The NYT Mag piece on blogs, and DemFromCT's
front page story, coupled with just having finished both Dean's and Trippi's new books has had me thinking all day about this community. I came away from the NYT article thinking that the author had totally missed what matters most about what Kos has created here. Its strength is in the number and diversity of its voices, in the relationships we develop here, and our combined commitment to changing the way politics is done in this country.
It's meant a great deal to me in the past half year or since I stopped being a lurker and have become a more active member. I've had a bad taste in my mouth about being active in politics since working on a truly devestating coordinated campaign in '94 (in Idaho, of all places, which is as devestating as it can get when it goes against you). 2000 sent me into utter despair. I only began to come out of it when I heard Howard Dean speak, and then found this place. It became a real haven, and I don't think I'm alone in feeling that.
I'm feeling a little less warm and fuzzy about it all tonight, having found out about the departure of someone I respected and liked very much, and with whom I was becoming friends. And I feel partly responsible for his leaving. I've been one of those people piling on the "get behind the candidate or shut up" team, and I was wrong. Dissenting voices is what we're supposed to be fighting for, right?
I'm not saying we should have a free-for-all. But I think it's worth remembering that we are all here for the same purpose. The next five weeks are going to be hell. We're going to be by turns elated and wracked with despair, tired and cranky and jacked all at once, and we're going to let it all hang out here. Maybe we should try to cut ourselves and each other some slack.
So, in closing, because I think I do have some sort of point here and should try to get there, I'll try to be as respectful of my fellow Kossacks as I can, and if you see me do otherwise, remind me of what I wrote here. To wrap up, here are some words of wisdom I just got from em dash:
For those of us still hanging around here, I think we should take it upon ourselves to
* set an example for new posters
* help Markos with "guiding" folks on the proper use of the rating system and the diary posting rules (policing is such a fascist word)
* host some good old fashioned interventions for the repeat troll rating/diary rule offenders
* institute an old-country Amish shun to stop encouraging diaries/diarists that purposely foment internecine warfare. Ignore the bastards already!
This is a community. We should treat it as such and start taking some control. Viva la revolucion!