This post may be a complete and total waste of time... [View All]

...but I'm going to try anyway.

Things have been pretty tense around here lately. I am guilty of adding to the tension, along with dozens of others. It would seem, to any casual observer, that there is now this huge rift on DU. One side of the rift might call it "progressives" vs. "DLCers," and the other side of the rift might call it "activists" vs. "moderates" or some such. I don't know; I am no good at putting words in other people's mouths.

The focus of this seeming rift seems to be centered around the Feingold censure move. Basically - and this is only my opinion - a lot of people have had their liberal and/or progressive credentials called into question because they think Feingold could perhaps have planned this move with more tactical acumen. There have even been a few YOU ARE WITH US OR YOU ARE TRAITOR SCUM threads, which personally freaked me out; if I didn't know better, I'd have looked at those and wondered when and how George W. Bush got himself a DU account.

So let me be clear.

1. Thinking Feingold could have swung this thing better DOES NOT make one "anti-Feingold" or a "traitor" or whatever.

2. Calling someone else's liberal and/or progressive credentials into question over a disagreement on tactics is obnoxious and uncalled for.

3. Similarly, calling someone a wild-eyed froot loop because of their passion over this issue, and their defense of Feingold's choice of tactics, is likewise obnoxious and uncalled for.

4. It seems a pretty safe bet that 99.9% of DUers agree that this censure is justified and timely. Debate over exactly how this has been done and should be done going forward should in no way cause such mayhem.

5. YOU ARE WITH US OR AGAINST US posts are spherically uncalled for; they suck from every concievable angle. They suck so bad they bend light. If someone posted a thread reading GEORGE BUSH IS A TERRIBLE PRESIDENT, YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US ON THIS, I would spend that thread defending Bush until I got myself banned, simply because I want no part of ultimatums on a board like DU. They have no place here.

Gotta go to the store. If I burst into flame on the way, I will know this thread has failed. I'm bringing the fire extinguisher, just in case...