I see people like Glenn Greenwald, Matt Taibbi and Cenk Uygur are being attacked in a big way

[frazzled]

240. It happens in both directions

I am very sincere in my dislike for Glenn Greenwald's and Matt Taibbi's opinions and tactics (I neither listen to nor watch Cenk, so I only know what I read). My distaste for Taibbi dates back to 2004 (I actually cancelled my Nation subscription over his writing); my disagreements with Greenwald came after much measured consideration as far back as 2006: the more I read from him and the more I found out about his libertarian positions, the less I felt we were on the same page. He's a hedgehog, I'm a fox. People need to deal with the fact that their admiration for these writers is not shared by everyone on the left. In return, I'll accept that you may sincerely like them.

But let me say, in regard to your post, that the ridicule and division is in no way one sided. Any time there is a post about something the Obama administration has done (say, the recent regulations on mercury--which environmentalists have been trying to get for more than twenty years, and have finally gotten), there are always a string of posts in the thread with titles like "small recompense for murder"; or "what's the difference if American's are put in concentration camps."

There's a basic rift here, and we all have to just accept that the two sides are very far apart: and not because one side is more liberal or progressive than the other. To be dismissed and denigrated as a "centrist" because your first cause is not the legalization of weed, for example, is simply myopic and childish.

Buck up and realize that some people are going to ridicule you if your ideas and allegiances don't conform 100% with theirs. It doesn't really matter. Just stay with your own convictions, whatever they are. But please realize that people with other convictions are not morons or centrists or idiots: they are just as sincere in their convictions as you are.