General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: but ah my friends and oh my foes, it shed a lovely light. [View all]tblue37
(65,273 posts)loses its sharper edges. I too am a Bernie supporter, but I will avidly support Clinton against Trump.
I too feel frustrated that establishment Democrats ignore the way our elections are deformed and defrauded by unverifiable voting, myriad voter suppression tactics, gerrymandering, and other forms of election fraud, and I am sure it is a Faustian bargain made to protect themselves against challenges to their power.
But DU is still the site wehere I get the best information and where I find some of the best political commentary. I admit it devolves into name calling and flamebaiting more often than when I first joined 12 years ago, but I just click away from a thread when that happens.
This primary season has been brutal, no doubt. My greatest disappointment, though, is not that my preferred candidate lost. I have never hated Hillary. I just strongly preferred Bernie. I think Hillary is a good candidate--and so was Martin O'Malley.
What disappointed me was when some of the DU members whose posts I used to look for and read with pleasure started bating and deriding those of us who supported Bernie and calling us and our candidate nasty names. I was seriously surprised and disappointed when some of those DU members started spiking the ball and performing butt-wagging end zone dances after each state Hillary won and especially after she clinched the nomination.
They are people whose posts I have admired in the past, so I was shocked at how they behaved toward Bernie supporters and at the way they smeared the character and record of an honorable man.
Sure, there was similar viciousness against Hillary coming from the Bernie camp, but most of the unreasonably nasty posts against Hillary came from DU members who either had not been here long or whom I had not noticed much before, so their posts dfdfidn't disappoint me the way such comments did when they emanated from those whoise contributions here I had long admired.
The primaries always provoke intemperance, of course. I do thing moist of the vicious posts came from a small but passionate cadre on each side, but since they posted such comments all the time, it made DU suck.
Understand, I am not complaining about honest, reasonable concerns about or criticism of either candidate. I am referring only to the ugly name-calling and the smears directed at each candidate and his or her supporters.
I hope the new rules will declaw some of the most determinedly vicious commenters, and that pretty soon DU will start feeling more like it did before the primaries. As that happens, I hope more of those who are leaving will return.
I hope you will return.