Our job at the DU ...

[hfojvt]

5. Will this message self destruct in 60 seconds?

BTW, I do NOT accept this Mission Impossible.

I did not join, nor do I participate at DU primarily or even incidentally to "promote the rights that are in our Constitution".

To be honest with you, I am not even sure what that means.

"We believe we should elect people to office that will protect those rights."

Uh, yeah, but EVERYBODY who votes probably believes that. By which I mean, people who voted for Bush believe that and so do people who voted for Gore.

"We believe that spirited debate shows the true direction we should go. We believe that debate will eventually separate fact from fiction. The true challenge is about educating people to know the difference."

I am not sure if it is debate that separates fact from fiction. People seem to tend to listen to and cheer the arguments they agree with and scoff and insult the arguments they disagree with, pretty much a priori.

Like the quote says "Given a choice between a) changing their mind and b) proving that there is no need to do so, most people will get busy on the proof.

What I hoped for in DU was allies, co-workers, friends. I joined after the devastating loss of Kerry in 2004. I hoped for a support group. A group of people dedicated to opposing and defeating the Bush administration and also future Republican candidates.

As an internet site, I hoped we would be an alternative to the B.S. and shiny things put out by the M$M. A place where the conventional wisdom would be debunked. A place where people could come to learn and also find friends and allies.

And by allies, I was thinking we would all be Wellstone's "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party". That we would be united in taking our party back from "Rubin and his allies" http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022085948

For a time there, it seemed like DU WAS such a place. Not a perfect place, but a pretty darned good place. A place that would help progressives win in 2006, 2008, 2010, etc.

Now it seems like the DLCers have taken over, but also that the other faction here is not the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party, but a wing that has broken away and wants to fly on its own to some 5th. party paradise.

But also, rather than being a progressive alternative to the M$M, it seems to be a place that just plays tug of war with every dirty piece of string the M$M throws at us.

And in another regard, well I feel a little bit like the Dread Pirate Roberts. "I coulda give you my word as a progressive" ...

Meaning, that unfortunately, if a person visits here for a few months from the outside world, they will not learn things like "Republicans are wrong". Instead, they will learn by hard-won experience "those on the left - are not very nice people."