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and, of course, "talking points" and "kool-aid."
This is the problem with this forum.
Someone may post an opinion about one of the candidates. Instead of others debating the issues raised, many will respond with just one word - from the subject line, above.
If you don't have anything to contribute to the specific topic at hand - just don't post.
Most of us joined DU to debate but also to learn about topics, mostly about our Democratic representatives and candidates. There is vast knowledge on these pages, but too much of it just disappears.
Personally, I have always found individuals who liberally use profanity, or who just attack others with the one of the above word, to be of poor vocabulary and of thinking and conceptualizing abilities.
Just now, we have had several threads praising Obama's speech with which I, a Clinton supporter, agree.
However there are already "preemptive" posts about how Hillary and her supporters "should react." Why is that?
I personally do not visit Drudge, or Fox, or Limbaugh sites. Why give them extra hits so that they charge more for advertisers? But I appreciate the information that other DUers bring over. Many of our co-workers, neighbors and, yes, family members, do get their information from them so we need to be ready to respond with intelligent, knowledgeable rebuttal. Beyond "asshole."
For example, last summer I was grateful for the DUers who told me the correct etiquette when singing the national anthem or when saying the pledge of allegiance, and how these change in the absence of the flag. It helped me some months later.
And if one does not appreciate reading a post from Coulter, or Limbaugh, no one forces anyone to read them. As a matter of fact, if some find a certain post objective, the easiest way to ignore it is not to respond. It will sink fast enough.
I realize that the Internet provides an outlet for many angry and frustrating feelings. And, I suppose, it is better for our society for people to vent behind the anonymity of the Internet than to harass their co-workers, subordinates or customers, fight with their spouses and kids or kick the dog.
But can we please limit our comments on these pages to debating the issues? And, to a certain extent the image - I suppose we cannot completely ignore the images - without being catty?
And I don't understand the attacks on DUers with "low post counts." First the newbie status should be determined by the date joined, not by the number of posts. There are many lurkers here. Second, though, most of us joined to express our opinions, and even someone who just joined last week has a right to post. Or, is the way to "build up" the count is with one word responses like OMG, LOL and WTF? Again, if anyone disagrees, respond to the content of the post, not to the status of the poster.
And then we have the "ignore" function that I have never used, have no idea how to use it and how it would affect my visits here. I think that it masks comments of the ignored DUers and, again, I have to question why anyone would participate in a political forum while hiding opinion from other with whom they disagree. Does anyone think that in politics one can achieve anything by "ignoring" opposing view points?
One does not have to read everything. I doubt that it is humanly possible. One does not have to read every single thread and one does not have to read all the responses. And one does not have to have the last word on any debate. This is how often threads deteriorate with "I did," "I did not."
OK, end of rant.
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