[originally posted 09/10/07. What's old is new again.]
The very first paragraph in the “About” section at the DailyKOS says that the site was created “in those dark days when an oppressive and war-crazed administration suppressed all dissent as unpatriotic and treasonous. As a veteran, Moulitsas [site founder] was offended that the freedoms he pledged his life for were so carelessly being tossed aside by the reckless and destructive Republican administration.”
Let me point out two key objections of the founder:
- the “administration suppressed all dissent”
- He was “offended that the freedoms he pledged his life for were so carelessly being tossed aside…”
This would lead one to believe that the Daily KOS was a site motivated to seek the truth, promote discussion, welcome debate and strive to be everything that an ‘oppressive administration’ was not.
Survey says: WRONG
As a grown-up that enjoys sharing my opinion and engaging in debate with dissimilar opinions I thought it would be enlightening to create an account at the Daily KOS. I posted for a couple of weeks and tried to remain polite yet direct with my comments. Usually I was called crazy or clueless. Sometimes a member would counter with their own facts in a rational manner. The Internet at it’s finest.
Then I was ‘outed’ by ZappoDave. <insert dramatic music stab>
Apparently my comments supporting our troops pissed some of the loonies off. I suggested that the war could have been over years ago if soldiers were allowed to engage the enemy as they were trained as opposed to being handcuffed by the ridiculous rules of engagement that they are forced to follow today. I received three comments: an f-word laced emotional outburst plus two other less vicious yet still curse-including responses. I countered with “Curses and insults are the best you can come up with? My post and facts still stand.”
I came back a couple of days later to find that my commenting privileges had been revoked. Oh yeah… the three asinine comments and my pimp slap of the three were removed from the site. I drew out a few of the losers and they got erased along with me. Just like a good homicide bomber…
I also saw that there were several comments re: my outing. What do I mean by outing? ZappoDave had a stroke of investigative genius and checked out my member profile. He posted his ‘scoop’ in the comments section. He found my blog. <insert another musically tense stab> Note to Zappo… if I didn’t want people to know that I had my own conservative blog I wouldn’t have put the link in my KOS profile you bonehead! Yet users chimed in with “nice catch” and “this guy is a fucking troll.”
If voicing an opinion other than the liberal party line makes me a troll, color me guilty. I guess when you have nothing but your heart to argue with you can’t let things like facts our counterpoint get in the way of a good temper tantrum against the Neo-cons, right?
The site also is proud of the fact that “tens of thousands of regular Americans have used Daily Kos to lend their voice to a political world once the domain of the rich, connected, and powerful.” Um… the political world is still the domain of the rich, connected and powerful. I can only surmise that opinions like mine exclude me from the category of ‘regular Americans’ as defined by the left.
In other words, my dissent needed to be suppressed. My freedom was carelessly tossed aside.
What good is a message board if it contains nothing but redundant “atta boys” and “down with the man” posts? Where’s the intellectual stimulation? What possible value is gained by marching lock-step with a crowd of lemmings? If you truly believe what you say, if you have a rational defense for your opinions, wouldn’t you enjoy the opportunity to try and educate a non-believer? Wouldn’t you try to expose your political opposite as a fraud? I guess that’s not an option at the Daily KOS. You either tow the lefty line or you get muzzled.
We’ll see if my account regains its former privileges. (update 10/5/07: no privileges still… to disagree is to be shunned) When it does I’ll be glad to remove my Markos ‘Kos’ Moulitsas/Hitler ‘art.’ I would like to continue posting at the Daily KOS in the hope that I can foster discussion and maybe expose just some of the illogical musings of the uneducated. I’m not on a friggin’ Crusade, I’m just trying to insert a dose of perspective.
So I’m watching television tonight and I hear that a politician in New York is trying to ban the word bitch. What? The concept of banning words is one of the dumbest things I’ve heard since local politicians tried to make ‘ebonics’ a legitimate and acknowledged dialect about ten years ago.
Don Imus lost his job because he described a few female college athletes in a manner that apparently only black people are allowed to. I supposed nappy-headed and ho are terms of affection and endearment among peeps in the hood. Ann Coulter was lynched by the liberal media for daring to use the word fag when commenting about a presidential candidate. A white assistant was chastised by his black boss and eventually resigned for using the term niggardly and a North Carolina fourth grade teacher had to attend sensitivity training for including the word in a vocabulary list. FYI, the word means stingy or meager.
How far will this go? How far will we let it go? Is common sense deader than a doornail, or is it just in a coma? Free speech is free. There are countless lawsuits that test the concept, but the main point is that speech is protected no matter how offensive it is. Whether someone burns the flag, soaks a crucifix in urine, pisses on the Koran or uses the word nigger, free speech is an inalienable right guaranteed to us by our founding forefathers. All of the aforementioned actions are offensive, yet they are all allowed. You have the right to free speech, you do not have the right to avoid being offended.
In other words… shut the fuck up and grow a pair (balls or ovaries, it’s your call).
I think Michael Moore’s anti-American rhetoric and deceptive movie editing methods are offensive. I think Media Matters is a cesspool of politically blind and uneducated dolts. I think members of the Westboro Baptist Church are clueless, bigoted racists and should be killed before they reproduce. Even Muslim extremists can say what they want in our country. Unlike where they come from, they all are allowed to speak their mind without worry of prosecution, persecution or death. This is one of the things that makes America great.
Trying to ban a word is like trying to legislate taste. I’m sorry sir, that tie does not go with that shirt. Here’s your citation. I’m sorry son, those pants are far too baggy. You’re under arrest. Ma’am, you are not fit enough to be showing your midriff in public. Step away from the ice cream and get into my squad car.
How long before we decide that other words are offensive? I think we have a potential candidate for the next word that gets public attention: Mexican. With all of the angst over our lack of a secure border and the increase in visitors from the south the term is becoming a sore spot. Think I’m crazy? Black has been all but banned from the English language and has been replaced with the stupid term African-American. Not all people with dark skin are from Africa. And shouldn’t the NAACP be renamed the NAAAAP? But, I digress.
Non-colored, non-ethnic, generic off-label people, a.k.a. whitey, is afraid to say anything that might be interpreted as offensive or could end up causing a lawsuit. Wait, did I say whitey? That might be offensive to Caucasians. Actually, I’m offended by the term Caucasian. I’m not from the Caucus mountains, why should I be called something I’m not? Are you trying to deny the promotion and pride of my own European heritage? Are you in effect banning me from calling myself a European-American? Why isn’t the term on job applications and census documents? Oh my god… the term must have been banned!
See how stupid it sounds? Banning words is stupid.
