This thread may not go well.. but it has to be said...

[DFW]

22. I went through the same thing

A friend of mine used to be pretty popular on DU. He has been a governor, a presidential candidate, and our party chairman. I used to send him links to DU posts all the time, and encourage him to join (he never did, although Alan Grayson, a guy he knows and has worked with, did). The way things are now, over 20% of the posts here would probably cause him to ask me if I didn't send him the wrong link, as there are just too many ugly posts here for him to think it's a place I belong to.

Don't get me wrong, I accept the place for what it is (it got ugly in 2008, too). But it's not for everyone, and definitely not for certain people I wish I could bring to post.

There's a gathering I attend every New Year's, a sort of "meeting of the minds" type of thing. NOT a TED conference where VIPs give talks, but a true gathering where everyone wears a name tag, whether your name is Joe Blow or Bill Clinton, and EVERYONE participates. If you're there, you contribute. And no titles on those tags, just your name. One iron-clad rule is civility must rule at all times. Of the extremist right, one, count 'em, ONE person has managed to follow that rule all these years. He likes to say he "leaves his guns at the door," and this is a guy with plenty of firepower. His name is Richard Viguerie, and he is the Prince of Darkness politically--a true off-the-wall right wing nut job. But he is there every year, and he is the only radical Republican I call a friend, because he DOES manage to keep it civil. His pal David Keane was invited to not come back ever because he started using the kind of language many on DU now use toward each other--mean, angry, words intended to insult and hurt. It figures that he went on to be Wayne LaPierre's #2 man at the NRA. Perfect place for him.

I have been told to "grow a thicker skin." An offending poster I complained about was gone, banned within 2 hours of my alert, because it became obvious to others besides me what their agenda was, but when it was just me? "Grow a thicker skin," the jury told me. That was my last alert, and I will definitely never be on any jury.

So, be prepared for this place to go on being as it is, and accept it for what it is. I do. But I don't bring along the family for a picnic any more, so to speak.