If you vehemently disagree with a poster, let it fly. We're all adults. Attack the merits ...

[11 Bravo]

of the argument and the language employed by that poster. But if you invoke that individual's spouse, any member of their family, and most certainly a family health issue, just to to score a debating point, then you fucking suck.
And before the "Hey, they brought it up" responses begin, I'll just say, yes, and they are also the one's dealing with it every fucking day. They get to bring it up. You don't.
And by the way of full disclosure ... I think Barack Obama's push for the ACA was one of the most significant and courageous attempts by a President that I've seen in my lifetime. I also believe that the President's remarks on the Russian invasion of the Crimea have been grossly mis-characterized by some DUers. But none of that has a damned thing to do with anything I said in the first paragraph of this post.

[The Magistrate]

1. Well Said, Sir!

[BeyondGeography]

2. This was worth a thread?

Ok.

[cali]

7. Indeed it was. well worth it.

[BeyondGeography]

9. It's about one poster in another thread

Maybe that should be made clear in the OP.

This isn't a problem here.

[11 Bravo]

10. Aaah, nuts! Since you responded to it, maybe not.

[pam4water]

28. +1

[we can do it]

63. Very.

[malthaussen]

3. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Of course, the other juvenile response will be that a certain someone started calling names first. I swear, this place can be worse than junior high.

-- Mal

[quinnox]

4. Anyone who attacks a family member over a political opinion exposes themselves for a scumbag

of the first order. Rec'd.

[cali]

5. I agree that invoking a family member to score points is a lousy thing.

I also agree that some DUers are mischaracterizing President Obama's comments about Russia- and I think those comments were pretty poorly expressed and a bit disingenuous; how many angels are their dancing on the head of that pin?

[DinahMoeHum]

6. Thanks. Either that or just "trash the thread"

Nobody's pointing a gun at you and forcing you to read it.

[fascisthunter]

8. Good On You!

Kick and rec.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. I'm glad the folks who get the vapors about someone else's vehemence were not around

LGBT Democrats the day Bill Clinton signed DOMA or DADT. Nothing so nice as used car salesman was said. He was savaged, and rightly so, by people who remained Democrats in spite of the betrayal and even after they called him every horrible thing you can imagine.
Such protected, uncommitted political lives they must have lead. Very precious creatures indeed. They'd be worthless in a real political crisis. They have to be escorted out of the room like a visiting school group.

[Scootaloo]

61. It's about party and personalities, not principle!

"Our Team" is in charge, so everything they do is right and good and pure and unquestionable.

At least that seems to be the general opinion from some sorts, who are trying tro reduce DU into their little version of a mass rally instead of a discussion board of individuals.

[itsrobert]

12. Exaggerate much?

Very few posters are invoking an individual's family member.

[SunsetDreams]

13. Even One Is Too Many nt

[itsrobert]

15. It would be rude and we have a jury system for that

It's the community that imposes the standards.

[SunsetDreams]

16. I get that..

As a member of the community do you find it unacceptable for that to happen in any instance?

If you do find it unacceptable to attack a members family or their health issue etc, then you and the OP agree.

There is nothing wrong with speaking out against that, which is what the OP has done.

[11 Bravo]

14. Thus the use of the modifier "any". Sorry you missed it.

[lumpy]

29. I don't believe there has been much, if any, "family attacking" going on here.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

17. Aaaand the jury is in...

On Thu Mar 27, 2014, 04:47 PM an alert was sent on the following post:

If you vehemently disagree with a poster, let it fly. We're all adults. Attack the merits ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024738140

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

Can we please stop the next 400+ post Will Pittriffic 'is not, is too' thread before it gets going? It's a call out anyway, saying Kitty Wampus "fucking sucks". Which people are already saying in the original thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024737567#post7

Please, not another one.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Thu Mar 27, 2014, 05:00 PM, and the Jury voted 0-6 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Trying to shut down a thread by alerting on an individual post? Wtf?
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Instead alerting, why not start your own OP on why DU should stop the "Will Pittriffic 'is not, is too'" threads.
This is not the purpose of alerting anyway. Linking to arbitrary posts, not in evidence in the alerted on post, doesn't help your case, in this thread either. DU has Ignore and Trash Thread functions you can use instead of alerting. Maybe you should look into using them.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[TexasTowelie]

19. This should keep somebody from alerting for 24 hours. nt

Maybe this will allow time for cooler heads to prevail?

[WorseBeforeBetter]

33. Doubtful. I haven't logged on since last night...

and when I do, I'm treated to DU's resident cartographer taking a swipe at Pitt, and DU's resident pro insinuating that liberal critics of Obama are racist (channeling Melissa Harris-Perry?).

This place is toxic.

[Capt. Obvious]

31. There's been a ton of 0-6'ers today

Not to mention a bunch of jury results posted.

I'm curious if there's an uptick in alerts today or just an uptick in jury postings.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

35. I just logged on this evening.

And based on the theme for the day ("liberals are racist!&quot , I haven't missed... ANYTHING.

[Scuba]

18. Add my rec. Thanks 11 Bravo.

[1000words]

20. Such trials and tribulations at Junior High Underground.

Sage advice, Bravo. Rec'd

[Leith]

21. I Don't Think We Need to Insult Anyone or Anything Here

We're all on the same side - liberals. Leave the crap talk to the conservatives (give them all they have coming!).

We can all make our posts and our points in them without being interrupted (that's my pet peeve: being interrupted). Let's not treat each other like that obnoxious Jennifer Stefano treated Chris Hayes. He didn't deserve it. Neither do your fellow DUers. That's how Fox propaganda channel works. We are better than that.

[11 Bravo]

26. Hell, I'm no angel. I can be (and have been) one obnoxious sonofabitch! But if I EVER ...

invoke one's family, or even more egregiously, a family illness just to score a political point, I hope someone kicks me squarely in the balls.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

22. I agree, and thank you for the post. nt

[demmiblue]

23. I have seen some truly ugly remarks the last several days. K&R

[Skittles]

24. omg - who did that?

WHOSE ASS DO I NEED TO KICK?

[demmiblue]

25. Here are a couple:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4690937

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4737641

[Skittles]

27. very sickening

ugh

[11 Bravo]

30. Do me a favor, Skittles. Put on your steel-toed boots and commence kicking!

[lumpy]

32. Sigh.......

[Leith]

39. Yeah, That Was Not Good

I read the sad tale of the difficulty with the insurance company. It was awful and I sympathized, even though I didn't participate in those threads. That's how we should react. Internet BBSs were an emotional life save for me several years ago so I can understand the need to reach out when things aren't going well. Luckily I had a sympathetic and kind audience. That's all that we should be: a friend who listens. Nobody should lash out at someone who is going through a rough time ESPECIALLY since the one going through the bad time did attack us. So he was upset about politics! Who isn't these days?

I may be a new poster here, but I lurked for a couple years and I'm 55 years old. So Auntie Leith is telling you: be good to each other. There's a difference between blowing off steam and being vicious. We're all in this together so be kind. It will cost you nothing.

[pacalo]

46. Your post is a perfect addition to the OP, for which I gave a hearty recommendation.

[840high]

42. Disgusting.

[treestar]

34. seems unfair though for someone to bring in personal stuff

so that we can't attack the underlying issue.

We have to agree because we have to feel sorry for some DUer letting their personal information out and having emotional issues at the same time. It's a discussion board, so it's nice to feel like friends with the other people, but not to that extent.

He gets to bring it up and we don't. Pretty one sided. And nobody attacked the wife, just the implication that the ACA somehow made her meds unpaid for.

Supposing I had been helped by the ACA so could I have reacted in rage at anyone saying it was no good? Made personal appeal about how much I'd suffer if I didn't have it and how dare anybody question that? Somehow I don't think that would be allowed.

He screwed up. You don't make it personal this way.

[Capt. Obvious]

36. You seem to be taking this personal

[treestar]

37. Go away.

You are being stupid.

I made a point and your response has nothing to do with that point.

[Capt. Obvious]

38. Still not doing any personal reflection I see

Here's another

[CJCRANE]

45. This is starting to look like stalking, Cap.

You did the same thing to me: you kept repeating a phrase over and over.

I appreciate your sense of humor, but singling out another poster in this way isn't nice.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

40. How about questioning a person's qualifications at their profession because someone

disagrees with a post? That happens to me all the time. According to alot of DUers, because of my rather strong, militant opinions and my "take no prisoners in politics" attitude, I am an unfit teacher that should never be in a classroom.

I learned that about myself when I dared criticize Michelle Obama's comment about wanting to implement Chinese education initiatives in the US, among other times.

[CJCRANE]

48. People criticized you because you took a minor diplomatic comment

and turned it into diatribe.

The actual information about the Chinese education system was interesting but the "hook" was overblown and unnecessary.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

49. Back to my point. . .that makes me a lousy teacher then?

Overblown point = matter of opinion. Difference in opinion = lousy teacher?

I've been called one on more than one occasion on DU by people I disagreed with. . .and they run to juries when i tell them to blow it out their anal orifice because they have never been in my classroom. To which I normally get they response that they don't need to. They know what kind of teacher I am.

[CJCRANE]

51. Most things are a matter of opinion. But when most people point out that in diplomacy

it is normal not to insult your hosts and to make superficial comments of praise, then they might have a point.

As to whether you are a good teacher or not, I have no idea, I can't comment on that.

But in life, and on DU, you sometimes get the same kind of tone back that you give to others.

I try to remain civil with other posters, even when they bait me with provocative comments, that way you can de-escalate a situation (although I'm not a perfect poster by any means and sometimes get caught up in the back-and-forth).

FWIW I'm also a teacher and use the same tactic in the classroom to de-escalate arguments.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

52. I got all my students doing independent work in a subject they knew nothing about

and came into completely uninterested in (geography). My CIE and A-level exam scores some of the highest in the school in both my subjects (history and geography) and my students sing my praises to the Headmaster. There are waiting lists to get into my classes.

I am a lousy teacher.

Oh, and I got one student 15 college acceptances.

[CJCRANE]

53. I never said you were a lousy teacher. I'm sure you're a good teacher. nt

[passiveporcupine]

41. K&R

[Whisp]

43. what actually sucks is bringing your family into a shit screed laden lunatic post.

and then saying their family was attacked, when that was not the case at all. No one said anything negative about Pitt's family, his and his loyal follower's imaginations say that because they got nothing else.

It took less than one day of calm and helpful DUers who knew something about ACA to solve the problem. It took calm and focus, something that the Great Writer does not possess, nor does he possess any semblance of investigating anything so that 'journalist' word is comic now. The screeder had months to help his family and was unable to do it, and what he decided to do is just take a shit all over DU in his family's name.

I actually don't believe his story. It's too much like the Koch Bros. Commercials.

[FSogol]

58. +1 n/t

[Cha]

44. I have not seen one post attacking anyone's family members. And, thank you for this,

11 Bravo..

"And by the way of full disclosure ... I think Barack Obama's push for the ACA was one of the most significant and courageous attempts by a President that I've seen in my lifetime. I also believe that the President's remarks on the Russian invasion of the Crimea have been grossly mis-characterized by some DUers. But none of that has a damned thing to do with anything I said in the first paragraph of this post."

[morningfog]

47. This is a product of the admins refusing to enforce the sop.

If the hosts were told to lock all off topic threads, especially those about other DUers or those whining about DU, most of this nonsense would go away. The admins prefer this inanity for some reason.

Good post, though. We should all focus on the issues not the poster.

[QC]

54. +1

[bemildred]

50. Totally. nt

[Jesus Malverde]

55. We all manage to ignore stuff in our real lives to focus on the important.

I'm not sure why people don't do that here. The ignore function works well if you can't just pass over it or trash thread. Good advice.

[SomethingFishy]

56. This place has become a war of personalities...

basically divided up into two factions. People critical of the Democrats and people who think there should be no criticism of Democrats. (Full disclosure, I am one of the critical ones.) Which in essence should be a great thing, otherwise we wouldn't have much to discuss. But thanks to the anonymous nature of the internet we end up with many people who prefer the cult of personalities instead of the issues at hand.

A great current example is Nate Silver. You can find a dozen threads of how the evil Nate Silver hired a climate change denier.(Yup, he should stick to numbers) But not a single thread on how Climate Change is actually 60 years ahead of the absolute worst case scenario projections.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2013/jun/12/greenland-darkening-ice-climate-science

What can ya do.. it's the internet.

[JoePhilly]

57. We need more OPs with the word "Fuck" in them.

Because that leads to a clear and honest discourse.

Plus, it tends to up the REC count by 30-40%. 50% or more if you put it in the title.

[Jefferson23]

59. Boundaries, yes, just as you qualified it. K&R

[ecstatic]

60. So anything goes, just as long as there's a good emotional backstory?

Sorry, but I don't agree at all. Everyone is going through something or another. That doesn't give one an excuse to be abusive.

[Lex]

62. The drama is silly here.

Both the call and the response. That is all.