did Glen Greenwald and/or Snowden impact DU participation?

[reddread]

I know old soldiers fade away, and the incentive to re-elect our POTUS must be dwindling, this late in the game,
but how and why would some of the most indefatigable of posters pull up stakes?
I sure hope those libertarians didnt shake the faith, or send anyone running for cover.
seems so unlikely, it leaves me puzzled.
hope all are well, and enjoying their rest.

[Maedhros]

1. You used "libertarians" as a plural.

Snowden is a self-described Libertarian, but Greenwald is not.

[reddread]

2. no offense intended

[Maedhros]

5. "Greenwald the Libertarian" is a persistent, pernicious meme

perpetrated by a core of disingenuous propagandists, despite the fact that it has been consistently shown to be false.

I try to counter the misconception when I see it.

[reddread]

9. much appreciated

I heard Libertarians were the devil worshiping progeny of Ayn Rand?
It would be a shame to burn the wrong demon at the stake.

[Maedhros]

11. "Libertarian" has become nothing more than a pejorative.

When someone on DU wants to cast aspersion on another poster, they insinuate that the poster is a "Libertarian" who has infiltrated the forum to disrupt Hillary's election chances, or some such nonsense.

[YoungDemCA]

14. No, they usually accuse them of being a "paid shill" for Obama or Hillary...

or some such nonsense.

[MohRokTah]

13. "but Greenwald is not."

[Luminous Animal]

15. More cowbell!

Er... I mean, more emoticons!

[BlueCaliDem]

27. +1000!

[MannyGoldstein]

28. We need to get Maddow off the air, and fast!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025600548

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. I'm confused.

Was this an old OP you somehow reposted? I'm pretty sure no one has been working to re-elect the POTUS at for a couple of years now, and GG and Snowden have been fairly quiet for at least a few months now.

And what were people supposed to have 'faith' in? The NSA? What else would GG and Snowden be shaking the 'faith' in?

[alcibiades_mystery]

8. Desperately reliving the Glory Days of Eddie Moscow's relevance, I guess

[KoKo]

26. Greenwald and Snowden have been VERY Active for the past few months...

Maybe you just don't want to acknowledge that?

If you just read DU you might not be as diversified in your reading as others are, though. I'm talking about Reading...not just watching the "BIG 3 MSM" and participating on this website alone.

Branch Out...and do a Search. You will find plenty about what they are doing and reporting.

[femmocrat]

4. IMO, it wasn't Greenwald or Snowden.

People have a variety of reasons.

[leftstreet]

6. How can Obama be re-elected?

[hootinholler]

7. I think their contracts weren't renewed n/t

[Tikki]

10. I know of a few who left here because of all the rah, rah for Snowden and Greenwald...

I know of one who knew the truth about the libertarian trolls and has been vindicated, for sure...


Tikki

[Maedhros]

12. Oh, please.

/bye.

[Major Hogwash]

22. Help, I'm steppin' into the Twilight Zone

The place is a madhouse, feels like being cloned
My beacon's been moved under moon and star
Where am I to go . . now that I've gone too far

Soon you will come to know,
When the bullet hits the bone

[Luminous Animal]

16. Maybe it was something you said.

[reddread]

17. more likely something I ate

never get in an elevator with me.
ive dropped grown men in open air.

[Blue_In_AK]

18. Some have left because of people supporting Greenwald/Snowden

and a corresponding number have left because of the people opposing them. People leave for all kinds of reasons.

[riderinthestorm]

23. + 1 nt

[daredtowork]

19. The tactics being used to suppress support of Snowden make me angry.

I was completely unaware of this war on DU, and the under-handed way it is being conducted until last week.

I am a Democrat. I support Obama. I lean strongly to the left on social and progressive causes. See my history of posts and comments to establish that.

I also happen to admire Snowden. I think the tactics the government uses to suppress whistleblowers - which comes out of the playbook of corporate whistleblower suppression - is despicable. I don't want the government to be doing things that scare me or case me to lose respect. I have long been sympathetic to the price whistleblowers pay for sticking their head up. No matter what his personal politics, Snowden has my respect for finding a way to not be utterly destroyed by the situation.

Last week I made a post about all the weird attacks on Glenn Greenwald. I also respect Greenwald for helping Snowden, and I mentioned that as a matter of full disclosure in my post. My post was suppressed using "technical rules" - the guy who did it felt I was attacking "old DUers" even though some of the posts in question were by new people with 100 posts. He said he could have denounced me for being new or a sock puppet, etc. Yet this guy knew these things weren't true. We had corresponded in private recently, and he had been supporting my other comments and posts. I was a true Democrat to him until he found out I supported Snowden.

It was obvious when he said my post was to conduct an argument. I checked my post, and I realized my disclose about Snowden was a trigger. Now some attack I hadn't intended to make was being projected upon me. Moreover, this guy had my whole post suppressed on the "meta" rule (notice how he claimed I was attacking anti Snowden speech when he was the one who actually and successfully attacked pro Snowden speech). Many similar posts go up on DU all the time. I can name other occasions where the rules were manipulated inthis fashion, creating an environment of fascism rather than democracy.

Anyway it is possible to be a card-carrying lefty Democrat AND a fan of Snowden.

[reddread]

20. while I cant tell the difference between a neoliberal and a card carrying conservative

I cant recall seeing any detractors who werent on the "right" side of warfulness and national security issues.
when the gay innuendo floats up you pretty much know where they are coming from.

[daredtowork]

25. there's also left libertarian

My housemate (who is gay - I'm sensing a theme here) is left libertarian, though he seems to be moving more toward some structural socialism, having seen what I've gone through and facing the challenges of independence in old age. I think sometimes peoples political positions come from being actively repelled from political parties.

[grasswire]

21. many of us here are Democrats who support Snowden

Probably a majority, in fact.

Welcome to DU. Sorry you got slammed so early on!

[daredtowork]

24. thanks

Its just weird to see how fast people turn on you over what should be a minor side opinion. The Snowden issue seemed to automatically define me as "other" despite my history of welfare and gender posting.

While I've been kicked out of the country club, I might as well confess I would be unhappy to see Hilary as the nominee as well. I doubt she gives a damn about poor people, and I hate her triangulation approach because I think the window gets continuously pulled to the right.

Also I hope someone takes acloser look at the "warfare by other means" going on here. Just as I lose respect for the Federal government when they resort to dirty tactics to suppress the truth, I lose respect wherever I see the conversation being warped this way.