in which I get vaguely political
Okay, so I was over at DailyKos, where I really need to stop hanging out because some of those people are just as crazy as the wingnuts they oppose. Does anyone know of a left-wing, progressive community that hasn't gone nuts? Anyway, Senator Barack Obama, the guy whose speech at the Democratic Convention was supposed to herald a new era for that party, stopped by to deliver what was a well thought-out, well-written rebuttal to constituent DailyKos members crying out against Democrats who voted to approve Roberts' nomination. There are a bajillion comments, so I'm only linking to the text itself. Load the comments at your own risk. Basically, Obama says that since most American's don't think Bush and Co. are the scum left-wing bloggers do, it's not good to alienate those Americans by saying that Bush and Co. are scum.
So I read through some of the comments, and most of them are praising Obama for being so civil and well-spoken. Several people posted comments disagreeing and got seriously shot down. I myself thought he made some good points, although I didn't particularly agree with all of them. Frankly, I'm just happy to have a politician who can speak English, after five years of suffering through Dubya's stammering. Now that I type that, I realize that my current standards are pretty damn low.
Then a poster called expatjourno posted a diary (I don't quite understand the DK system) angrily arguing with Obama's position. He said that the average American doesn't think Bush is scum because the opposition won't stand up and say that Bush is scum. He was quite vehement about it, and while he was slightly off-putting, he did make an excellent point about the perception of the Democratic party: It's people like you, who seem to want to invite the Republicans over for tea after they've slandered Democrats who make Democrats look weak. And if people don't see the Democrats standing up to the Republicans, they aren't going to trust Democrats to stand up to Osama bin Laden.
If you even agree slightly with expatjourno, don't load the comments. Dude got slaughtered by the Kossacks.
And then comes a woman called RenaRF, who says basically the same thing expatjourno did, except in a less aggressive manner. And she gets praised to the skies.
I do not understand people. It's like nobody can look behind the words to the actual message behind them. I know that the way things are phrased is important, but there should not have been such polar reactions to two similar posts. It was very odd, and renews my determination to not hang out at DailyKos anymore.
Recommended reading, though:
Barack Obama's post at DailyKos
RenaRF's response to Obama
And now I wish I'd uploaded my "angry" Doctor Who icon. Ah, well, Buffy's never done me wrong.
So I read through some of the comments, and most of them are praising Obama for being so civil and well-spoken. Several people posted comments disagreeing and got seriously shot down. I myself thought he made some good points, although I didn't particularly agree with all of them. Frankly, I'm just happy to have a politician who can speak English, after five years of suffering through Dubya's stammering. Now that I type that, I realize that my current standards are pretty damn low.
Then a poster called expatjourno posted a diary (I don't quite understand the DK system) angrily arguing with Obama's position. He said that the average American doesn't think Bush is scum because the opposition won't stand up and say that Bush is scum. He was quite vehement about it, and while he was slightly off-putting, he did make an excellent point about the perception of the Democratic party: It's people like you, who seem to want to invite the Republicans over for tea after they've slandered Democrats who make Democrats look weak. And if people don't see the Democrats standing up to the Republicans, they aren't going to trust Democrats to stand up to Osama bin Laden.
If you even agree slightly with expatjourno, don't load the comments. Dude got slaughtered by the Kossacks.
And then comes a woman called RenaRF, who says basically the same thing expatjourno did, except in a less aggressive manner. And she gets praised to the skies.
I do not understand people. It's like nobody can look behind the words to the actual message behind them. I know that the way things are phrased is important, but there should not have been such polar reactions to two similar posts. It was very odd, and renews my determination to not hang out at DailyKos anymore.
Recommended reading, though:
Barack Obama's post at DailyKos
RenaRF's response to Obama
And now I wish I'd uploaded my "angry" Doctor Who icon. Ah, well, Buffy's never done me wrong.