Deja Vu

When the local political listserve “E-Democracy” wanted to complete its slide into being a full-on DFL echo chamber, its management instituted a “civility rule” that, essentially, held that all criticism of liberal opinion was “uncivil”, you knew things were circling the drain.

So it’s a kick to see the news that überliberal haunt “Democratic Underground” – the Dundy, as some of us call it – is h clamping down on criticism of Obama or Democrats:

“Forget about criticizing Obama,” warned PJ Gladnick, Examiner Opinion Zone blogger and operator of a blog called “DUmmie FUnnies” which pokes fun at Democratic Underground members.

So, if you suggest “that a particular point of view is required in order to be a Democrat, liberal, or progressive,” call someone a conservative, make a comment that’s “too rhetorically hot, too divisive, too extreme, or too inflammatory,” prepare to be booted

Here are some more samples of the ludicrous list of rules violations:

“Telling someone to ‘shut up,’ ‘screw you,’ ‘go away,’ ‘f–k off,’ or the like;” “belittling someone for being new or having a low post count; “negatively ‘calling out’ someone who is not participating in the discussion.”

That is just the beginning…

Insensitivity, which includes “weight or other physical characteristics” and “use of insensitive terminology.”

“Over-the-top assertions of bad faith” in Obama, or “advocating voting against Democrats, or in favor of third-party or GOP candidates; broad-brush smears against Democrats generally; broad expressions of contempt toward Democrats generally.”

“A sustained or organized effort to demean, belittle, bully, or ostracize another person; digging up or posting personal information about any private individual, on DU or elsewhere; stalking someone across discussion threads or forums.”

he final tally of new rules: 60. Whew.

Check ’em out.

The net effect of these overstated policies is to decrease discussion, Gladnick said.

He said it’s pretty easy to tell what’s been posted before and after the policies went into affect — before, there was a lot of criticism of the president, especially regarding the oil spill. Now, you can barely find comments implying a misdeed.

“Right now, you really see it about the Gulf,” he said. “Whereas before the rules, DU was rife with criticism of how Obama has handled the oil spill, now, such complaints have ceased.”

Of course, that’s the goal of campaign finance reform, the “internet kill switch” and the Fairness Doctrine.

So maybe the Dundy isn’t so far off track after all.

14 thoughts on “Deja Vu

  1. Hmm. What does this remind me of? Oh, that’s right. Fascism. Jonah Goldberg nails these brown shirts.
    Zere vill be NO criticism of Great Leader!

  2. Expect to hear more of this sort of thing as our portside neighbors sense that their moment is slipping away.

  3. In short, say anything that makes the average lefty uncomfortable and they’ll pull the covers over their head…..that’s pretty much boilerplate across the Sorosphere.

    Right, Flush?

  4. I was banned from e-GreenDem. Aside from my political dissent and telling them where they can put their partisan enforcement of rules, I told ’em that they should be investigated to determine where their funding originates.

    Upon advice from their attorney, that did it. If they receive *any* tax money, they’re finished.

  5. When you can’t argue on facts, make sure there’s no argument.

    What, you thought the Dumbocrats could win on facts?!

  6. If you don’t allow debate, you do not get good at defending your positions. Our leftwing friends may want to practice supporting their views instead of just killing any discourse.

  7. While the ideal of allowing both sides to contribute sounds nice, I don’t think it works in practice due to human nature. If you’re of the opposing viewpoint on a political forum, you’re going to get pretty harsh response to your views. A good number of people don’t see any real reason to be understanding, especially not when they feel it’s their site and you’re an interloper. The type of person who will keep going back is likely to be a troll, specifically, that type of person posts stuff to get a reaction rather than to genuinely learn something new.

    What I’ve seen is that if you get two opposing sides in a debate, it tends to devolve from analysis into rhetoric, as both sides become more focused on scoring points. And then it quickly gets personal and ugly. I’m really not surprised a lot of political boards (DU is hardly the only one) virtually ban the other side. There is, after all, a whole Internet for people to go to.

    That said, though both sides have trouble allowing debate, it’s the left that explicitly makes a point of agitating and disrupting. If you look at groups like the Yes Men, MoveOn or Media Matters, disinformation and trolling are not simply tactics used by the left, but are part of their political philosophy in a way that is contrary to conservatism. So I’d argue that it would be virtually impossible to run a large conservative site on an “anything goes” basis.

  8. scooby: I have tried to present arguments to the left on e-GreenDem. Actual, real arguments with actual, real legal citations and logic. It simply doesn’t work with the left. I ended up setting suspended.

    They are religious fundamentalists.

  9. We welcome debate at Anti-Strib, but sadly the folks from the Left usually start and end with “You’re stoopid and I’m really smart”.
    It gets old.

  10. We welcome debate at Anti-Strib, but sadly the folks from the Left usually start and end with “You’re stoopid and I’m really smart”.
    It gets old.

    That is the pattern. I used to have a few regular lefties commenting at my place, but lately they haven’t seemed to enjoy sharing their wisdom so much — it must be tough defending the indefensible.

  11. Stooj, there is no denying that fact.

    A true conservative wouldn’t propose adding more laws because some laws are bad. A true conservative would propose getting rid of bad legislation.

    More government is not the answer.

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