What is "wrong" with DU...
In a word, nothing!
Or, seen in a different light, diversity.
That's right I said diversity.
If DU existed back in the mid 1960s I have no doubt that the vast majority of threads here would be in agreement. We would be talking about the struggle against "the man". How socialism and communism was the way of the future, etc. No doubt these views would have been naive, and in many cases wrong. But their heart was/would have been in the right place.
Fast forward to 2014 and what do we have? Gender wars, race wars, science wars etc.. We seem to be a very divided group, despite seeming to share a common political base. Why?
I'll tell you why, it's because the rest of the world has shifted so far to the right that those of us who feel left out have come to embrace DU as a second home.
As it currently stands DU represents a far broader base than ever before. No longer can we really call ourselves a forum for the left, so much as a forum for the sane.
Those who stood by such basic concepts such as higher education, scientific reasoning, innocent until proven guilty and separation of church and state suddenly found themselves on the other end of the discussion post 911 regardless of previous political affiliation.
So, I think many disillusioned people have found their way to DU in recent years seeking comfort. This means we have a VERY diverse user base. So diverse in fact that in times past many here would probably have voted for different political parties.
DU now represents such a broad user base that these wars are almost inevitable. They are merely a representation of how diverse a group we are. The only thing that really binds us at this point is that we agree that a heart transplant shouldn't cost a family $600,000 dollars, nor should a pacemaker prevent someone from going to university. Beyond this are many subtle and sometimes not so subtle political gradations that some agree with and some don't.
The right has gained so much power that what used to be considered left is now beyond the pail, and central views are now considered far left.
Going forward my wish is that we embrace our diversity and come to understand that we share more in common than we share in difference.
This post is dedicated to the memory of MFM.
= new reply since forum marked as read
Even though MFM tried to convince us that he was insane at times. 
And a touching tribute to MFM, with whom I didn't interact a whole lot, but who needled me for being a beer snob, and for being rude to someone about their beer choice.
as the waters of corporate and rich assholes swirl around me trying to engulf my old ass.
Thats what DU is to me. 
