Humans gather in groups because together we have more influence under one banner than if we all carried our own. DailyKos itself is an embodiment of this concept. Now, in DK4, we have "groups" which were ostensibly built into the new framework so that people of like mind can align in their efforts.
Is there a risk that this will subdivide, sequester and balkanize us?
Is there a risk that this encourages us to hide out in the rooms where we know we're amongst friends, and avoid crossing into any room that is not already filled with friends we already have?
This is a short meta diary. Maybe it's too short to post, right now it's just a seed that might grow on it's own.
The recent diary by one atheist who just opened fire on anything religious really made me sick. Pissed off. Growling. I"m an atheist, and a militant one. But walking around with a sword in the air demanding the elimination of my adversaries is the antithesis of what this country is about. We are the United States of America - what are we united about anymore?
DailyKos was meant to united us in common cause for left-leaning causes; but how do we avoid the corrosive effects of subdivision to the point we're swimming in so many directions that the main thrust of our efforts loses strenght and purpose?
How do we stop the zero-sum "I am right, therefore you are wrong, STFU", balkanization of the country, the Democratic party, the DK blog family?
How do we avoid the personal, dehumanizing, hand-to-hand blogging that leaves people frothing on their screen and powering down the computer just to avoid a stroke?
One personal note below, and I'll let this diary fuel itself.
There's a strange dichotomy here:
We talk so that others know how we feel.
Someone has to be listening for whatever we say to have any net effect.
Everyone is talking, who's left to listen?
If you - we - only travel in circles where we know we're going to hear what we want to hear and use our force of numbers to crowd out/shout down anyone who dissents - is that still a community?
Where do we go from there except to eventually pit ourselves against one another, to the ultimate detriment of our collective goals as Kossarians?
_________
Lastly, about those times when it gets "personal".
I'm human, I have feelings; I have emotions. So do you.
If you grab my ears and scream into them (in a reply to something I have said) because you demand your opinion be heard, that's fine. But when it gets personal
"Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you?"
"Don't let the door hit you in the ass when you leave, you won't be missed"
"I don't know why you come here. Thats' just silly"
...those who take the effort to tell someone what they want must also have the responsiblity for the effect it has on another. If you don't want to carry that burden, then you ought to ponder why you feel the need to say it.
Some diaries are personal. Sometimes the pie fights are conducted with glass pie plates; sometimes the flame wars are played not with molotov cocktails but flamethrowers. Spraying more napalm does not extinguish fire.
I'm worried about us, and by "us" I don't mean just Daily Kos. By "us" I don't mean just the Democratic party. By "us" I don't mean just the United States of America.
I believe in the end of the world; human extinction - only in my version, it's not part of the script of the Book of Revelation; it doesn't have to be inevitable. And rightly so, because in my nightmares, as an atheist, there is no rapture to leave the party before it all goes bad; there is no redemption by any ethereal deities to take us anywhere better when it's all over.
When it all goes wrong, that's all folks.
Can we please stop declaring "war" for every disagreement we have? Can we please stop making every comment a win/lose deathmatch?
We're here to find common ground to advance our collective goals.
I'm afraid lately that both "common ground" and "collective goals" are phrases that have little meaning.
The word "freedom" can be bastardized to the point it becomes it's own destroyer;
My father used to say "if it makes you feel better to swing your arms, you have the right to swing them until they are so tired you can't lift them anymore - if that's your thing.
But the right to swing your arms ends at the tip of my nose".
I agree that the idea of 315,000,000 people all pulling in one direction, or even 250,000 bloggers, is a fantasy. But we can't all pull in so many directions that collectively we go nowhere -
...look around you.
Are we there yet?