(CNN) Sen. Bernie Sanders : 'Democratic brand is pretty bad'

[KTM]

239. A follower of whom ?

Yes, I think there are those here who act in the ways described, for the reasons descibed. Many make posts to that effect. A small yet prolific group, in my opinion, act exactly that way.

I see thread after thread filled with many posters back-slapping each other over their latest gotcha reply, with very little substance to their arguments other than "Bernie/Hillary/Nancy/etc should sit down and shut up."

I think that is harmful to the party. We used to have thicker skins, and we used to have discussions here with less outright hostility and fewer hidden posts. I think there are those on both sides of the Democratic divide who have devolved into playground politics, and I am certain that neither side is 100% correct.

It simpy cant be all my way, nor all your way. If substantive discussions are not had, if all we do is reject each others ideas out of alliance to an individual, we will continue to lose. What I see lately is two teams playing non-stop defense against each other, and hyperbolically inflating valid criticism into some kind of all-out attack. Thread after thread get derailed by dumb semantic arguments and insults thinly veiled just enough to escape jury judgement.

If we call any criticism "bashing," if we write off any disagreement as coming from "bots" or "trolls," if we reflexively blame honest disagreement on racism, mysogyny, or idolatry, if we close our minds and retreat into simplistic tribalism, we diminish each other, fail to hear each other, and will continue to lose elections.