I really freaking hate playing voice of reason– but come on folks: do we really need commentary about our two fine candidates’ genitalia, looks, age, style of dress, inherent malevolence, cluelessness or general lack of character, all that irrelevant bullshit?
How exactly that does that matter? You’re not convincing anyone, neither am I or that other guy over there.
This is Daily Kos. We argue, ferociously. Fine, more than fine actually, that’s part of the joy of it.
But with all this comes – or used to – some sense of responsibility not just for your candidate or mine, God bless them both, but for the site itself.
We argue vigorously as we should, being citizens and advocates, but there is a way to do it. This ain’t it. This ain’t either.
Not because both of those… things… are excrement, though they are, but because we’re supposed to have some standards.
Or at least, if all else fails, some self-respect. Yes, the worst usually gets hidden – thank you, TUs – but a lot doesn’t. This crap here for example – what the fuck was that person thinking? Did that read smart or edgy or of value in preview, too?
How exactly? If it did, what the fuck is wrong with you? Seriously, what?
I don’t need read about dick here or vagina or whatever floats your boat or mine. If it’s used for fucking, it’s not fucking relevant here. Not because I’m a prude – honey, please – but for the more salient reason that ideas are more interesting and compelling when they’re not shrink-wrapped in dumb.
Dumb comes in many flavors these days.
Like when a single tweet by some no-name somewhere explodes into a huge outrage. Both sides have done it; rah rah team. Do we actually believe some of this stuff ourselves, hope someone else of presumably lesser intellect does?
There’s a sucker born every minute, sure, and our buddies will slap our backs for being so inventive, sticking it to the other side, blah blah blabbity blah, but that’s kinda not the point of this place, is it?
We’re reality-based. We write on the largest, most influential leftwing blog site in the country, fuck the country, the world. There’s never been anything like this in scale, intellect and raw power.
And all of that is by and in our hands. There is a We here, the community of Kossacks. Alliances will ebb and flow, people will come, leave, come back again, goals change, but the core aspiration remains: to be a powerful voice for Progressive thought, a place where ideas get shaped, a movement gets built, stories take power and action is a feature, not a bug.
That means something.
Far more people read this site than write on it. That’s to be expected; there are dazzlingly intelligent and knowledgeable people publishing here. So let’s respect these writers, ourselves, and the audience as well.
I’m not asking you to advocate less than forcefully for your candidate. I’ll do so for mine when time permits, without apology. That’s why we’re here.
But I’ll do so, if and when I do, with some awareness of what this place is, what it means. Means to myself and to others. Daily Kos deserves better than dreck.
Everyone makes mistakes, God alone knows. But writing dumb stuff is a choice.