We are Democrats - All of Us

[NanceGreggs]

246. And now it is my turn ...

... to thank you for your thoughtful response. However, we will have to agree to disagree.

"... it's very hard for me to believe the notion that so many of the prevailing views expressed by lifelong progressives such as myself are the product of RW instigation."

In 2009, I believe it was, Skinner announced a change to the TOS. What had always been "constructive criticism of Dems is acceptable on DU" was changed to "any and all criticism of Dems is now acceptable."

The floodgates were then opened, and RWers signed up in droves - in the same way Democrats would have signed up at FreeRepublic, had they announced that "any and all criticism" of Bush, Cheney, et al were permissable during that administration.

The trolls announced their sudden presence on DU by stating they had been staunch Obama supporters, but had now realized they had been misled. They proclaimed their "disappointment" in Obama, and that statement alone led to their being welcomed by many here as "fellow true progressives" who were also unhappy with Obama. It was a hail-fellow-well-met moment - a classic example of thinking that anyone who declared their "disappointment" was one of their own.

(You will notice that new DU registrants no longer bother with explanations about how they came to be "disappointed" - they simply begin with Obama/Dem-bashing from their first post.)

That is how posters like Better Believe It were immediately embraced as a "fellow progressive", i.e. - you don't like Obama? Neither do I! We must be on the same political page!

As I've said, there are many here who are easily manipulated. I have seen posters literally change their opinion on major issues from one thread to another, ever cognizant of what "everyone else is thinking" instead of thinking for themselves. That is simply the way of the world in internet message board terms - people having to see what those who they identify with have to say, and jumping on the bandwagon along with them.

I do not see DU as a microcosm of anything more than that kind of mindset. It is certainly not representative of Democrats in RL - and, sad to say, in its earliest days, DU was exactly that.

When I see buzz words like "the PTB", or "the Party has moved to the right", "the plutocracy", etc., I am reminded of just how disconnected DU has become from on-the-ground reality. The accomplishments of this president and the Party have been progressive/liberal in the extreme - from healthcare reform to a recognition of LGBT rights, and everything in between. If anything, the goalposts have been moved further towards liberal ideals, rather than away from them. And the Democrats, as always, have led the way.

So despite the fact that we disagree, I have nonetheless enjoyed this exchange - which we have managed to engage in without labeling each other, without name-calling, and without spewing vitriol at each other despite our differences of opinion.