We denizens of Daily Kos are, by and large, a passionate breed. When, periodically, a volatile and controversial diary or comment appears, there will always be a few (or many) people eager to set aside critical thinking in favour of reactionary intolerance. Thankfully, many Kossacks tackle, enthusiastically, issues like feminism, Israel v. Palestine, abortion, etc., in the hope of beginning or continuing a community dialogue on these contentious and intense topics.
I disagree, oftentimes furiously and loudly, with many points of view in those diaries; like Jules Siegel's Why Republicans Love Feminists... -- or Delaware Dem's diary about Terri Schiavo (which he eventually deleted because it was overrun by animosity and namecalling). [These are just a couple recent examples; please don't read anything else into the citation.]
But I, for one, embrace the fact that you can write the diary or make the comment and I can read it and we can hash it out. Sure, we get emotional and start yelling and swearing -- but that speaks of our passion and our deep desire to see clearly and solve problems. I welcome this, and it often stuns me back to the Stone Age when I witness the flinging of troll ratings on people who are not trolls.
I suppose my attitude is in the minority - but hopefully a large minority. I don't condone the "Silence dissent if it's dissent against us, by God" approach to responding to points of view that do not adhere to the rigid set of "Deal Breakers" in the Liberal Handbook. I believe -- strongly -- that the troll rating ought to be reserved for actual trolls or worthless and abusive commentary. People who dole out troll ratings as a means of displaying their vehement disagreement are abusing the rating system.
It's difficult to witness people who ought to know better attempting to banish into the ether any comment they consider unforgivably wrong, stupid or right-wingish. They seem to completely miss the obvious fact that giving a zero rating -- saying, in essence, "This comment should be made invisible" -- is exactly the same kind of bullying, "silence the dissenter" bullshit that Republicans pull everywhere we turn lately.
It's laughably easy to simply close the window when one stumbles upon a diary so infuriating that all we feel we can do is scream and troll rate and heap abuse on the perpetrator. That's the first and most often recommended response to diaries like that. Too often, I disregard the option, and find myself embroiled in passionate and often immature arguments that too soon devolve into name-calling flame wars. But I never troll rate in those instances - not even people who troll rate me.
I troll rate trolls. Period. Most of the time, people who are obviously not trolls see their "offensive" comments banished to Hidden Comments Siberia by troll ratings -- when the comments or diaries to which they are attached are merely offensive to individual opinion or established consensus, rather than worthless and designed solely to stir up discomfort and retaliatory distraction. Which, by the way, is the definition of troll/trollish.
Occasionally a dKos regular makes a trollish comment. A trollish comment from a regular involves verbal abuse or inappropriate use of vocabulary in comments designed to offend. Calling someone a "fucking nigger," for instance, is an obviously troll-rate-worthy comment. Using the word "nigger" in a non-gratuitous and pertinent manner, however, is not.
All too often, people get censured and censored here for having the temerity to "admit" to opinions that offend the majority's liberal soul. Such a response is APPALLING. Argue - scream, rant, berate if you must - but to attempt to make invisible commentary merely for being uninformed or offensively contrary to generally accepted liberal principles? It's just wrong.
I get troll rated infrequently, but when it happens it is largely in response to my own needlessly rude or abusive (and, naturally, expletive-laden) comments. I have experienced troll rating abuse, but not often, simply because the vast majority of my opinions and positions tend to agree with the vast majority of opinions and positions of the vast majority of Kossacks. That is, after all, why I came here in the first place -- and, I suspect, the same can be said of most of the community.
I would wager, however, that most people who post and read here subscribe to at least one position that goes against the majority grain. It is disconcerting when we see it - how could So-and-So, of all people, believe X? We all believe Y, for god's sake! And god forbid So-and-So expresses his or her opinion strongly, unequivocally, defiantly or angrily. That's just an invitation to being troll rated by people who simply cannot countenance the aforementioned opinion. Pretty soon you've got a hapless diarist or commenter being troll rated, recipe'd and tagged as anything from a racist to a misogynist to a homophobe to... worst of all, a Republican.
We are a community of like-minded people, for the most part. Most of the time, we are mostly in agreement on most issues, to one degree or another. But I wince in actual pain when I see people practicing the sort of censorious disapproval (through use of the troll rating or merely calling someone a troll) that we so deplore in neoconservative, fundamentalists in any form.
Since we are a community - and, depending on one's perspective, a family - it is incumbent on us to monitor ourselves, to stop every once in a while and take stock of our character defects and engage in honest discussion about behaviour which should and shouldn't occur in our home. I am one of those people who regards the members of this community as an extended family. Certainly most of you people out there are closer to me in spirit and mindset than all but two in my family of origin.