Liberals on Conservative forums and vice versa

[matt819]

I was just over at salon.com. Not that it matters, but I was reading a piece on the Manning/Wikileaks issue. I guess I would consider salon.com to be a liberal site. And, yet, many of the ocmments were from very obviously RW extremists (what others might call conservatives or republicans). They weren't trolls, per se. They weren't riding the line between right and left and being cautious in their posts. They were clearly conservatives expressing conservative viewpoints. You see the same thing at HP, and probably other liberal leaning sites as well.

I spend no time on RW websites. None. Not worth my time or energy. It's like trying to give a pig a bath. The pig doesn't like it, and everyone gets dirty. (Or something like that.) But I know from reading posts here that liberals are pretty much excluded from the RW sites. But what about other forums where there is no policy against people with other views. Do liberals spend time on these sites - and I don't know of any, mind you - weighing in on RW perspectives? If so, then fine, I suppose.

If not, however, it does make you wonder why conservatives spend time on liberal sites but not vice versa.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I've tried it, a little. The pile-on can be exhausting and frankly, I don't

have a lot of RL contact with liberals so I prefer to seek them out online rather than try to be the voice of reason on other sites. I'll leave that to the sturdier people.

[tabatha]

2. Trying to change liberal's minds?

Trying to show liberals where they are "wrong" (supposedly)?

[matt819]

4. Yeah, I know

It's pretty pathetic. Of course, we can't change their minds either. The advantage we have is that we're usually right. And smart.

[tabatha]

7. The difference between liberals and rightwingers I have found

is that liberals like to make sure that what they think is right (fact checking), whereas conservatives like to think they are right no matter what the facts are.

[RKP5637]

8. Yep, that's what I see/hear - rightwingers are always right, right or wrong, wherein

liberals insert their brain into a little thought and fact checking before drawing conclusions.

[MindandSoul]

10. I totally agree. I go often to TVAlly.com, and many of the posters are

rather liberal, but there are also some who are liberterians (mostly "infowar" type) and extreme Right wing.

What amazes me is how the "liberal" majority is asked to "play nice" while the Right wing and often the "infowar" crowd come out very aggressively and make attempts to demean or insult liberals but get away with it!
I was actually a moderator on TVAlly for 2 years, and gave it up because of the level of hatred I was subjected to by the right wing and liberterian members. As a moderator, I didn't feel free to answer "tic for tac." I basically felt that I was asked to stand with my hands tied behind my back while others hit me to a pulp.

[tabatha]

12. Rightwingers are for the most part

scared little boy bullies. Even those I have met and worked with in real life.

[DJ13]

3. Theres an article posted here (I dont remember who posted it)

That was a link to an article detailing how the right wing political groups are paying people to post on liberal websites as a means of disrupting the left.

[matt819]

5. I saw that today

Maybe that's what prompted my question as well. Funny how the mind works. I didn't read the link in that post, but I wonder if it addresses the question of whether liberals do the same thing. Somehow I just can't picture it.

[AsahinaKimi]

6. I saw that too

its pretty pathetic..even in a time of high unemployment.

[freshwest]

17. Yes; I saw that too and it makes sense.

The GOP funded O'Keefe and others to smear ACORN and have tried to smear many. They are well-funded. I've seen some trolls on mixed forums who seem to have sophisticated computers and launch what someone called 'shell' postings. It shuts down the discussions for many hours while the managers try to ban them.

On other websites of the same host, you find that some of these people appear to be involved with the military or other government organizations. They always attack the liberals, never the conservatives. They spend an awful lot of time doing it.

So, yes, I believe they are being paid.

[applegrove]

9. A certain group of right wingers tried to get skinner to let them on to this site

so they could spew their crap. Skinner said not.

I think there are some paid rollplaying freepers on the internets(one guy claimed to be a soldier who had just come back from Iraq "last week". When I asked him how he avoided the "stop loss" order that had just been instituted he got caught in a lie and claimed he was wounded). I certainly ran into some when I used to go to the Bill Maher mixed site. One guy had it all figured out and I got into an argument with him that went on for three days. Then he quit the site because he was loosing.

They are given their talking points (like Hitler was a socialist) and they never give in. And they are really annoying because you can't really argue with someone if you are coming at the situation from how you see the world and they are getting directives from Grover's Norqhuests fax tree on what their position on certain issues should be. They are basically more organized than we are. They have more $$$. But we have reality on our side.

All in all you have to be in a certain mood to be able to deal with them and you have to be ready for all the tactics to mess with reality that they will spew. If you are in the mood for that I reccomend that you go out there and fight. But I'm not in the mood for that lately.

[tabatha]

16. And why they use the talking points

is because they do not know much themselves, and once someone has told them something which agrees with their views on things, they spout incessantly what they have been told, as if it were gospel.

[freshwest]

19. I've found that when confronted, they always get abusive or run away.

Because they are just repeating what they heard.

[applegrove]

24. Yup. I went onto one site where they applauded Irelands economy for being a neoliberal

one that was roaring and put down Germany (as a liberal example)because its' economy was doing badly. And I tried to point out to them that germany had huge immigration and integration issues and no way to devalue the euro and found one conservative who said "what is that true?". The rest of them just kept on going on and on about Germany's bad economy no matter what I said. Bet they are not singing that same tune now. But I wonder if the right wingers know that Germany and Ireland have switched outcomes. Probably not. They don't read the NY Times.

[freshwest]

18. It's the reason I came to DU recently. Just fatigue. Still go back and talk to the liberals, though.

[cowcommander]

11. Are you trying to root out any conservatives here on DU?

[tabatha]

14. That is not what the OP said at all.

[matt819]

22. No. Not at all.

I've been here since 2001 and was a moderator on and off around 2002-2003. I have a pretty good handle on what the site's all about, problems with trolls, legendary battles with same, and still miss some of those who've passed away. My query was a genuine one. I really don't spend any time on RW sites and very little time on what are described in this thread as mixed sites, and I genuinely wondered about the dynamics. Some of the posts here are eye-opening and, I think, worthy of more in-depth reporting by the msm. As if that will ever happen.

[freshwest]

13. I won't post on a blatant RW site, but do post on some mixed sites.

Fortunately, the forum host has an Ignore button and I have to use it just to save my sanity and not have nightmares at some of the stuff they post.

I generally talk with the other liberals but the desire of the RW members to shut us up is intense. They troll our discussions, spout bigoted, hateful remarks, use profanity, spam our threads so we can't keep up with our replies to each other and sometimes post horrifying obscenity to shut down our conversations.

They whine incessantly about the number of threads we have, when all they have to do is put us on Ignore and not read our stuff. Or make their own threads, which most seem unable to do, so there is a disparity of numbers.

The fact that liberals are more talkative and able to bring more media into a post seems to be something they resent. When they come to our threads and are shut down with data and reasoning, they either leave the thread or get abusive.

There are less and less of them on the forum I post the most on as they've moved on. They go other sites and complain bitterly that the liberals have taken over.

After a while you realize you are not so much talking to a human being with some of them, as you pick up on their catchwords. Their thoughts are not their own, so they are unable to defend their positions.

When called on posts that are lifted from discredited websites, they run away. When asked for links to back up their assertions, they have none. What they do consistently is resort to personal attacks based on what they assume to be our religion, gender, race or social or economic condition, name calling and accusations of 'statist, progressive, liberal, nanny state Democrats' and other pejoratives in their minds.

I began investigated to see what they were listening to. Liberals on the board noted the time of day when they came with a lot of posts screaming about this and that we checked their terminology. The rants began just after Hannity, Beck, Boortz, Limbaugh or O'Reilly programs started or finished. The phrases were the same and they repeated them as best they could. As soon as we revealed their source, they shut up.

I'm afraid we're dealing with zombies, to tell you the truth. I can understand they are anxious and afraid and their belligerence and tendency to fly off the handle is part of their frustration. It's sad, but I am there to talk to other progressives who are into the news and the meanings of what is going on in the world. Sometimes some seeds are sown and the conservatives give up on some of their contentions and get reasonable. Until the next program gets them fired up again and they resort to yelling again.

I also don't meet many liberals in public, but do interact with many different kinds of people. It depends on where I'm at and what I'm doing with people. There are certain words that let you know if you are with a group or person that is simpatico.

I've only recently joined DU and have been surprised that some don't seem to support the Democratic Party or progressive ideas, but I see many people who I can learn from. I understand the frustration we have with our leaders. One thing that is refreshing are the threads about unions and labor that don't get any traction on some of the other websites.

[tabatha]

15. Very good description of the zombies.

[DonCoquixote]

20. I agree

There were GOP that were concerned about being logical, but even they have been eaten by the fanatics.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Message control and they know it works.

I did the posting on conserv sites at the AOL boards, until I found DU.

[PassingFair]

23. It reminds me of the old saying about wrestling with pigs.

You just get covered in mud, and besides,
the pigs LIKE it.