DU & Me

[cynatnite]

I'm ignorant, I'm a nazi, I'm a bushbot, I'm an apologist, I'm a something-nista, I'm a freeper, I'm unwilling to open my mind, I'm brainwashed, I'm not really a dem, I'm not really progressive and so much more...all because I disagree or I don't automatically buy into assumptions made.

Sometimes I don't care and sometimes I laugh my ass off. Sometimes it makes me so angry I yell at my monitor and sometimes I walk away in tears.

I'm human. I've made mistakes, jumped the gun and said things here at DU that would have been better left to my muttering them in the privacy of my own home. When I get too frustrated, too tired and too busy I take long timeouts and will disappear. Later I will appear and start over as I've done in the past. I don't plan a permanent goodbye since I still find DU of value...even on those days when I wonder what the hell I'm doing here...I eventually come back. That's been the case since I first stumbled upon DU in August 2004.

I come here to discuss, to debate, to learn, to think, to read, to teach, to hope, to fight and to care. I've made friends and probably a few enemies at the very least. I've seen hate, greed, retaliation, spitefulness and how harmful we as humans can be to one another. I've been guilty of those vices as well. What keeps me here is compassion, love, acceptance and the desire to make the world a better place. Sharing those qualities with others who have inspired me to do more and be more than what I am have made me a better person.

Others here are much like me. Many of us have much in common and hope for a better world. In my earliest days here at DU, I was shown and helped by many DUer's we no longer see, how to use my small voice so it would be heard by many. It was probably one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. I've reaped those rewards in surprising ways. One of which was my son's teacher after me writing my first LTTE. She is a democrat like me and like me she was offended at another LTTE calling us baby killers because we are pro-choice. She thanked me for my response.

No matter our differences, and no matter how intense our disagreements on what do do, how to do it, how to say it, and how to make more aware, we can mostly agree on why we're here. What has driven some away and what has almost driven me away can be like a disease which infects and spreads. Discussion and debate are wonderful things, but it's no longer those things once the level of it deteriorates to the names I mentioned at the beginning. It ends. Then it is a personal attack based on one person disagreeing with another. There is more honor, more respect and more humanity in ending a discussion with the disagreement than attacking in such a personal and hurtful way.

In the real world, I'm sitting at home in front of my desk looking at words and avatars on a web page. The anonymity can be so powerful that it's easy to let harmful words escape. Many of us would never consider using these words to anyone's face in the real world. We show restraint in the real world knowing that it is not DU. I'm of the opinion that we're better humans when we use that same restraint at a place like DU.

Our humanity is our best quality. I hope we use it more often.

[emilyg]

1. Always look for your posts

:yourock:

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Glad to be #5.

You make some very good points. Hopefully, it will not fall upon deaf ears (blind eyes).

[Raine]

3. I know where you're coming from

I've been there. It seems like lately I have more of those kinds of days, I guess I'm just more frustrated and so are others. THANKS for such a "spot on" (I hate that term but can't think of any thing else that fits, guess I'm tired) post. :thumbsup: All the best to you! :pals:

[babylonsister]

4. Very nice post, cynatnite. I understand, can relate and rec'd. nt

[dalaigh lllama]

5. the art of true debate

seems to be a lost art, and the results are evident from the complete public acceptance of the candidates Q & A sessions being dubbed "debates" to what you describe that we all see on a daily basis in "debates" on DU threads, where discussions often degenerate into some version of "your mother wears army boots", "so's your old man", "I know you are but what am I"...

H20 Man had a great thread on this not too long ago. Wish everyone would read it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=1440268

Here's to remembering our humanity: DU unto others as you would have them DU unto you.

[MrMickeysMom]

6. I notice most comments are made by 1000 plus DU posting members...

... I can see the wisdom and relate to feelings which stand out inbetween your lines. In particular, "the anonymity can be so powerful that it's easy to let harmful words escape, something I've in which my little fingers had interacted, felt estranged afterward, then looked inward and tried again.

It's funny that there is a concurrent GD discussion that asks "If you were going to emigrate from the US, where would you go now?" It's gotten a lot of traction thus far. Most people would run, rather than "duke it out" to make it better.

So, thanks for helping me understand that about this discussion group, even when I think I'm being sucked into a defensive stance, I don't want to emigrate from it... at least just not YET!

:hi: :patriot:

[UTUSN]

7. Flamers are rough. It's easy to advise to "grow a thicker skin." It's hard to do it.

I can't follow my own advice. But everything you said, besides being true and heartfelt, also shows what we all are: Complicated and a mixture of everything in the spectrum of good and evil. That's why it doesn't hold water when some here sermonize about "We're not like THEM." We're all a mixture of everything.

In your list of flames, they haven't accused you of spouting "talking points" from whatever group? That one always amuses me. When they hurl that one at me, I get a picture of myself hunched up late at night, frantically snatching updates from some kind of FAX or something, gulping something caffeine laden. Since I don't know how to hook up the FAX on the scanner, can't take caffeine for it's heart palpitating propensities, and barely have time to skim threads off of the first couple of pages of DU's GD (barely anything else), I just wonder at myself for supposedly having mastered somebody else's talking points!!1

[KarenS]

8. Well said !!

ThankYou :)

[Rockholm]

9. When I was a newbie back in 2003...

I don't remember the exact subject. I believe it was something racial. Probably a flamebait thread, before I even knew what flamebait was. I responded to some post and used the words "you people" OMFG.
The next think I know, I was being attacked (and supported, mind you) and my post was deleted. I was horrified that I had done something wrong. I actually stayed away for a few days, as I was humiliated and for what, I don't know why.
I imagine we have all had one post or another deleted. It is amazing to me that sometimes, we a Democrats on DU can't discuss and/or disagree (or agree) without some threads deteriorating to name calling, etc.

[Raine]

10. That happened to me too

I was called a "freeper" I was so upset that my hands were shaking and I vowed never to come back. It's hard to not let these things bother you cause they hurt especially when you mean no harm or insult. I let some time go by and came back a little at a time cause I enjoy posting here. Every now and then still get upset over stuff like that and take a few days off.