Is there a "Depression on DU?"

[KoKo]

:shrug:

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Dunno

I don't know about 'depression,' but something odd is going on. I have noticed the ATA "silent" on one end. I have also noticed more threads about who has the worse lot on DU. :eyes:

[ProgressiveConn]

2. If you're not depressed you're not paying attention.

[HuckleB]

4. "In grief" or "facing trauma" would be a more appropriate description...

for most folks, IMHO.

But, speaking of depression, this is a good piece on the topic:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/magazine/17DEPRESSION.html?ex=1114574400&en=aac15dd116250a8c&ei=5070&ex=1114056000&en=5af04cf989c2ba24&ei=5070

[KoKo]

51. Yes, I should have used the word "Pall Over DU, maybe.

I read the article linked, thanks.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. I dunno about depression, but

there's certainly some gloom in the air on some quarters .....

and some internecine fighting from time to time ......

and some litmus testing .....

and some roller coaster emotions ......

and lots of waxing and waning in support for this man or that woman ......

but depression ... I dunno :shrug:

[Eloriel]

35. LOL -- IOW, sounds about like normal. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

41. Ayup .....

:popcorn:

[Toots]

5. Been depressed since December 2000

Hoping for better times to come. :shrug:

[NAO]

6. marked decrease in activity

I don't notice any particular gloom or sadness, but it does seem like there is much less activity in recent times.

I don't know if this is apathy, or comes out of a sense of demoralization or if there is just some other forum where all the 'cool' progressives are posting, leaving me in the dark as usual.

But lately it feels like no one is listening, that there is very little interaction, more like drive-by posting.

I try to respond to threads and keep dialog going, as well as trying to interject new ideas. Is there anybody out there?

[Tsiyu]

33. It's Spring, peoples!

Think about Dems for a moment:



*You have your outdoor types, cooped up all winter suddenly set free.

*Your Green Thumb Dems, playing in the dirt.

*Young Dems, twitterpated and wandering around aimlessly longing to *uh* pollinate.

Hope you find some of these:





(And yes, things are grim but more people realize it and hearts are turning away from the Dictator.)

[KoKo]

49. That's one Gorgeous Photo! Can't look at that and not feel good...thanks!

And, thanks for the perk up! :-)'s

[Tsiyu]

55. You are so welcome

You just can't see ( or smell) a lilac and stay miserable!


;)

[evlbstrd]

38. It's getting warmer in many parts of the country.

People are tired of computer tans.

[KoKo]

48. I've been here a long time and I see what you are saying..

DU tends to go in cycles but there's been alot to deal with lately with the Shiavo stuff, the Pope's death and the drumbeat of the media (which I stopped watching Nov. 2nd...except for an occasional disappointed peep at CNN).

And, so much news is coming out that should be good for exposing the Bush Criminal Enterprise...yet it just seems to never catch hold. Maybe that's it. There's an apathy. People just aren't responding much to posts except for snarky fly by's...so don't take it personally.

Even I notice that I read a post and yet can't answer because I just don't have anything to say. If it's a flamebait, I tend to answer because something upset me...but the informative posts I read but just can't add anything... Maybe lots of folks are feeling that way, too, although they read. There's just not much "kicking" of the good posts going on, these days.

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. The site felt a little low to me today...

but it could be the lenses I'm using.

[SudieJD]

8. YES

I'm depressed at everything that creep in our office is doing. I'm also worried about the people that will be homeless when the Religious Right cuts housing funding.

Thinking that I'm glad I'm not young anymore and don't have long on this earth.

Sudie

[CountAllVotes]

28. that is about how I feel

Can't even leave the country if you wanted to or can being you are an American. Can't hide. Let's face it, they've got us cornered. What good any of this is doing is beyond me. Depressed? I think it has gone way "depression". I look at a faux America now and it just is not the same America I've always known. I see homeless people begging on the streets. I see people without health care and no jobs.

I do not like what I see nor what is happening to my country. And yes, I am an American. Am I proud of it? This is the question we inevitably find asking of ourselves given the circumstances. If we do not question this grim reality, we are fools.

Chaos is in place alas. The game has been lost.

Peace, CountAllVotes



"I feel that my country has gotten a bad name, and I want it to have a good name; it used to have a good name; and I sit sometimes and wonder who it is that has given it a bad name."
-Tatanka Yotanka (Sitting Bull)

[KoKo]

9. Depression, mourning, grief.....I don't know...I'm picking up all of that

but given we've had some "breakthroughs" in the last weeks, it's hard to know why. But, I feel it. Just wondered if anyone else did...:shrug:

Been on DU awhile...and I sort of get "vibes" like anyone would from places they frequesnt alot...

It worried me.

[hippiegranny]

10. slow news day?

DeLay's newest troubles should give everyone a lift. It has hit the press in a big way that his little golfing jaunt in Scotland was put on his buddy Abramoff's AMEX. That is not only ethically challenged, it is illegal.

[KoKo]

11. We have so much "good" Dem news, but I'm so tired of Repug Sleaze

and the attacks and I wonder why the hell I have to be here working against this...I wonder why I can't be a Repug and happy as hell that hell is coming...and I've not wondered this until now.

And I wonder if there are others who are sort of in a slump because they are where I am...and if the depression is just "Me" or what I feel from my fellow DU'ers is a kind of "gloom" or "apathy" or "resignation" or just plain "Depression" of the "non-clinical variety" but just a "down in the dumps" kind of thing. :shrug:

[Just Me]

13. Maybe, it's more like "burn out" that you're sensing.

Just sayin' :shrug:

Hey! It's spring!!! Maybe, folks are taking a breath of fresh air, away from DU, to regain some sense of the positive and of being more centered. After all, there has been quite a bit of, um, uh,...divisivenes here for awhile.

[KoKo]

23. maybe you are correct it's just a "transition." seasonal...I hope so.

and a little of the "burn out" syndrom.

[loudsue]

12. Yepper. A little down. UNEMPLOYED, yet again.

My profession formerly (Clinton years) had LOTS of work. Those of us who are independent contractors were working all the time. Now, we're making 1/3 of what we used to make, there are so many people going after every job, that everyone is trying to make everyone else look bad, and clients are only hiring their buddies and bro-in-laws for the contracts....whether they're qualified or not!

Yep, KoKo, I'm a little bit down today. :cry: This has been going on since 9/11, and it's getting REALLY old.

:kick:

[KoKo]

15. Did you see DU Post today where they ended: " off to the Plantation...."

at the end of an interesting comment on our economy?

If folks are thinking of their jobs as "back to the Plantation" what the hell does this say about our culture..

The post was dead on...and struck me because it said "it all" about what jobs are in America today unless you work for the Bushies or on Wall Street. This is terrible...

[LSK]

14. not depression, anger

Anger at how stupid some in this country are.

Anger at how easily Cons lie about stuff.

Anger at having a stupid lying fool as President.

Anger at the sheep cons who follow the lying fool.

Anger at all the "support our troops" stickers and the "military is great" mentality in this country.

Anger at the lack of better jobs.

Anger at the rising costs of EVERYTHING.

IM ANGRY NOT DEPRESSED.

[KoKo]

17. I still get angry and still have sense of "outrage" but lately it's muted.

I'm getting feelings that I've done what I could and I need more than "anger and outrage" to feed me to go on.

I want some poetry...some creativity...some release from this constant attack and defense. I want a new demension to move into the Left...a demension that supports my spirit and not my "boxing gloves. And, that it isn't there is leaving me feeling hollow these days. :shrug:

[LSK]

20. im on a forum with some freeps

They get my anger going. I also like the yahoo boards, thats good for a stir too.

[KoKo]

46. lol's, hanging around the Freeps would send me over the edge, but if it

works for you, then good. We need all the help we can get to keep us pumped wherever we can get it.

[Tsiyu]

36. It might not hurt to get away so you can gain perspective

Do you have a favorite waterfall or river? Hiking spot?

Sometimes I find nature refreshing and soothing to my frazzled nerves.

It sometimes feels like we must be so vigilant and so ready to meet the Wolf at the door ( honey, he's ALWAYS at our door, too) that we can't take a moment to just breathe.

But it's good to step away from it all and regroup. I garden or build things or play music and I stay away from the TV and radio as much as I can. DU is my news and info channel. But too much of even the best things can wear away our happiness.

Hang in there, everybody. :hi:

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

John Wooden

[KoKo]

52. I just got back from the beach, which I love.

Before that, I was in Florid for two weeks. It didn't help that there was a skywriter in Florida that came out every day writing "Jesus Loves You," "Praise Jesus" "Jesus + God + Love." It was during the Schiavo uproar and I guess some Christian Fundamentalist was trying to make a point. But I was on the beach with my book trying to get away from all that stuff and there it was up in the sky. My husband had to restrain me. :D He wasn't too thrilled with it either.

I knew then, that I really couldn't get away from what's going on. I am a Christian but I don't think having a skywriter show up every day in a heavily Jewish area of Florida giving religious messages is the kind of thing that that makes one feel particularly good about America at this point.

But, your point is well taken. If one can find a break to get away it often gives a better perspective on what one finds so frustrating.

Thanks..

[Tsiyu]

56. Jesus is everywhere!

I know what you mean.

But lots of folks here love and appreciate you. Keep on keeping on and thanks for starting this thread so folks can express their frustration as well.
:grouphug:

[patricia92243]

16. I'm upset that Skinner is upset. People were rude to him. I hope some of

those people have PM'd him and apoligized.

This whole sorry episode has thrown a pall on DU.

[KoKo]

22. Yes...I agree with what you say. n/t

[MoonRiver]

32. What happened?

P.S. I'm also depressed about the state of affairs in this country, and my seeming helplessness to do anything but watch the meltdown. DU doesn't have the same energy and excitement. Probably many of us are in this funk. Things will turn around, but who knows when.

[NAO]

34. What happened w/Skinner? I completely missed that

even though I have been here every day since about September of 2004.

I can be dense, and sometimes miss things. However, I have noticed a sharp drop-off in actively here. Few follow-up posts, not as many new threads, etc.

If anyone cares to clue me in, I be most grateful.

[KoKo]

42. It's all down in the "ATA" (Ask the Administrators Forum)

Check out the back couple of pages. I don't want to get into more about it and start a flame on this thread. But, it's all there, if you have time to check it out.

[Behind the Aegis]

50. in the know?

I am really confused. Is the 'silent treatment' over the Clark flap? I thought that had been taken care of? Or was there some type of insurgency? Most of the threads down there are about why a post or thread was deleted and technical questions. So did something else happen?

[orpupilofnature57]

18. DU Depression, was last Nov. Thanks to Shrub its turned back to aggression

God Bless Skinner!!!!!

[American Tragedy]

19. Speaking for myself, yes.

In the past few weeks I've been here less frequently than ever before, even though I'm unemployed and should really have more time to spend here, at least when I'm not driving around hopelessly job-hunting. x(

It's probably a combination of the nice weather outside, and just being burned out after the miserably anticlimactic ending of the past election.

[BigBearJohn]

21. No worry. One thing I learned about this group -- WE REBOUND!

and come back swinging harder.

[leftofthedial]

24. I'm so fucking depressed

I can barely get out of bed

Every facet of my life is melting down. I can't separate the personal problems from the political ones, because I believe it all started with the coup of 2000.

[KoKo]

25. Yes...it did and it's sucked the life out of all we knew and believed in..

and fighting back is good....but sometimes one just gets...well...really tired...bone tired and weary of what they've done and how long it will take to rebuild it.

I'm usually an optimist about all of this...faxing, phoning and e-mailing but I'm looking for fresh troops here. I think they are out there and coming to the rescue...but it's not soon enough, methinks.

[zippy890]

27. are you really that depressed?

not being able to get out of bed sounds badly depressed -- maybe clinically depressed?
If every aspect of your life is melting down - its hard to keep ahead of such stress -

sounds familiar like where I was about 3 years ago, awful, and I ended up really stressed and in a bad place. I went to a doctor and got some help

take care of yourself. and watch out for the dark side from within.

:hug:

[leftofthedial]

30. thanks for your concern, zippy890

It's pretty bad, but I'm getting help.

[KoKo]

43. Sending good thoughts your way....I didn't mean to depress anyone

more, but wondered if I was the only one who felt there's kind of a pall hanging over DU. It helps me to know that others are kind of down and that helps me feel not "alone" here. I live in a Red State so that's always a problem.

Good luck to you...and remember that folks are with you... I think you've been here awhile like me...and it does get hard. :hi:

[Tsiyu]

37. Please have peace, leftofthedial

You can't solve it all and maybe you can't solve any of it, but you still have choices.

Do something you love. Indulge yourself. You deserve it.

Life is too short to spend that way. Believe me, I've wasted so much of it.

:hug:

[leftofthedial]

44. thanks,

FWI, the first several recording projects I ever worked on were at Norman Petty's studio in Clovis NM. Talk about Buddy Holly's ghost!

[il_lilac]

26. Ironically

I was thinking about this today. I feel shell shocked and too feel like we need new troops (how must Boxer and Conyers feel??). The "real" news we get here is so outrageous and then I look at MSM and think I must be hallucinating? Yeah, I'm depressed, angry, sad,scared, and tired...:cry:

[mmonk]

29. Absolutely

Our country may be changed forever right in front of our eyes and there really isn't anything we can do about. I have a very deep anger in my soul as well.

[Horse with no Name]

31. Unequivocally yes.

I feel it.
Every post that should be positive and motivational sinks like rocks while flame wars go on for days.
I am guilty of involving myself in it as well and I hate it.
I think it is just that the big things are too much to handle so we fixate on the little things because they seem easier and we need small victories to keep ourselves going for the big victories.
What I find the worse thing is...when we do get big news...the only place we see it is on blogs, never in the media. Our leaders don't jump on it and shout it from the rooftops and I feel there isn't any vindication anywhere.
Oh...shrubco was involved in 9-11?
WOW...but did you know that Michael Jackson's ex wife is going to testify?

I know how you feel. It's almost time for me to decompress.:(

[expatriate]

54. In a nutshell:

"Every post that should be positive and motivational sinks like rocks while flame wars go on for days."

I used to love coming to DU prior to the 2004 election. Even though I realized that it was highly unlikely that Kerry would win, knowing the manipulation that would be used by Bushco, there were a lot of people here actively working toward making America better, including myself. It was inspiring to see so many intelligent and involved people giving a damn and doing something to try to improve their lot.

DU today? Let's see how many smart remarks and sarcastic ugly comments we can spew out on threads. Let's fight amongst ourselves and be rude and obnoxious and impress each other with how "bad" we can be. Let's start multiple threads about the same foolish thing, insult each other's religious beliefs, attack anyone who might have an opinion that differs from our own - and do it in the most snarky and obnoxious manner possible.

It's gotten to be a high school pissing contest around here. It isn't a good place to be - reading the threads that continue for hundreds of posts where people try to see how over the top their posts can be is just saddening.

Many onetime regular posters have just given up. Others are reluctant to post because they will immediately be subjected to a bunch of rude crapola. If anyone suggests that a more respectful tone should be used, or that people might try to be a bit more tolerant of viewpoints other than their own, the sarcasm about "whitewashing" DU and how they have a right to say whatever they want, however they want starts up. There's very little actual discussion any more, just snipefests and a lot of juvenile commentary. If anyone disagrees with the general consensus, they're automatically a "freeper", no matter how long they may have been posting or what their past posting history might be. Like all other Internet message boards, DU is being destroyed by infighting, rudeness and intolerance for those who don't wish to go along with the party line all the time.

C'mon, three entire threads about Shrub holding the Saudi prince's hand? How many times can the same remarks be made before some of the people on DU stop gnawing on the bone? There's nothing more interesting and inspiring to discuss than making comments about some silly pictures - comments that would be what one would expect to come from some fourteen year old boys standing around on a street corner? This is discussion?

There isn't a depression on DU - DU itself has become depressing.

[ret5hd]

39. PTSD...Except we aren't "post trauma" yet...

we're still living it.

[KoKo]

45. PSTD.....that's a possibility...Hadn't thought of that.

Two shocks of Elections gone Wrong/Stolen/Screwed Up and that we've been out here on the internet fighting battles without much help.

I think some help is coming...but the PSTD analogy would make sense in that we keep reliving our stress and shock over what we see going on and being exposed.

[bobthedrummer]

40. Not a widespread one, if at all. I know that there is some hysteria here

in certain groups though.

It's like a schism is here since the recent world events centering around the Vatican.

[cry baby]

47. just kind of exhausted from emailing, calling, worrying, watching,

waiting...you know...

[lonestarnot]

53. Have a stomach ache not depressed.