For those of you who think that all _________ supporters are rude, obnoxious, etc...

[rucky]

A couple of things going on here:

1) GD-P is an asshole magnet. There's a disproportional amount of assholiness here ON BOTH SIDES, that is not representative of any other type of gathering of people I can think of - except maybe a frat party or a taping of the Springer show. This is entertainment for some folks.

2) Human nature says you'll go easier on the assholes who happen to share your views - even when said views are posed in an assholy way. Human nature also says that people will pay more attention to dissenting opinions - doubly so when the opinion is obnoxious. People who want attention and don't care how they get it already know this. If you don't believe me, read a thread here and see which responses become subthreads and which ones don't. From there, it's not hard to make the mental jump that "all _______ supporters are (blankety-blank)." But it's still a trick your mind is playing on you.

3) Coming to that conclusion leads to someone who is not normally an asshole to say assholey things about assholes and non-assholes alike. And nobody who's not an asshole likes to be called an asshole. They may respond in-kind, and it may come off as pretty assholey if you didn't know they weren't an asshole in the first place.

After this primary is settled - and not a moment before - this place will mellow out. The assholes will either come around, leave, or get TS-ed.

[davidpdx]

1. Well I'm a relatively new person

having been a lurker for awhile. My understanding is a week after the primary is deemed "over" by Skinner the grace period ends and then people will start getting ts'd. It will be interesting to see if the mods get busy and follow through with that promise. It's clear there are a fair amount of people on here who either accept what has happened or leave. I heard someone on another thread threaten to go to another site. My response would be, "why haven't you left yet?"

[FlaGranny]

3. Yes, Skinner will do what he says.

He always has and always will. ;-) This Primary GD-P is the wildest I've ever seen. It will soon settle down. We've no doubt also had a lot of trolls coming around and some outrageous things have been said. Thankfully, it will soon go away.

[dollydew]

2. Oh please

Of course there is contention on both sides. But I remember pleading for calm and togetherness time and time again. What did I get for my troubles? Name-calling. Only because I supported Hillary. When McCain wins in November, and I hope he doesn't but believe he will, think about all of the nastiness directed at those who dared to disagree. I will vote for whomever the Democratic nominee is. Many will not. A few hundred thousand disaffected Democrats and our nominee is toast. But when you call people racists and liars without knowing what ethnic group they belong to you alienate them.

[rucky]

4. Do you mean "you" as in me, or "you" as in "y'all"?

[Cassandra]

10. Oh, please...

for months before February, whenever I would say that I preferred Edwards healthcare plan and other positions, I was blasted as a Hillary-hater (without any mention of Hillary from me). I was told that Hillary was the inevitable candidate and I should just get with the program. I suspect that some of those were DLC supporters; perhaps even a few paid ones. I was NEVER treated that way (or attacked in any way) by Obama supporters. I am now supporting Obama (as of Super Tuesday when Edwards, sadly, dropped out) and aside from my DLC aversion, one of the things that pushed me to Obama was the remarkable resemblance of the most rabid Hillary supporters to the "with us or against us" Bush supporters.

[cboy4]

5. There are far more obnoxious Obama fans here than

there are Hillary people, because most of them have been chased away.

But we can agree this place is an asshole magnet.

What's ridiculous is your people continue to behave this way even though it looks like Obama is going to be the nominee.

[rucky]

6. Don't think so, proportionally. There are just more Obama fans, period.

so it seems that way.

[EstimatedProphet]

7. All things being equal...

I'm not a supporter either way, except for whoever will be the Dem nominee. I agree there is a Giant Singularity of Assholes in GD: P.

But what I see coming from one side is far worse than what I see coming from the other. I have yet so see people suggesting that voters support Obama because they are stupid inbred hicks, or Repub operatives. It's crap like this that is the most damaging. It is destructive to suggest that one side's viewpoint is invalid or beneath consideration. This is why we have charges of elitism.

[rucky]

8. I HAVE seen that from the other side, as well.

go figure.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. It shouldn't happen on either side

We pride ourselves on being the Big Tent, and at the very same time we make fun of people that disagree with us, and dismiss them as idiots or bigots. Then we wonder why people are turned off. "Joe Sixpack" would be a good ally for all of us, because his concerns are ours too in a great many cases. We won't win him over by calling him "Joe Sixpack" though.