How should you treat a vanquished foe? DU after Hillary Clinton's nomination.

[Walk away]

In his latest article for The Peoples View, Trevor LaFauci discusses "Evaluating "Progressive" Websites in the Wake of a Hillary Clinton Nomination"

Here in the Hillary Group we are deeply concerned about the way we have been treated on this website and others. It's also important to understand how we, our party and our nominee/future POTUS will be treated in the future.

The role of political reconciliation at the end of the primary season is nothing new. Just ask fictional campaign manager Josh Lyman from season 7 of The West Wing. During a classic scene from an episode titled "The Ticket," Lyman is propositioned for a job by his former assistant, Donna Moss, who had chosen to join a rival Democratic campaign during the primary season. When Donna makes her case, Josh then pulls out a file of disparaging quotes she had slung at the now Democratic presidential nominee. Donna then recites several instances where Josh himself had uttered less than flattering things about her candidate. It is at that point, where Josh looks her square in the eye and utters the hard truth about the political process before rejecting her services:

"Yeah, but I won."

More....(The comment section is filled with Hillary supporters from just about every Progressive website talking about their experiences.)


http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/4/22/digital-reconstruction-evaluating-progressive-sites-in-the-wake-of-a-hillary-clinton-nomination

[Thinkingabout]

1. We have to be about getting issues resolved, we can't hold negative thoughts, we have

Had good years with the Obama administration, maybe not everything wanted but he has worked very hard. We can have more good years. I am an optimist, tomorrow is going to be the best way of my life.

[2naSalit]

2. I have tried

diligently to avoid being coarse or nasty to those who have other candidate preferences because I don't want all the hard feelings and stubbornness that comes after an intense competition. Hope I haven't failed, I'm not perfect and some have hurt my feelings but I'd rather ignore them than continue the argument because most are personal. I'd rather walk away from the bad feelings and find ways to work on the serious as hell issues. If we can't get it together right away, we will suffer a seriously unpleasant fate.

[Lucinda]

3. The article and the comments are well worth reading!

Thankie.

[NastyRiffraff]

4. As usual Trevor is spot on

I particularly liked:

Four days from now in the aftermath of Super Tuesday 3.0, these sites will face the harsh reality that they chose the wrong candidate. They will tone down their rhetoric and will call for reconciliation. But for those of us who have seen the damage these sites have done to the Democratic Party over the past eleven months, a simple "Sorry, my bad" will not suffice. These sites sold their soul in an effort to gain community members and raise their online revenue.
(snip)
The profiteering of progressivism is an unpardonable sin. These pro-Sanders sites chose to intentionally undermine the Democratic Party for the sole purpose of helping to promote themselves at one of the most critical junctions in our nation's history.

I will say that unlike some of the sites he mentioned, DU as a whole did not promote Bernie Sanders actively. Certainly the owner has not. Yet (and this may get me warned) by allowing the most egregious posts about Hillary Clinton, some of which were openly misogynist, and about her supporters (remember "voting with vaginas" quoted with approval?), DU has effectively been a de facto Sanders site.

[CajunBlazer]

10. Agreed

But it was the posters, not the owner, who turned DU into a Sanders site and ran off the Hillary supporters. Hence I have no problem continuing to post here.

[KitSileya]

13. But the owners allowed it.

We know the Koch brothers and Karl Rove would try to mess up for the strongest candidate - after so many years, how could that be in doubt? They are nasty, and they are determined, and they will mess with the Democrats. That is a given. So when posters on Democratic sites started attacking long-time Democrats of good standing, posted right-wing smears (many linking to RW sites), called Hillary HiLIARy and Shillery, and started advocating third party runs or Trump, it's a good bet that many of them were and are against the Democratic party. The owners could have laid down the law, and then enforced it. Support your chosen candidate, but do it civilly, or the banhammer for you. Instead, they talk about "silly season" and throw their hands up.

The main take-away from the OP article is whether we should forgive the owners who were more interested in clicks than in the future of the Democratic party.

[Walk away]

17. I think that, even more than that, is if we can trust them going forward.

Yes, the silly season will be over soon but, what about the day after Hillary Clinton is elected President? Will these "Progressive" websites end up being anti-POTUS/anti-Democratic Party quagmires of irrational hate again???? Have they gone past the point of no return? I can't help wondering if five months of a tentatively enforced truce is worth the time or effort on the part of members like me.

[KitSileya]

18. Yes, even if the mission statement is that the sites are for Democrats,

why would Democrats frequent the sites if the site owners allow people attack the Democratic party? Or attack other posters? When a member calls the sitting Democratic President a 'PoS used-car salesman', and isn't at least put on warning that another baseless attack will end in banning, why should Democrats trust the site and its owner to have the best of the party in mind? And is it worth it to battle paid trolls (regardless of whether they are paid by people on the right or on the left) when there are tons of other sites to go to, and other tasks to do?

[Walk away]

19. I assume that the site owners don't care one way or the other...

and there is nothing wrong with that. Business is business They offer a product and, I am guessing, the bulk of the current consumers of that product will be happy to buy eight years of Hillary hate.

[Cha]

5. Thank you for this, Walk away.. will read it!

[sheshe2]

6. I posted this elsewhere.

Wasn't about to do it here. It would have been a hide for me.

Thank you for your courage.

Excellent piece, wonder if Skinner read it.

[Firebrand Gary]

7. Great read! Thanks Walk away!

Tuesday is going to be a hard day for the Sander's campaign. My hope is that DU will move into GE mode while being sympathetic to the Sander's campaign. The media will abandon his campaign largely on Tuesday, it's over for him.

Leave Sander's supporters to come around on their own time. Forward.

[stopbush]

8. I've learned not to look for life lessons from TV series.

[misterhighwasted]

9. "The Digital Reconstruction Age". Outstanding Read

"These sites sold their soul in an effort to gain community members and raise their online revenue. "

"Four days from now in the aftermath of Super Tuesday 3.0, these sites will face the harsh reality that they chose the wrong candidate. "


Thanks for posting, Walkaway

[UtahLib]

11. So many hard truths in one article. eom

[Surya Gayatri]

12. Enormous K & R. Thanks for posting, Walk away.

[KewlKat]

14. Pretty much sums it up here!

These sites were both unwavering and unabashed in their support of Sanders, and in doing so they created a culture where the majority of the Democratic base felt either unwelcome or uncomfortable trying to comment or compose articles exposing various forms of propaganda and misinformation designed to prop up Bernie Sanders and take down Hillary Clinton. Many members of these communities were even harassed, causing an exodus for many staunch Democratic voters who had the gall to support their party's front runner. These sites ended up being their own echo chambers, and with nobody to oppose them they were able to create an environment where the false promises of the Sanders campaign could be unquestionably accepted as truth.

[KewlKat]

15. Excellent

But Bernie Sanders lost. Badly. It was never really close despite what the media will tell you. These sites that purported to support the Democratic Party made an executive decision to openly support the candidate actively suing the Democratic Party. They chose to openly support a candidate who stole DNC voter information. They chose to openly support a candidate who even admitted he was using the Democratic Party as a way to get much-needed media attention. And they chose to support a candidate who took Karl Rove's attacks and made them his own in an attempt to weaken the inevitable Democratic nominee.

[beachbum bob]

16. there will always be sour grapes from the losing side but in the end we have a choice....

support our nominee to keep the white house out conservatives hands...which also means having a say on the next FEW supreme court judges, as well as VETO power of the god awful legislation a conservative congress (if we don't retake it)....sanders supporters can't be short sighted on what is at stake...some will but most won't...

[creon]

20. Good sportsmanship

Both the winner and the loser exercise good sportsmanship.
I advocate good sportsmanship.

DU is a message board; the posters are anonymous strangers. The posts are written by those anonymous strangers.

As a result, some people will write poison pen letters. It is an artifact of the internet.
We should keep that in mind.

[SharonClark]

22. Agree 100%

[libodem]

21. Make us some tocos

[LiberalFighter]

23. It all depends on the behavior of the opponent.

IMO Sanders has a lot of kissing to do compared to Obama/Clinton.

What he does and says between now and the convention will determine it. That also includes anyone from his campaign. If they do or say anything outrageous or stupid and Sanders doesn't repudiate it then it won't help him.

[savalez]

24. Fascinating article. Thanks WA.

[DemonGoddess]

25. It's a great article

I certainly made enough comments on it, up to and including how wherever I posted online in support of my candidate, the inevitable swarm would happen. It silenced me for a long time on other sites. It has certainly kept me out of GDPee for the most part, because it is just so toxic in that forum.

I've experienced negative reactions in real life as well, by openly stating my candidate preference. Hell, just the fact that I'm a Democrat OPENLY has made my life at work quite miserable with a few of my coworkers. Which is exactly why I changed shifts.

The nastiness is certainly not limited to the many discussion boards.

[Funtatlaguy]

26. How would you want t be treated....

If it were you?

[gwheezie]

27. I don't experience this irl

Most of it is on social media. I am friends with some Bernie supporters but generally they have been focused on issues. Since they are white, the have made cringe worthy ignorant statements about why black folks aren't voting for Bernie but I point out to them not enough white folks are voting for him either. His message is not reaching enough dem voters.
When pinned down Hillary vs any gop, they admit they will vote for Hillary but are going to be angry when they do. I question them then why would they support right-wing attacks on Hillary now by repeating them as fact. No answer.