The owner and founder of Daily Kos, Mr. Markos Moulitsas, has a little secret it is time to expose.
He thinks the environment is no big deal.
In fact, he openly mocks those who care about climate change-
Everyone thinks their issue is THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE WORLD today.
Inferring the gist of that sentence from his hate mail series, I think the ALL CAPS is meant to imply that such people are obtuse, if not morAns.
It's not something I'm happy to realize. This is bad news if not really awful news to learn.
An inconvenient truth, if you will.
My intent here is twofold-
- To get this unfortunate fact to change.
- For people to be aware of it and choose their political and news sources accordingly.
Details below.
This is not your typical unhinged rant. (DELETE MY F*CKING ACCOUNT!) It is a calm and concise pointing out an irrefutable fact.
Don't believe me?
Read it and weep:
author="kos", tag="climate change" From: 7 years To: Now
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Found 2 results
author="kos", tag="environment"
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Found 0 results
(Back in 2007 he cared enough to post 8 such items)
He has posted ten twenty fifty times as much about a Senate primary race in Arkansas, coincidentally also one of the only times he has bothered to mention climate change in years.
Here's a similar search for the entire front page:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Found 22 results
Oh, but that was then. Right?
Lip Service rings untrue in the face of the facts.
Ultimately, this is a site about politics. If and when cap and trade is on the hot burner, then we'll discuss it. Until then, we've had fantastic coverage of environmental issues from the likes of Devilstower, Meteor Blades, and Plutonium Page.
Well this is now:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Found 12 results
Twelve.
Twelve so far this year. (Eleven if you, like me, don't count his cheap ploy to raise money for his "pet issue" by mentioning climate change offhand.)
One story per week. Out of what, hundreds per week?
SRSLY?
I'm really not pleased; not pleased at all.
author="kos", tag="AR-Sen"
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Found 53 results
When HCR was "on the hot burner":
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Found 1564 results
Hmm...is 1,564 larger than 12?
Just curious.
Even if I am wrong, which I wish I was, that wouldn't render this diary obsolete.
If kos were himself to get wind of this rant, show up in the comments and say: You're wrong; I do care.
I'd be like, That's great, kos. But what are you doing about it?
It's not like you control one of the largest forums for information on the internet or anything.
What? Your team of Front Pagers do that job for you?
Really?
Let's look again at that boastful quote above:
fantastic coverage of environmental issues from the likes of Devilstower, Meteor Blades, and Plutonium Page.
With apologies to Bill Clinton, I guess that depends on what your definition of "fantastic coverage" is.
This Week in Science by DarkSyde, who I guess the "the likes" in the quote above, is a great series. Would anyone consider that "environmental"? Hmm. Maybe. But surely it is not primarily a climate change post despite often getting that tag.
Page van der Linden (fka, Plutonium Page) does some great work. But good luck finding any of her posts that are not primarily if not entirely about Nuclear issues. Would anyone consider that "environmental"? Hmm. Probably. But she surely does not primarily or even freqently write about climate change, and I think she would be the first to admit that.
Meteor Blades, when he is able to, posts great work on the green front. It is, IMHO, unfortunate that the person who posted on climate/env'al issues with the most frequency is also the one charged with policing this place now. He is too tough to admit it publicly, but it is clear to anyone who has been watching that he is overwhelmed with the task. He took on an impossible task, and his passion, journalism, has been suffering as a result. I'm sure he is not pleased either with the results that show but a handful of green items penned by his hand this year.
We miss you and your writing, MB.
Devilstower has been doing a great job writing about coal and the related tragedies recently. Without his insight, many of us here would be in the dark like clean dirty coal when it comes to this issue.
Recent posts likePeak Oil by 2014... says Kuwait (Fri Mar 19, 2010) and At the Extremes (Sun Feb 21, 2010) are good examples of what climate writing entails. The problem is the woeful paucity of such work on the front page.
"Fantastic" when it happens.
"Coverage" is another thing.
This is not a "pet issue", kos.
You have kids, right? Do you think they will consider it a "pet issue" when they are old enough to understand what we were doing about this problem in 2010?
And if this was merely a sin by omission, maybe Kos could be forgiven. But it's not. It gets worse.
.
In the ads today:
========================================>
.
Not only does he not champion the cause or promote our best eco-writers to the front page, Mr. Moulitsas takes money from groups like EarthDay.org
Yeah, yeah. Complaining about who buys ads has been done to death. But my point in bringing this ad in particular up is this:
Has kos actually helped the cause or is he in fact weakening it?
.
Kos is also nice enough to not hide which diaries he recommends.
Have you ever bothered to look?
You might see what I see: It looks like not a single one of the 633 recs he has doled out could be called "ECO" or "Climate" related.
Correct me if I'm wrong, kos. Is there one there? Maybe even 2 or 3?
OK, sure. He has been busy writing a book. So I guess once he is done with his book, he will start reading & rec'ing eco diaries.
What?
He is already done with his book?
Oh, well, I guess once climate change is off the back burner he will start writing about it and reading & rec'ing eco diaries.
What?
Climate change is off the back burner?
There is a climate bill being debated right now?
A real bipartisan bill with a good chance of passing?
In fact, the House has already passed critical climate change legislation that might be voted upon in the Senate in the near future?
Perhaps the most damning thing about this reality is that one would have to be very skilled with the search function to even find much substance about climate change at Daily Kos if one was to overlook the diaries.
When I first began reading the site, I definitely didn't give a crap about the diaries. Who does? Over 75% of page views are front page only.
In fact, besides his attempt to raise money for Halter, the thread started by PDNC is really the only lip service kos has offered about climate change at all in many moons.
There's nothing less interesting that a bunch of progressives arguing about whose issue is more important.
Yeah, nice straw man.
Instead of flippantly dismissing the point eloquently raised by PDNC, just summarily blow off the question with a terse, glib reply.
Only a great fool would try to argue that twelve is greater than 1,564.
Mr. Moulitsas' website's numbers show what is most important to him and his front page.
However, it might in fact be interesting to try "arguing about whose issue" is least important.
If you are someone like me who gives a crap about climate change, the answer appears to be YOURS.