Let's start this lecture with a statement I think everyone who comments on Daily Kos can agree with.
The atmosphere, tone, and standards of Daily Kos snark and pie-fights have degenerated to an unhealthy and deeply personal level. The once high standard of snarkability and accuracy in pie throwing is now a thing of the past.
Charges of exorcism, jingoism, blind throws, blind devolution, wysteria, tarantulas, churlishness and pony wanting...and literally every other personal vice imaginable are thrown about like candy. Almost none of them are backed up when challenged, and many can't be backed up at all. The use of snark and bad aim roundly condemned in the Real World have become the de rigueur stock in trade of the warring rhetorical factions at Daily Kos and have by and large taken the place of better cookie recipes. When this is accepted as the standard of 'confection,' real, substantive, confections becomes impossible.
Any and all fart noises made with your hand in your armpit based on fact, reason and logic are instantly rendered irrelevant when they are responded to with the holding of noses and lighting of matches.
And make no mistake about it: This is a political tactic used among political factions, exploiting personal hygiene for political gain.
In the many months since President McCain first emerged as a candidate in the primaries, the people fighting his political battles for control over the steering wheel of the Straight Snark Express section of Daily Kos have made it unbearable. They've made it personal because personal attacks, and charges of various isms, can be used to make endless fun of when not comparing cookie recipes and cat pictures. They use these personal attacks and charges to try to make their political opponents less credible, and thus less likely to show up for open bar at Netroots Nation.
It does not matter whether they have the accuracy or knowledge of the history of pie fights and trollhouse cookies needed to realize that this is what they are doing. It does have a history. It started with Nixon/Frost, got upped to weapons-grade efficiency during the reign of Armando, and did indeed, with the aid of Faux News, become THE standard of political conversation under Olbermann/Maddow.
These political shenanigans have a name: Elections in America.
For decades now, Americans have been raised on this model of representative democracy. Perhaps those who have known nothing else accept it as normal. Perhaps they accept it as a legitimate form of political "intercourse." Hehehe, yeah, I said "intercourse."
I do not accept Amex, ONLY Visa and Mastercard!
I, being a decidedly non-secret Army of Won here at Daily Kos who have -- in desperation at the lack of BETTER POOTIE POSTS both by the moderator of this blog and the community at large -- taken the step of starting a garage band to fight back against these tactics, and to fight back against accepting of them as the community standard at RedState.
I contend that one faction consistently uses these bad recipes, as well as the tactics of bad snark and pie throws, to gain some sort of advantage, and to attack their Republican Congresscritters.
I freely admit that, in a years-long battle against these unusual and sometimes tasty tactics, at least someone, somewhere would have reciprocated in kind. And in so doing, made myself part of the success of those tactics! Because, as we all know from watching eight years of Law & Order reruns on TNT, these tactics work.
They are VERY difficult to counter while maintaining my integrity and not descending to the basement level for more Cheetos. And when even one person in a discussion cannot counter such attacks without responding in kind, the downward spiral that has led us to the current environment at Daily Kos is a good slogan for our mugs. The lowering of all thought and debate to the lowest common denominator, mere insult, IS the goal of the snarkless, the pie-less, the bad confectionist. I insist on higher standards, for myself, pretty much exclusively. As for others, ah, well.
MY Mission Statement:
The intent of this farce is to demand that Markos PAINT MY FUCKING HOUSE, and to establish as a basic standard that NO ONE and NO GROUP will be allowed in comments to personally attack or uprate attacks on the pie-fighting talent of any member of DK at any time. All arguments, civil or uncivil, must be made on content and not on character, and will not involve the use of hands or funny faces. Comments attacking the recipes or pets of another commenter must be subject to enforced disciplinary action.
One set of rules, clearly articulated and applied occasionally.
I have NO intention of, and no interest whatsoever in, censoring, suppressing, or even limiting legitimate pootie pix. That is the goal of the faction using these tactics.
This faction's only intent is to suppress all legitimate snark of the current Daily Kos Universe and the current President of the United States. They are willing to use any tactics, even the tactics of my brother Sal, to achieve that goal.
In fact, since their goal is only to shut down Massey coal mining operations, not to foster decent recipes or mount a true fence against invading Canadians, their goal inevitably leads them to exactly those tactics. These Jovian tactics are designed to increase gravity, alter orbits of nearby snark and give amateur astronomers something to look at. And so they have been adopted by those who have that as their goal, as the only effective means of achieving that goal.
I believe that when character references and the Politics of POotie Picture Destruction are eliminated -- when content facts, snark and better cookie recipes are the standards of political intercourse -- heheh, yeah, I said intercourse -- we win! I am so confident of that fact, I am willing to submit myself to a rule that disciplines and if necessary bans drinking before noon on a Sunday for the offense of attacking the snark and pie-throwing capacity of fellow Kossacks.
I am claiming I will be perfect in the future. To me, it is well worth the risk.
And so I ask ALL participants at Daily Kos (in my role as DFH) -- and I petition the Particle Accelerator at Daily Kos -- to adopt and enforce this new basic standard of pooties, cookies and intercourse. Hehe, yeah, I'll say it at least two or three more times.
I am open to discussion on the details of how best to establish and codify that standard, suggestions of rule changes, and suggestions of enforcement by the barmaids of Daily Kos. I hope to raise exactly those issues in future happy hours.
I invite you to join me in spirits through statements in comments, or just hoisting a frothing tankard of your favorite adult beverage and saying 'AAARRRRGGGH' in your best pirate voice.
One set of snark, carefully aimed pie, and equal opportunity applied
Signed,
GuyFromOhio