My rant (sort of) for the primary season

[rpannier]

I think the thing (for me) that is the most disappointing about Edwards withdrawal (other than I supported him) is that when it was a three-person race people seemed a little more civil and lot more thick skinned.

Now that Edwards is gone it seems to me that the dam burst and it's become more aggressive and more personal, both in what is written, but also in how people take what others write.

1. I have had 'run-ins' with people in the past where one or both of us took something the other person wrote as a personal attack and then discovered one or both of us misunderstood what the other person had written.
Sometimes things that are written sound unoffensive to the writer because they understand what they mean.
My suggestion (for what it's worth) don't take something personal unless it's so obvious that it is...
For example: It's kind of hard not take, "You're a f**king stupid, moron who knows nothing!!!" as anything but personal.

2. I can't count the number of times I've seen "The Obama Cult" or "Hillbots" scrawled in someone's post to describe supporters of the other side. There's nothing wrong with people getting behind their candidate and supporting them.

3. The number of posts I've seen that basically read "If ... gets the nomination we're gonna lose in November."
This is politics and politics is always very fluid. What people are thinking now can often change in a few months, if not a few weeks or days.
The number of posts that said we were never going to win in 06 were endless as well. But here we are with a majority in both houses.
And with all due respect to your psychic abilities, "After you've picked the winning numbers in the powerball twice then I'll choose to believe you ability to see into the future. Until then -- I'm not convinced."

4. Try letting people enjoy their moment. God knows if someone posts how happy they are that their candidate did well, 1/2 of the responses are going to try and criticize/attack the OP.

5. As to criticize/attack, it would be nice (IMLHO) if people could cool it when someone endorses the other candidate. When Ted Kennedy and Maria Shriver endorsed Obama, I saw some rather nasty responses. One referred to Ms Shriver as 'flat face.'
And likewise, when someone posted Joe Wilson's letter in support of Clinton you got, "Who the hell is he?" "Still trying to hold on to his 15 minutes of fame."
WTF people??? The best we can do when something happens we don't like is resort to name calling and trying to belittle people who are on our side.

6. We are the Party of Jackson, F.Roosevelt, Truman and John F Kennedy. We are the inheritors of the progressive political legacy of the previous four mentioned along with Jefferson, Lincoln and T. Roosevelt and we are spending our time arguing over meaningless drivel like "Did Clinton refuse to shake Obama's hand?" or "Did Obama refuse to shake Clinton's hand?"
Who f**king cares???!!! The media??? Your friend at work??? Your neighbor??? Fine. Take it up with them. I have always assumed we are smarter than that. That we are better than that.

7. The number of people who have posted, "If ... wins, I'll never vote for them." "If ...wins I'm voting for a third party." and "There's no difference between (Democrat) and (refucklican)." is rather silly.
If you honestly believe that then you believe that Al Gore would have selected Alito and Thomas for the Supreme Court and that Gore would have ordered the invasion of Iraq because that's what people told me 7 years ago when they said they wouldn't vote for Gore -- There's no difference. (These people would be friends of mine -- stupid friends of mine <and Yes, I still tell them to their face that they were stupid>)
Yet, I'm sure 18 months from now, these same people who won't vote for Obama or Clinton will be here bitching and moaning because Mc Cain has ordered the invasion of Iran or AJ Stevens has retired and McCain has chosen some Regents University graduate for the a spot on the court. Chances are, they'll be screaming the loudest.

8. Please spare us the histrionics of "Good-bye DU. I'm leaving you forever because it's too mean here."
You wanna go, fine go. But please spare us your sad tale of how evil and terrible the rest of us are. How we are cruel to your feelings and have no respect for you as a person.
In addition, please spare us the "Skinner!!! Please do something about all the mean people here."
We are not children (although many of us, myself included, act like it sometimes) and Skinner is not our mommy. Grow up.

If you don't like what someone posts:
Ignore it.
No one says you have to read everything other people post

If you don't like them:
Put them on ignore.
No one says you have to tolerate people you don't like.

This is a website, not a work space or a classroom. It's easy to ignore and avoid people.

In conclusion, if you hate what I've written feel free to tell me so, feel free to ignore me, or put me on ignore.

[Bongo Prophet]

1. Thank you for the "rant" - it has many good points.

Some of us DUers, mostly long timers who are tired and concerned about the rancor, are trying to gently persuade the smarter ones to lighten up on the stupid and petty, to mixed results. long and thoughtful posts such as your are a part of the solution.

We know DU can be better, and rather than JUST complain or let the BS drive us away, are taking back a bit of mindspace.