General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Boston bombing and the follow up pursuit brought out the best of DU.
Lots of well informed posters.
Lots of real time skewering of CNN and other pundits, for good reason, by OPs loaded with facts and thoughtful observations.
Continual focus on the human dimension, the challenge to Boston and the unique flavor of Bostonian resolve.
Staying tuned to DU saved lots of time trying to follow so much wasted air on cable and the internets.
Some missteps, as you would expect in any controversial discussion held by a passionate and diverse group of well informed and strongly opinionated people, but this community has a fundamental reasoned and humanitarian touch that is hard to find and is reassuring in times like this.
GoneOffShore
(17,309 posts)And reasoned post.
nadinbrzezinski
(154,021 posts)Msnbc was the best, mostly took time.
sheshe2
(83,356 posts)Thank you, grantcart.
Well said!
Baitball Blogger
(46,576 posts)Thanks everyone, who provided great links to great sources!
gateley
(62,683 posts)my first stop is DU. An amazing resource.
flamingdem
(39,304 posts)during epic moments.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)I pointed out that wasn't official yet.
Other than that twitter rumor it went well.
Cha
(295,929 posts)There are some very dedicated people here wanting to get the information accurate and in real time.
I was most grateful I had DU to find out what was going on in Boston, Watertown, and points in between.
I can't thank them enough!
To the Police, Citizens(who co-operated with the Police so they could get the remaining bomber), and National Guard in Boston~
leftieNanner
(14,998 posts)I found myself checking DU first for updates. Smart, intelligent updates. Both of my daughters go to college in the Boston area, so it was a very nerve wracking week for us.
You guys may not agree with me, but as a mom, I am sad for the young man who was captured the other night. He's 19 and he followed his older brother down an evil path. How many of you are little brothers who would follow your big brother to the gates of Hell? But in many ways he's still just a boy. 19 year olds don't have all of their judgement capacity developed. I know he did a terrible, terrible thing. So many innocent lives were lost or tragically altered on Monday afternoon and I am extremely angry about the horror of the bombings. I just wish that bright, misguided young man had made a different choice.
Katashi_itto
(10,175 posts)muxin
(98 posts)I'm an Indonesian, ever since I got here DU has become one of my top sources for International news / issues
I love the discussions, the debates, and all well thoughtful opinions I can find here
I only got BBC and CNN on my cable, but I gotta say I think what I've got here is much much more than those two combined, I salute all of you for that
There's just one thing confused me, why Africa and Asia is not included in the International sub-forum?
Cal Carpenter
(4,959 posts)There are only a few international subforums, and you are right in pointing out how limited they are. I think they are only created when requested by a group of members, so I guess no one has requested them. That is something I think DU should work on, on a couple levels..
But I agree that the compilation of news and info (and opinions!) are pretty impressive.
tpsbmam
(3,927 posts)How nice to hear such a positive review from a new member from abroad! It's great to hear we're a news source for people with limited access to news -- that makes my day!
Our news in the U.S. is also limited, in a different way. Our mainstream media is now owned by just a few mega-corporations. It greatly limits what used to be a much more independent media in our country. The "news" is censored by corporations' with conflicts of interest, among other problems. Their interest is in skewing the news to meet their interests, suppressing and omitting incredibly important news that would go against their interests, and so much more.
That's where our invaluable independent media come in and where DU becomes invaluable. Through the mix of mainstream and independent news found on DU, and particularly presented by those who synthesize information from a number of sources into a story-telling whole, DU becomes truly unique and indispensable. So many independent resources -- The Nation, Mother Earth News, Think Progress.....and on and on. They're nonprofit, reader supported for the most part. There are some great more traditional magazines & papers who can usually be counted on to publish some fascinating & independently newsworthy articles -- The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Wired, and quite a few more. I've been subscribing to Vanity Fair for years -- yes, it has boring fluff, but it also often publishes excellent articles that explore important issues in depth (as does The New Yorker, to which I also subscribe -- it's important to pay for subscriptions whenever possible to support these media....I subscribe to a number of independent papers & magazines when I can actually read all or most of them online for free.)
As for the groups, good question! As Cal Carpenter mentioned, the groups are created in response to members' requests. You point out two glaring omissions of two incredibly important parts of our world. When you look at the groups, they seem to be mainly set up in response to requests from members who live in those areas. It's hard to believe we don't have Asian and African members. We certainly have at least one Asian one -- you! There have to be many, many more.
There's an "Ask the Administrators" group where your question could be posted and posed to the administrators. You might pose your question to them and suggest both groups.
Again, welcome!
muxin
(98 posts)I'm sure this forum will continue to grow and there will be a lot more Asians and also Africans joining.
Yeah it's quite annoying to see how those big corporations gave such impact to the media. In my country two of our biggest news media are owned by conglomerates who also the chairman of political parties who will run on the next presidential election, now that's a mess. Luckily we also still have traditional magazines & papers from independent publisher, maybe the options are not as many as you get in the US but it's good enough for now.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Yes, DU can be addictive for the information obsessed.
anneboleyn
(5,611 posts)That was just amazing -- constant posts reporting *exactly* what was being said on the police scanner as everything unfolded in real time. The scanner link wouldn't work for me and others had the same trouble, and so some thoughtful DUers listened and posted simultaneously. It was awesome, and it was about one million times better than listening to the confusion on any of the television news stations. CNN would catch up with our thread three or four minutes later.
Frustratedlady
(16,254 posts)You said, "Some missteps, as you would expect in any controversial discussion held by a passionate and diverse group of well informed and strongly opinionated people, but this community has a fundamental reasoned and humanitarian touch that is hard to find and is reassuring in times like this."
I gave up on CNN several years ago and never glommed onto FOX, so I depend heavily on DU. Even my friends ask me what DU has to say about this or that, as they have also come to trust DU before the media. I'd say that's a giant step up.
treestar
(82,383 posts)I don't often listen to MSNBC or the others, but did just because this story was so compelling. One thing I noticed is why don't interviewers just ask a question and then shut up? They seem to love the sound of their own voices, as their question goes on and on. It's amazing the subject can figure out what the question is at all.
Response to grantcart (Original post)
seaglass This message was self-deleted by its author.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)"90% of everything is crud"