If you think DU is a mean and ornery place....

[grasswire]

....better not go over to the boards at politico.com! I spent some time on the boards there where comments are accruing about Chris LeHane's short piece admitting to being the co-author of Hillary Clinton's infamous memo on the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.

The place is full of bitter, bitter haters on the right, and disproportionately fewer liberals. Looking in there is a revelation -- worse than freerepublic, worse than the cave.

So much fiction there! Just plain fiction! And crazy conspiracies and junk.

There aren't words to describe the ignorance.

I understand that the board there is routinely scrubbed and it may have been sanitized tonight. Here's the link, just for the record.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/04/chris-lehane-right-wing-conspiracy-memo-106059.html?ml=m_po#.U1754qJiLES

[1000words]

1. Aside from the hair-on-fire crusaders, DU is indeed, more nuanced ...

Passive/aggressive innuendo is more en vogue.

[jberryhill]

2. And what is THAT supposed to mean?

[1000words]

3. Forgive my forwardness ...

Most "discussion" at DU is reactionary melodrama.

[jberryhill]

4. That's what people of your ilk always say!

[1000words]

6. I'll admit ...

That took me just a second.

[jberryhill]

7. I figured it was fifty-fifty

But was prepared to egg you on some more if you guessed wrong.

Granted, it's a coin flip proposition.

[Jesus Malverde]

18. I put you on ignore...again.

Love ya jberryhill

[TreasonousBastard]

5. OK, just for S&G I went over there and...

it's not quite as bad as some, but it somehow seems the rightwing over there has far more time to post their silliness than we have to post ours.

Why would that be? Are they not busy at work or school?

Speaking of school, perhaps the greatest indictment of our educational system is online discussion groups. Until their invention, we never really knew how bad it really is. The internet has shown us that the people we thought might be out there are really out there.

I did notice that some guy who just loved Infowars was warned that comments like his were not guaranteed to stay there, so perhaps i didn't see the worst of the worst.

[davidpdx]

8. There's no doubt that DU is much tamer than Politico

Again though it depends on how bad the infestation of right wing trolls are. DU is open to the public just as much as Politico, the rules are just stricter (as you alluded to). In the end, most of us are still strangers to each other somewhere typing on a keyboard.

[Junkdrawer]

9. Agents for real conspirators launch 1000 Crazy Conspiracy Theories....

It's a mystery...

[scarletwoman]

10. It's a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

[Octafish]

16. Flapping along on an upside infinite down möbius pancake thing.

[scarletwoman]

17. Wait. What?

[Octafish]

20. Azrach

Unforgettable character by the great Jean Giraud (Moebius).

[scarletwoman]

21. Sorry, that's way out of my element.

My elements are water, fire, air and earth. Never got into metal.

[Octafish]

22. Me neither. I'm more of a Hylozoist.

Didya hear about the new crystal, scarletwoman? It's purple:

http://www.livescience.com/45175-unique-putnisite-mineral-discovered.html

[kelliekat44]

11. They need some enlightenment from DUers. This would frustrate the hell out of them. nt

[grasswire]

12. they simply don't believe facts that contradict the propaganda and CT

There's a whole 'nother parallel world view that seems absolute truth to them, and they bitterly defend it against the people they perceive to be their enemies.The fires of willful ignorance have been stoked. They are victims, in their own view.

And, truth be told, they ARE victims -- of calculated brainwashing and manipulations.

[IDemo]

13. If you think DU is a mean and ornery place....

You haven't checked out message boards at CNN, NBC, Yahoo, or nearly any local news site.

Add gleeful ignorance, racist and misogynist to mean and ornery.

[MisterP]

15. here you can definitely block those who think that this or that group isn't really human

there's a LOT on the internet

[Jesus Malverde]

19. Famously Youtube comments.

People need to toughen up. The internet.

[Iggo]

14. DU is nice.

I could see someone not understanding that if this was their first day on the internet.