Do we risk making ourselves irrelevant

[ecstatic]

with all the daily outrage?

I've been thinking, and yes, I'm guilty of having a few eruptions myself... but what would happen if President Obama actually did do something that was truly at odds with our principles?

Would we have wasted so much credibility whining about little things that there's none left for a big issue?

A perfect example would be the Clinton for SOS debates. While we spent so much time talking about that, Gates was quietly allowed another year (which is probably a good decision, but we should be way more concerned about him than Clinton ffs).

Perhaps we should be selective about what we choose to make the most noise about?

[eleny]

1. It's hard for a huge group like this to pick its issues

I'm willing to give O some time. But I do read the thoughts of the members. People here have so much knowledge about issues and who's who. Every day adds to my ongoing education.

When things get too hairy for me, I just find something else to do and come back later. But that won't work for everybody, either. Being addicted to DU with the best of 'em I know not to suggest it too strongly. :D

[TwilightGardener]

2. Were we relevant to begin with?

My sources say "no".

[QC]

5. Good point. This is a message board on the WWW where politics geeks

sit around and argue over things the average person couldn't care less about, yet some people here seem to think that governments--and even the world economy--stand or fall based on what people here type.

Don't get me wrong--I am a hopeless politics geek and I love this place and have been here for nearly eight years, but let's not get carried away with this notion that what we say here has the potential to shatter the earth.

[BeFree]

8. Oh

It has the potential, but we ain't living up to it. Or writing right. Whatever, who cares?

[ecstatic]

12. I think at this moment we really are relevant

and it's refreshing to see our views making the rounds on mainstream news outlets. I just want us to use this rare attention for something major.

[EFerrari]

3. The Gates choice has been out there since shortly after the election.

There was nothing "quiet" about it.

And it looks like one torture supporting nominee stepped down because of feedback. Where is the downside?

[scheming daemons]

4. On a scale of 1 to 100... DU's "relevance" has never been above 2.

[BeFree]

7. See?

We've already made ourselves irrelevant!!

Of course we could argue all day and night about the relevancy, but we both have better things to do, eh?

[H2O Man]

6. No.

It's the choices we make in real life that make us relevant or irrelevant. DU can be used to fine-tune the skills we use, or simply a place to relax, have fun, and examine the day's outrage.

[Dawgs]

9. "We"?

Please don't speak for me.

[Occam Bandage]

10. No, I think we've long since blown any credibility* we might ever have had.

It's often tiresome how predictably melodramatic we are.





*This is assuming that one feels the need to assign a degree of credibility to an anonymous internet message board.

[w4rma]

11. Get in line behind the Wall Street DLCers? I don't think so. That would make "us" irrelevant. (nt)

[zeemike]

13. Let's face it, people are irrelevant.

The only thing that is relevant is the corporations and it's leaders.
They pay for the political drama and they own us all.
They throw the left and right a few bones to chew on and do what they want.

Now if that sounds cynical to you it is because it is, but the question is whether it is too cynical.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. We should all be talking about the economy

[stillcool]

15. Divide and Conquer...the divisiveness...

never ends. I wonder if there is anything that 'we the people' will ever agree on for the common good. The problem I see with 'going after' Obama, or anyone else, is that you can't attract enough people to make a difference when the discourse is just finger pointing and bickering. How much of the population can you attract that way? And if you can't get enough people together to affect change, it ain't going to happen. If the issues which effect us most, were spoken of sans the hyperbole, maybe things would be different.

[DutchLiberal]

16. That's exactly what the powers-that-be want you to think...