Ok, this is just unacceptable

[MissDeeds]

I know this post will be panned by some, but I just have to say that a post by Will Pitt on the DU main page today is offensive and over the top. His tirade about DU members who may choose to support other candidates or, God forbid, John McCain, is so laced with profanity and obscenity that I am ashamed that it is on DU, let alone on the homepage, and that it has nearly 200 recommendations.

Is this what we are now? Is this what we have become? My God. For a "time honored" poster not to be able to state his case without gutter language and
rampant vulgarisms says a lot about DU, and perhaps us as Dems.

I was appalled and sickened by his diatribe which was met with numerous kudos and recommendations. Are we not better than this? Can we not state our case without crawling into the gutter and using the language of the depraved to state our case?

I am so disappointed with the "Democrats" who post on DU that I am about ready to jump ship and declare myself "Independent" after more than forty years of proud party membership. This is sickening, and I am ashamed of our
members who support this.

[balantz]

1. I saw the heading for that post and haven't even ventured into it,

knowing by the words on the main page that I wouldn't care to read any of it. There are very few posts on GDP that I will open any more because they are mostly the same negative nonsense.

I must apologize to you for using vulgar language in some of my posts for the few months since I've been posting at DU. I have tried to tone the vulgarity down some just to attempt to be sensitive to people like yourself who are offended by such language. I get caught up in cursing the neocons a bit.

I am finding more and more that there is little here that makes me want to return.

[MissDeeds]

3. Balantz

You owe me and anyone else here NO apologies. Your posts have always been heart felt and articulate. But what Will Pitt posted denigrates all of us.
I just hope the neo-cons do not see his post and use his words to defame us.

I am sick. I cannot believe the party of my grandparents has devolved into this.

[balantz]

5. Whew! Off the hook!

;) I still have to watch my language.

[saracat]

2. I actually find the repressive bullying even more offensive than the vulgarity.

Diversity of opinion is certainly not tolerated by many at DU anymore.The calls for us to shut down criticism and annoit Obama are disgusting.We do NOT have a nominee till after the convention and to silence people ahead of that time is reminicent of Gestapo.

[balantz]

4. I agree saracat.

Though I haven't cared to venture into the said post, I assume that the vulgarity used is actually an aspect of the bullying you mention.

[MissDeeds]

6. Agreed

It is frightening and sickening. Dissent and inquiry are inherent in a democracy. I firmly believe that we must question everything and doubt nothing. Only fascists seek to quell inquiry.

[Inspired]

7. I've always thought Pitt was a little too self important to take too seriously. n/t

[Two Americas]

8. question

Yes, MissDeeds, I share your disgust with that particular post and with most of what is happening at DU and with the party.

Question for everyone...

If the party self-destructs, which I think it is doing, and that led to a new political party that truly represented the people, would that be a good thing? Or do we go down with the ship because we are so in love with the brand name?

How vile, disgusting, ineffective, unrepresentative does the party need to get? Is their any limit whatsoever to what we will accommodate and be associated with?

If you were looking at the modern Democratic party from the viewpoint of a person in the 1930's, and no one told you that it was called "Democratic" you would say that it was the Republican party that was being described. If you were looking at the modern Republican party from the viewpoint of a person in the 1930's, and no one told you that it was called "Republican" you would say that it was one of the fascist parties from the 30's that was being described.

[balantz]

10. New party please!

[Two Americas]

13. new party

A political party is not the brand name, it isn't the offices, it isn't its history.

It is people.

Know how the Republican party started in New York in 1858? William Seward accepted the nomination for U.S. Senator from the Whig party at their convention by saying "the new Republican party is meeting across the street, and I am joining them, and I welcome all of you to come with me." He walked across the street, and everyone in the hall followed him. Done.

As Lincoln said at the time: "Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted by, its own undoubted friends-those whose hands are free, whose hearts are in the work-who do care for the result."

The Whig party refused to take a strong stand on slavery and fight the slavery party - leaving millions in bondage - just as the Democratic party refuses to take a strong stand against the corporate party, and is leaving millions poor, sick, homeless and left behind. Just as slavery morally and spiritually corrupted everyone in the country, so too is corporatism - rampant greed and bullying and exploitation that is unprecedented in human history - corrupting all of us.

We are too close to it, too confused and frightened, to see clearly. That is my we MUST listen to the "least among us" - those left out in the cold, abandoned and forgotten, neglected and abused. They are suffering on behalf of all of us. They can see clearly that which we cannot. They are paying the price for our cowardice.

Where should our loyalties be? Should we not be loyal to the people, especially the have-nots, the ones suffering the most? Should we not be loyal to each other? Should we not be loyal to the principles and ideals for which the party once stood? Yet we are to compromise on all those, and still we are called upon to be loyal. Loyal to what? Loyal to whom?

I think that almost everyone here knows that what I say here is true. But we are not permitted to say it. That is what is meant by "loyalty." You must not tell the truth. You must be loyal to the lie. No one cares if you vote Democratic or not. That is not what "loyalty" and "unity" are about. You must not tell the truth, and it is from our failure to tell the truth that all of the suffering goes on and on.

[balantz]

14. I have no such loyalties to empty artifacts.

My loyalty is to a natural, spiritual alignment with, Equality, Freedom, Justice, and with ALL of my fellow humans who should always be recognized as belonging to the mutual respect that resides naturally within those spiritual values.

The kind of party that cherishes these spiritual values is what I have always expected from the Democratic Party. But since the Democratic Party is no longer a representative of ALL the people in this country who naturally deserve such mutual respect, then I have no need whatsoever to hang on to an empty artifact.

Furthermore, I consider our Mother Earth and each and every unique fellow being that are Her offspring to be included in having these rights as far as our stewardship is capable at this present time, and raising the bar on that responsibility until this planet and ALL of Her offspring are managed in an increasingly more proper and healthy manner.

[bobbolink]

11. the party has gone so far down that I really can't identify with it anymore at all.

Since recovering from Edwards' going bye-bye, I haven't even thought much about the election at all. None of it is going to help me, so what the hell.

It's time to recognize that both parties are bought and paid for, and to do what we can to alliviate suffering, and reclaim our nation.

Other than that, fuggitaboutit.

:(

[bpeale]

9. i agree

and all the things you said in your post went rushing thru my mind when i saw it this morning. it was meant to be offensive i think.

[bobbolink]

12. The sexism is rampant, also, and I've given up trying to change any of that.

there are many posters I don't "see", and that is one of 'em.

Highly overrated.

[pamela]

15. I'm glad you said this.

That post made me ill. For me, it wasn't the language so much as the stupidity. It disgusts me that it even got one rec, let alone enough to get to the top of the greatest page. I honestly can't understand the mindset of anyone who would read that poorly written drivel and think "Wow, that's great!"

[MissDeeds]

16. I'm ready for a new party

Well, actually, I want my old party back, the one John Edwards represented.

:patriot:

[shimmergal]

17. I read that too, and was

really taken aback by both the vulgarity and the one-sidedness of its supposed argument.

Previous Will Pitt posts -- at least those I've read -- have not resorted to vulgarity to make their points. What's going on here?

Sounds mightily like some people are trying to convince themselves when there's actually no there, there.

[MissDeeds]

18. And the meaning of his post was lost to me

Perhaps he had a message to convey, but I was so repulsed by his post, that I could not render anything but disgust. Any "message" was obliterated by the over the top and offensive rhetoric. Clearly, it was not the way to win converts to his position.