This is not a GBCW diary but rather to put up the “Gone Fishin’” sign for a while and say that I am going to take some time off from the Daily Kos, where I’ve been around, on and off, since 2003...
To those who will no doubt cheer, it’s not because you chased me off. It’s because some of you became so boring and ineffectual and have made good work more difficult to do here. Better work is more easily done elsewhere for now.
I stepped away from here from 2005 to 2007 when similar dynamics occurred as have happened now. It was different clubhouse of Kossacks who turned this place into a bore then, but the same whining victim-mentality dynamic underlying it. The presidential primaries and campaign rescued this place for a couple of great years, but then deterioration sunk in anew.
I had hoped that the appointment of an ombudsman would improve things but the opposite has occurred: the very types of behavior he ought to be moderating he’s been protecting and encouraging. The worst offenders are those who have made themselves into his hall monitors!
So, as before, I’ll just simply wait it out. And maybe come back anew someday. Or maybe not. That really depends on whether y’all start to do more and better with this awesome platform and tool than is happening at present. The two top recommended diaries today are emblematic of the victim mentality I mention. One is only a complaint about a comment I made on the other. Good luck with that! It will continue to be "the same old story" until enough good people stop thinking "the same old tactics" that have demonstrably failed again and again can change it.
The comments section is of course available so some can tell me not to let the door hit my ass on the way out. Don't let it hit you in the nose either. But don’t expect any response from me. My email is posted to my user profile for those who want to continue to collaborate in the important battles ahead, or share a joke or a good thought or idea from time to time. The struggle continues, but the battles are going to be won elsewhere.
I’ll continue organizing communicators and media workers through the School of Authentic Journalism, reporting at Narco News and opining at The Field, where a recent essay, The Real Crisis of Our Times Is What Crisis Does to Us, could also be applied to what has happened around here.
I leave you with a song by Groucho Marx to share a moment of humor and good cheer with the majority of Kossacks who are good people, still very much alive, who really do want to win, many of whom have expressed that they view the current dynamics here much as I do. To each of you, my warmest regards and lasting affection. See you in the struggles that happen door to door where the rest of the people live!