposed offense and not whether or not there is actually a violation of the SOP/TOS.

Now, we have various swarms trying to take over and control DU with their own pet outrage.
We have those that see trolls in most anyone with low post counts - and brag about it.
Those that see Republican talking points in any posts by some posters they disagree with.

Never mind that the offending post may be actually true. Someone is labeled a right-winger, so that settles it. Everything they post is then a RW talking point. (See commie witch hunt below.)
Those that see misogyny in most anything that relates to women in general, unless they are members of the correct clique, of course.
The just plain bullies, that take joy in what they do, staying just inside the lines.
We have had out breaks of multiple threads, that are not much more in reality, than thinly veiled misandry. They take serous problems, pile on and use them as weapons, intimidating anyone with a differing opinion, disrupting DU for days at a time.
The in-your-face arrogance for those that have the audacity to not agree fully with the framing of latest outrage.

And it keeps getting worse.
If this is allowed to go on, DU's days as a progressive/Liberal web site are numbered, as the good decent members will leave in even greater numbers, than they already have. Which may be the goal. Even as the Tea-Party took over control of the Republican Party.

[hr]

Ever notice that most of those people causing the problems, are those that do not want the old moderator system back? There's gotta be a reason. And the reason is that the Alert/Jury system have given power to the fringe groups. Talk about your witch hunts... Well, that's what they do, because witch hunts is a very good way to intimidate others into silence. Remember Joseph McCarthy and his witch hunt for commies? Well, we have that right here with the Word Police and the "all women are always in danger of being rape everywhere" crowd. Strangely, they seem to be mostly the same people as the Word Police. Ever notice that?

A Word Police member will pick out a word in a post, and call attention to it, regardless of the topic of the thread, the content of the post, the excepted meaning of the word, context, the general usage of the word. They will then pile on and use that word to derail the thread, for no other reason than of that one awful word. Never mind the word has multiple meanings, depending on how it is used, its context. Never mind the offending meaning they are objecting to, even if it is the 4th in the dictionary definitions and maybe even labeled 'archaic'. Never mind how the word, as used, that has nothing to do with the offending definition or even why they are offended. Never mind the offended will sometimes supply their own definition, to increase the outrage. Nothing else matters, except you are supposed to be outraged also. If you are not, well then, that is another outrage to be outraged about.

The outrage itself is based on the assumption that because a certain word was used and somebody, somewhere, on or off of DU, might have a flash-back or be hurt if they see or hear the word used, that means the rest of the world, or at least DU, can't ever use that word anymore, ever.
After all, it is only polite to quietly acquiescence to the lowest common denominator. One complaint and the rest of DU is supposed to fall in line with them and never use that word again.

And to make sure that word will never be used anymore, an OP is started in META, advertising the offending word, with links back to the offending post, hopefully so that the rest of DU will go there and be offended too.
Like most other faust outrages, if the outraged would have kept their mouse pointer off the "Alert Abuse" button and out of META, the 'offense' would have sunk quietly out of sight, mostly unnoticed.

Way to go you perpetually outraged, take some word in a post, not many would even notice, some word that YOU personally don't want used, because you personally do not like used for whatever reason under the sun, real or imagined and then you go to META, start an OP, climb on your soap box and loudly advertise it, so that several hundreds of others become aware of it. Several hundred others that would never had seen the offending post, in the first place, if it were left alone, that can now go read that awful word for themselves, that word you don't ever want to hear of or see again! Good job there!

DU needs to come up with some kind of award for this. You know, something akin to the old Laugh-in's, "Flying Fickle Finger of Fate" award. Prizes awarded weekly.
[center][/center]
http://www.taylormarsh.com/blog/2012/08/the-flying-fickle-finger-of-fate-award-and-the-many-deserving-winners/

[hr]

There were rules for being a moderator. I understand it was hard work. They even had to sign a non-disclosure form. Which is still in effect, BTY.
I understand the work was hard enough that the moderators should have been paid. It was a real job and the moderators of old had to meet certain criteria to serve.
With the Alert/Jury System, anyone can alert and any member can serve on a jury. Already, I can see a problem here.
But continuing on, the Admin have stated that if in doubt, vote to leave. The Jury system was biased on purpose toward leaving questionable posts. There is a mathematical reason for why the Jury was set up the way it was, with a six member jury. Hey, this is supposed to be a Liberal/Progressive/Democratic political web site, after all.

Why do some want the Alert/Jury System to be biased toward hiding posts? And why do some even want members banned because they do posts the perpetually outraged do not like, even though the posts do not violate the SOP/TOS? That is not a Liberal/Progressive position to take. No, it is not.

One of the the problem is that alerting has no cost. None. That has allowed the swarms/fringes/cliques to alert on any and everything that offends them, to bully, intimidate and even drive away good, long time, main stream, productive, Center and Left of Center members. Leaving more of those here that lean toward the Right in their actions.

We need to level the playing field a bit. I maintain that Alerting needs to have a cost. After so many 6/0 and 5/1 jury results to Leave, maybe 3 in a week, you lose your alerting privileges for say, a week. The second offense, make it 2 weeks with loss of alerting privileges. The third time, make it a permanent lose of alerting privileges. Or at least for a long period of time, like for a year. This would help some with keeping the swarms in check.

Alerts should only be done on violation of SOP/TOS posts. Not because one does not like the poster. Not because one does not like what was posted. Not because one is losing the argument. Not because one is not a member of your clique. Not because one is a male and dares to object to to the actions of one or more swarm/clique member or another.
The imaginative and fanciful interpretation of the SOP/TOS as justification for an alert needs to stop also. Granted the SOP/TOS could be worded better, but why the second guessing of the Admin to justify your bullying/harassing agenda? Never mind, I just answered my own question.

The spirit of the SOP is fairly clear. Just be civil to each other. (That alone would shut up quite a few members.)The SOP doesn't need micromanaging, with every little pet peeve listed. That is a Right-wing/Conservative mantra.
Why do some here think a large, political, supposedly Liberal/Progressive message board, with 150,000 listed members and tens of thousands of active members, should think all these people here should behave and think as the Borg do? Ain'ta gonna happen. The world is bigger and more complex than that. Much bigger. Much more complex. Besides Liberals are not, as a rule, in step with lock step.

The call for making public the names of alerters and juries is nothing more than to make it easier for the swarms to find and harass their targets. The stalking and harassment would get even more out of control. Some of the posts alerted on are touchy subjects on DU as it is. Enough of a reason to keep the Alerters and Juries secrete. If there is a problem, the Admin can see who did what. Leave it at that. Anyway, nothing is stopping you from signing your DU name, or even your real name, to your Alerts and Jury decisions.

'Mob Ruled' is a good description for what Democratic Underground is becoming.

DU used to be a good Progressive message board. Not any more. The rules of civility (and the SOP) are being broken with impunity and juries vote to leave because of who did the offense.

Now, we have various swarms trying to take over and control DU with their own pet outrage.
We have those that see trolls in most anyone with low post counts - and brag about it.
Those that see Republican talking points in any posts by some posters they disagree with. Never mind that the offending post may be actually true.
Those that see misogyny in most anything that relates to women in general, unless they are members of the correct clique, of course.
The just plain bullies, that take joy in what they do, staying just inside the lines.
We have had out breaks of multiple threads, that are not much more in reality, than thinly veiled misandry. They take serous problems, pile on and use them as weapons, intimidating anyone with a differing opinion, disrupting DU for days at a time.
The in your face arrogance for those that have the audacity to not agree fully with the framing of latest outrage.

And it keeps getting worse.
If this is allowed to go on, DU's days as a progressive/Liberal web site are numbered, as the good decent members will leave in even greater numbers. Which may be the goal. Even as the Tea-Party took over control of the Republican Party.

What constitutes a racist posts, homophobic posts, gender slurs, sexist comments, to name a few?

That's where the problem lies. That is why DU is having such a hard time deciding. Some people do not believe in context, others think context is important.
Some words have multiple meanings, either through past usage or different language roots. Where is the line in the sand and who draws it? How wide should that line be drawn? How sharp or fuzzy should that line be? Should it be hard and straight, or should it be allowed to meander?
Even who is saying something enters into whether it is racist, homophobic, gender slurs, sexist, whatever.
I see shades of grey and even rainbows of color, where others see only stark black and white. Most things are not either/or. We do not live in a binary world. There is usually more than one workable solution. Who should decide? Who views should prevail?

I think we should come down on the side of tolerance. Take problem posts on a case by case basis. Is it actually an affront to some group or another, or was it just a word that is on someone's personal no-no list? What is the poster really trying to say?
Try to see the grey. Blanket condemnation seldom works. Work-a-rounds abound. Pay attention to politics for lessons on how work-a-rounds work.

Golly Gee, I that post resembles you too.

Except that I am usually not all that much clueless when I post.

To function properly DU needs to reflect the real world. That is why it was founded in the first place. George may be gone, but not the problems he brought with him.
DU used to much better place until the Alert/Jury system was implemented, giving the authoritarians a self assumed license to censer and control what they don't like, regardless of any objections and push back.

We need the openness and tolerance of a Democratic site, a site that reflects the real world. Censorship of the real world, by what is, in reality, other members with the exact same privileges here everyone else, no more, no less, that are trying to control the rest of DU, regardless of the wishes of the other members.

The only people that can do that are the Admin, as this is their site. Any cliques, swarms, Safe Havens, groups, or 'friends of' do not have the authority to be remaking DU into what they want, at the expense of the rest of us. Only the Admin have that privilege.

The attacks and infighting cause by the few here, are counter productive, in that they turn actual and potential friends into more problems to overcome in the very real fight for equality for all, regardless of gender, orientation, skin color, or anything else we are born with, that are used to divide us.

Sometimes I think the continued division is the prime objective of the usual suspects, even though they would deny it when asked. They'd rather have the fight, than an equable solution.

Always the next bottom line.

Nobody can see the long term. Just the next bottom line. Why?

Letting the bu$h tax cuts expire will ruin this Christmas for so many. But what about the next Christmas and the Christmas after that, when the economy picks up? Jobs, even Living-Wage-Jobs will be more plentiful? We can't worry about what is down the road, we need to worry only about right now. We can worry about later, later. We have to put out this fire right now. We can't be worrying about how to prevent those fires in the first place. No time! That cuts into the the time needed to fix this problem.

We must continue to diddle with the symptoms, least we accidentally deal with the root cause of something and actually fix a problem.
What will we ever do if we actually start to fix too many problems? What if we run out of problems to fix? How will we function then?
Oh, so much to worry about now, we can't worry about the future. Time is of the essence. Time is running out. There won't be a future if we don't fix this RIGHT NOW!!!!1!1 Forget the future and deal with this NOW!

There is a man living under a bridge, in that pile of stuff. What you see, is his home.

Cutting the Social Programs could very well be the trigger for another recession.

When you cut the flow of money on main street, everything slows down. Nobody is getting rich off the Social Programs in the first place. But those programs do allow more people to spend on Main Street. Every little but helps. Take it away and in this fragile economy, it will hurt.

The Fix?

1. Read the United States Constitution with comprehension. Paying particular attention to the Preamble and Section 8. The parts about the general welfare of "We the people...".
2. Raise taxes on everyone grossing $100,000 or more, in stepped increments. When the average income is only around 40 to 50 thousand dollars, that makes more sense than starting at $250,000 and up.
3. We need to stop the wasteful wars and look hard at rebuilding this country.
4. WE need to get our heavy industry back into this country. How can we continue to be a Super Power, if we continue to outsource our manufacturing jobs overseas?
5. Single Payer, Universal Health Care. Include Dentistry and eye care in this Universal Health Care. And don't for get help for the hard of hearing.
6. Criminal trials, with harsh sentences for those found guilty for our own war criminals.
7. Investigate Wall Street with the same vigor as we do our war criminals.
8. Make White Collar crime illegal.
9. Stop the For Profit wars on terror and drugs. Apply some common sense for a change.
10. Stop voting for people that have been selected for us. Remove the corrupting money from our elections.
11. Corporations are not people. Regulate them as the predatory entities they are.