Reply #68: Blah, blah, blah......BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. GET OVER IT. [View All]

[Turn CO Blue]

From one of the completely and admittedly innocuous people on this board, let me just say (for once, because I NEVER participate in these shit storms) that I am so sick of this topic.

So FOR ONCE, and for one time only, I feel compelled to write -- and for once and for one time only -- I will risk the flames of the USUAL SUSPECTS on this topic and all the other topics (and again, I remind you that I am an unheard of reader/participant on this board who USUALLY AVOIDS these kinds of threads like the plague and cancer that they are...)

BUT I AM SICK UNTO DEATH OF THIS TOPIC!!!!! LET IT FUCKING GO!

I have no dog in this fight. I really don't give a shit about the Leopold story. I wish that Rove were indicted, and it's too bad that Jason "got played" or had shotty reporting. But I don't know what happened, and I've moved on.

But I spend a couple of hours on this board each day trying VERY hard to avoid reading yet another shitstorm about Leopold, about religion, about Bev Harris, about DLC, about Hillary, about DKos, about Dean, about the purity of whatever candidate, about so-and-so's litmus test -- about whatever the hell else topic that has sub-threads that digress/devolve into personal attacks and idiocy which lower the level of discourse, and makes readers like innocuous-me write responses like this that lower the level of discourse even further.

To myself and to everyone else on this thread: IT IS TIME TO GROW THE FUCK UP. I guarantee THAT IT IS THE SAME OLD USUAL SUSPECTS IN THIS THREAD, which begs the question: What are they here for? THE LEOPOLD STORY IS SOOOOO TWO-WEEKS-AGO. That horse is dead and the flesh is rotting, and yet here come the boot-stompers to gleefully kick it some more - just to bring attention to themselves and to their grudge, I suspect. Let go of your grudgematch. You were not wounded personally, I'm certain, so forget it.

Here's my santimonious moment: Maturity is about letting things go and embracing the truly important matters. The Iraq war is an abomination. There are human beings dying by the thousands in Sudan, and the UN and USA are side-stepping it -- another abomination. We are sliding into fascism here. There are over 100,000 hungry children within the US border right now -- they might not have dinner tonight. Bill O'Reilly is vile and yet actually has a television show where he is encouraged to be vile. The Leopold story isn't even a blip on the radar compared to what should be important enough to write about - for that matter, neither is Karl Rove, indicted or not. There are so many important, mind-expanding topics, that it blows the mind.

So, I am begging you as a fellow progressive to JUST LET IT GO and stop flooding the "Greatest" page with this CRAPPOLA.

Whatever. I will be flamed and I just don't give a shit and I'm not going to respond. I am not talking about Leopold and that article at all, and there will be people who just won't get it.

There are two journals on the Home page right now that are terrific. They are skillfully written and they may or may not make the Greatest Page or receive many comments. I am grateful that Skinner and the mods go through the journals to separate the gold from the dross, and have put them on the Home page, which most DU'ers may not even read. And Lord knows I have rarely dared to contribute much of anything on this board, and yes, I do recognize that this is just more dross.

But these shitstorms IMHO are created by a very few rather self-important, control-freak, shit-stirring spoons and are the worst thing about this board for their very redundancy (what is this, the 1200th thread on this OLD NEWS topic?) and yet IT will be on the Greatest for a whole day.

As I said, I have not really participated in a flamewar before and never will again, so here's my moment. But I will ask whoever reads this to consider that point. If a DU member and donator like me, who none of you have ever heard of, is so very DONE with this, how exactly are the "shit stirrers" and their shit-storms contributing to the quality of this board???? Entertainment, perhaps? Only for the first day or two. After that, these kinds of posts are merely an exercise in self-importance of the little cliques that hang out together.

Just to be clear, I'm not advocating censorship or limiting discussion topics. And I'm not talking about the original poster specifically nor the Leopold story specifically -- I'm addressing the pattern of behavior. Here's the money shot: I'm weighing the value of threads where the real purpose seems to be the airing of personal grudges and sheer pettiness. I'm questioning the value of threads from posters who just seem to want more attention and get it by trashing other people's/candidate's/newspaper's reputations and seemingly do it to increase their own importance. This kind of thread (and my response) is not edifying to anyone. It's so high school.

Just to be clear, I don't regard my own participation as particular important to DU. I am not in a clique (obviously). I rarely even post or respond. I just read and read and read DU and other progressive sites because I am so very interested in getting my country back. I want to be an activist and don't know how to make a difference. I guess I had hoped we were all rowing in the same direction. I really want to believe that. But this petty crappola is holding the board back. And I think it's a metaphor for the Democratic party and in a broader sense, for the lack of success in most people's personal lives. That petty stuff keeps you from growing.

I have long held the philosophical belief that the only "unforgiveable sin" (often referred to as blaspheming the Holy Spirit) is holding a grudge and not being willing to forgive.

So on forgiveness, please forgive me this one outburst, and I will once again forgive the shit-stirrers on this board. But please think about this: if a thread doesn't have anything positive to contribute to the forward movement of this board or this Party or this country -- at least rethink recommending the damned thread.

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tcb