They are losing it on the GOS

Even after repeated purity purges, they are still having these diaries in the wreck list:

Enough With the Circular Firing Squad
I'm truly ashamed of some folks here.

Both of these were "shame on your for wanting Pelosi fired, just because she's incompetent."
They are preditable, so I won't link to them.

However, the most interesting diary is this one:

While I'm not suggesting that Democratic politicians should begin lying to the public, or even rely on reality-based but crassly manipulative tactics, it's high time they address some terrifying truths head-on. We can promote our vision for the future later: right now we have to focus on the immediate threats we face. If Democratic politicians keep doling out insipid, vaguely-hopeful platitudes, voters will walk away, and candidates will keep getting their clocks cleaned.

Yeah, there are people out there who's right amygdala will block them from ever acknowledging how vulnerable their health, housing, environment, education and jobs are right now. But we can't focus on them. We have to motivate everyone else to fight for their survival, and at least for the moment, scaring them with the truth might be the best way of accomplishing this.

Again, there is certainly a place for laying out a positive vision and asking people to vote in their self-interests, and ideally this approach would build the foundation for a brighter future. But sadly, at present it's unlikely to work. Right now we need to embrace the politics of fear, not by triggering raw emotions but by making sure people know what could happen to them if they don't defend themselves.

Where do I start?
"While I'm not suggesting that Democratic politicians should begin lying to the public"? Too f'n late for that!

"We can promote our vision for the future later"?
Really? And what might that be? Voters would like to know.

"If Democratic politicians keep doling out insipid, vaguely-hopeful platitudes, voters will walk away"?
Yes, they will. As well they should. It speaks volumes that you think "insipid, vaguely-hopeful platitudes" = "our vision for the future". I'm guessing you also didn't understand Bernie supporters.

"we need to embrace the politics of fear".
So "OMG! Trump! OMG! Putin!" doesn't count as the politics of fear to you? We need to dial it up to 11?

Tags: 
Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

in women, minorities, LGBTQ, old people perhaps, immigrants, and of course those well off upper class voters who must be made to be deathly afraid of a tax increase. FEAR the socialistic intentions of your lefty friends and for God's sake blame Repugnants for creating the entire mess whenever you possibly can.

up
0 users have voted.

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

CS in AZ's picture

If people want to read the crap on daily kos, they can go there for it. I came here to get away from their brand of stupid. I am about ready to beg: please let it go. They are mindless partisan hacks. We know.

up
0 users have voted.
thanatokephaloides's picture

@CS in AZ

If people want to read the crap on daily kos, they can go there for it. I came here to get away from their brand of stupid. I am about ready to beg: please let it go. They are mindless partisan hacks. We know.

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer!" -- M. Corleone

As long as the Oligarchic Duopoly remains intact, and the "Democratic" Party keeps making the once true but currently false claim that it represents the American working class, some of us feel a need to monitor their stupidities closely. And Daily Kos provides a ready means to do just that, as said stupidities are essentially all that is left there. However, those of us of that ilk also need a place where thought and discussion of said stupidities are genuinely free. And the only such place I know of is here, on good old c99.

The solution here is simple and traditional for c99. If you don't want to join in discussions about the Daily Kos stupidities, simply stay away from these Essays. Unlike Daily Kos, there are plenty of other places to go within c99 where your cogent commentary and clear thought processes would be quite welcome, CS in AZ. And I think I've demonstrated that myself by answering your comments in large numbers hereabouts, and plan on continuing to do so.

If you don't like the conversation in the living room, just join the folks in the kitchen or out on the deck! There's plenty of room for everybody!

Smile

EDIT: The money quote from The Godfather: Part II:

[video:https://youtu.be/DfHJDLoGInM]

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

EdMass's picture

@thanatokephaloides oops. not gf prt 2...good clip though..

up
0 users have voted.

Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

EdMass's picture

@EdMass obviously my computer fd up. It was the right clip all along.

crap

up
0 users have voted.

Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

thanatokephaloides's picture

@EdMass

oops. not gf prt 2...good clip though..

Umm, yeah, it is. Frank Pentangeli (Frankie Five-Angels) only appears in The Godfather Part II. And Frankie Five-Angels it is whose bald face opposes Don Michael Corleone in that clip.

one source
another source

And it is a good clip, thank you! Smile

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

CS in AZ's picture

@thanatokephaloides

First, thanks. I generally do just that, and I apologize for speaking honestly about my irritation and frustration with the ongoing obsession over daily kos. I made a big mistake in looking at it yesterday, due to reading here about another drama over there, and I'm still feeling sick from it. I don't want ongoing exposure to the toxins, and it seems to be permeating the entire "house" right now. Sigh. Maybe I'll step outside for awhile.

I'd also just point out that the Dem party has given up on even pretending to represent working people in this country. Bernie Sanders tried to tell them they needed to care about that constituency, and they told him to fuck off. They have since reinforced that many, many times. Donald Trump is the politician who currently holds sway over working class folks. And of course he's as big a liar as any democrat.

And, of course, there are many sites beyond daily kos that continually spout dem party line bullshit. How about monitoring huffing post or talking points memo or salon or ... but we don't. The daily kos obsession is personal -- most of us came from there, and some folks are still working through emotional attachment and clinging to it like a jilted lover to an abusive partner. I get that - and I get the need to work through it. But as a friend, I'm typically very honest and occasionally feel it's time to say, enough, this is not healthy.

Lastly on this topic, I've seen a lot of chatter on here lately about wanting to grow this site and expand its reach. I do support that, even though I personally like the "neighborhood pub" vibe. Smile But new folks coming here from the wider world aren't gong to be interested in reading insider gossip and whinging about our ex.

Anyway it was just a request. A plea, for people to think about this and consider moving on. I'm certainly not an enforcer. If my friends want to keep driving by the ex's house to see if they're home or whatever, and gather here to lament the loss, carry on. I'll see you out by the pool where we can toke a jay and look at the stars, before they go out.

up
0 users have voted.
thanatokephaloides's picture

@CS in AZ

I apologize for speaking honestly about my irritation and frustration

You needn't apologize for that. Speaking honestly and thinking freely is what c99 is about. And should forever remain about, at least in my humble opinion.

Truth be told, I too am frustrated. After all, being a genuine leftist, a man who would have been recognized as a "New Deal Democrat" in the age of my grandparents (and both of my mother's parents were proud to be "New Deal Democrats"). Today, I am a member of the "taxation without representation" club, as no viable political party or group of politicians represents me at all. I suspect that much the same is true of you.

As things now stand, my main motivations in these Essays discussing Daily Kos are two:

(1) To help subsequent (to me) refugees to heal; and
(2) To heed Mr. Corleone's excellent advice, distilled from Sun Tzu and Niccolo Machiavelli.

Meanwhile, I think I'll take you up on that offer out by the pool! Wink

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CS in AZ Please don't worry. Like I said, there was another mass banning, so there's a reason for people talking about it a lot.

You're always welcome to visit my essays--I got a lot of ideas queued up in my head, and not a one of them has to do with Daily Kos!

Also, you could write an essay. I'd stop by.

I really think it is OK. This isn't permanent.

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

CS in AZ's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

I love your new something old, something new series, its excellent. I don't comment too often but I do enjoy them very much. Finding time to write and tend to an essay of my own is a challenge, but a fair point. Any ideas what I should talk about?? I feel I have a lot more to learn than I do to expound upon. Smile

Thanks!

up
0 users have voted.
Alligator Ed's picture

@CS in AZ I exited the Great Orange Slime for c99. Befitting the tolerant nature of this place, if members want to revisit Satan, even if only looking through the gates of hell, let them.

So, there have been more purges, eh? With continuing ultrafiltration of their membership, they will have created a potent toxic brew that very few will be tempted to imbibe.

up
0 users have voted.
Arrow's picture

@Alligator Ed Ed- I liken it more like driving past a car wreck. You just gotta slow down and look.

up
0 users have voted.

I want a Pony!

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@CS in AZ The reason for the uptick in these diaries is another mass banning by Markos, this time apparently with even fewer reasons given. We may get an influx of people; we may not, but either way, people discussing this aren't just rubbing at a scab--something happened which might have an impact on this site.

It'll die down. If there's another influx of folks, it'll die down more slowly, as people from there process what they just went through. But even if there is another incoming wave, my guess is that will be the last wave coming here from DKos, because anybody who could stay over there after lots of people are banned for nothing (some of them banned even after practically begging Markos to let them stay) is a person who is extremely unlikely to want anything to do with a site such as ours.

We'll get another wave of people here, or we won't--and after we process that, my best guess is that Markos and his site will be mentioned far less often.

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

CS in AZ's picture

@Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal

in this recent "mass" banning, and there was NO explanation given. Absolute silence. This lack of explanation was the cause of all the drama. I certainly understand why people there are upset about that. It's ridiculous, although typical. I think it's kind of funny- "we demand answers!!" For about 2 days, then it's back to business as usual, and the shunned are quickly forgotten.

Anyway, it's unlikely to impact this site. One of them is already a regular here, one was here occasionally last year but then apparently took the Clinton loyalty oath and returned to the flock, one said she didn't like us.

I hope we get many more new people who are like I was in 2008: "WTF is daily kos? And why should I care?" Haha. The answer is nothing, and you shouldn't. Instead we keep acting like they are the height of importance in this world. Oy... ok, I'm going back out to the pool area. Smile
Xoxo

up
0 users have voted.
Big Al's picture

who statetd

"Even as Trump’s overall approval ratings have been sinking steadily, Trump’s vocal and active support for Ossoff’s opponent did not translate into more votes for Ossoff, as Democratic Party leaders had expected. Proof positive that you can’t just be against Trump; you really do have to produce a positive platform that attracts enough voters."

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/06/23/useless-idiots-or-useful-collabo...

Then he said, "people are not stupid" and went in to how busy we are and people tune out because it's the same old political ads, etc.

I thought, oh ya, people aren't stupid all right. As long as politicians go out there and tell the people what they want to hear, like Trump did, people will vote for them. Stupid is as stupid does.

up
0 users have voted.
thanatokephaloides's picture

@Big Al

Then he said, "people are not stupid" and went in to how busy we are and people tune out because it's the same old political ads, etc.

I thought, oh ya, people aren't stupid all right. As long as politicians go out there and tell the people what they want to hear, like Trump did, people will vote for them. Stupid is as stupid does.

Individually, people aren't necessarily stupid. But the more people in a group -- any group -- the more stupid that group is in aggregate.

That's a fact politicians, especially corrupt and lying ones, harness mercilessly.

Bad

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

@Big Al There will never be an actual revolution based on the idea that the people are stupid.

If they are stupid, why would you want to empower them?

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

@Big Al

A fair number of those people voted Trump to try to keep keep the Mad Bomber out, even if it appears that she won the popular vote. Thank goodness that Putin hacked the Electoral College or, I expect, we'd all be embedded ashes in radioactive glass.

That off-shore, shipboard firework display Her had planned to celebrate Her Coronation probably involved 'strategically aimed' nuclear warheads ...s/ (maybe)

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself

How contrary that is to the modus operandi of today's Democratic establishment.

up
0 users have voted.

Beware the bullshit factories.

Wondered if things had changed. Absolutely not.

Hypocrisy. Ganging up on anyone who threatens their group think. Weaponized identity politics. Little self-reflection. An absolute disdain for voters. Authoritarianism.

It's all still there. Sad

This site, however, helps make me feel sane. Smile

up
0 users have voted.

@Chaddiwicker

up
0 users have voted.

up
0 users have voted.
ggersh's picture

yep, totally impressed.

up
0 users have voted.

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

EdMass's picture

A little gom jabbar anyone?

up
0 users have voted.

Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

the "lecturers".
Kos must get paid weekly according to how much stupid shit for the Democrats he puts on the boards.

up
0 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

thanatokephaloides's picture

@on the cusp

Kos must get paid weekly according to how much stupid shit for the Democrats he puts on the boards.

With a premium cash payment for more concentrated stupidity!

Smile

up
0 users have voted.

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Anja Geitz's picture

"How's that been working for you so far?"

That hyperbolic propaganda machine passing for "journalism" has been yelling "Fire!" since Hillary & Assoc. made sure Trump was the "Pied Piper" candidate back in 2016. And to what effect? Ramping it up is only going bring into relief the Trumpish caricatures they've become, and everyone outside the asylum sees it for what it is.

So, I say, have at it. Maybe it'll help the un-infected decipher who the sick people really are.

up
0 users have voted.

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Bollox Ref's picture

I hope that place loses itself in the ether... pronto.

Quite why anyone would beg to stay (see previous posts) is beyond me.

up
0 users have voted.

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

they're supposed to be afraid of us. But we don't look very frightening, even to them. We had to be revved up a little and turned into the kind of people who cheer when right-wingers get punched.

Not all that many of us are going along with it, but you can be sure whoever does the most violence will get the most exposure, on both sides.

up
0 users have voted.

"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

ashamed of me, I am a dirty dog.
On my belly inching forward for the pat on the head.
He can be ashamed of me and mine until the cows come home. (Cows do not come home.)
This shaming of people who might have a differing opinion is why TOP is what it is, why Nazi Germany was what it was, why Stalin was what it was.
And why the US with all its' surveillance is what it is.

up
0 users have voted.

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Damn, just when I thought they were free, with nothing left to lose...

up
0 users have voted.

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.