I clicked through on a diary to read about the devastating news of Berta Cáceres being assassinated in Honduras only to see that the comment thread is consumed with bile about how President Obama and Hillary Clinton killed her.
The mourning of her death ends where it stops being self-serving. From what I can see, there is little genuine desire to learn more about who she was and the reason she was murdered. Her legacy in DKos terms is how she can further the ongoing monsterfercation of Hillary Clinton.
Daily Kos is turning (has turned?) into the biggest anti-Democrat hate machine on the Internet. Who needs Republicans when we have people supposedly on our own damn side working feverishly day in and day out to manufacture and spew vile hate against our own damn President and possible nominee? Not to mention our most prominent members, icons and partners.
It is sickening.
And while I’m on the subject of hate. No. People don’t get to advocate #BernieOrBust or engage in TrumpLite here.
I am sure I am not the only one who has noticed that there is an increasing trend of people saying the following things about Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton.
He is not so bad. He is only slightly worse. He is the same. He is better. He might be so bad that we could finally get our Progressive Utopia from the backlash. People who don’t vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary are voting for Donald Trump. Don’t blame me when you are being victimized by Donald Trump in the future. You did it to yourself by not voting for Bernie Sanders in the primary. If I don’t get my way in the primary then the country deserves Donald Trump.I, for one, am horrified by the level of hate I’ve been seeing towards my fellow Kossacks. It is ignorant, entitled, privileged and cruel. It is not why I am here. As far as I am concerned, it has no place in this community. My community. And it has no place in the Democratic Party. My party.
But such vicious musings get tipped. They get Tweeted and shared widely over Facebook. They grow and they feed until they become a never ending cacophony of filth that drowns out all other conversation.
New diarists responding to Kos emails to come and share their thoughts walk into a lion’s den of self-righteous mean-spirited viciousness. They get badgered and hectored and told to jump through hoop after hoop to prove that they have a right to their own adult opinions. Rather cutely, those who do the bullying claim that they are serving an “educational” role. That. Is. Not. Okay.
Black voters are told again and again and again that they are lower on the personhood scale and not smart enough to make their own decisions. They are spoken to and about in Cliven Bundy terms. They are told that while of course they have a seat at the Revolutionary table, it isn’t an equal seat. They aren’t partners in the Revolution. They are beneficiaries who should be grateful.
Women. Educated professional women. Are told that they don’t think with their brain. They think with their vagina. And that vagina is drawn to other vaginas in this election like a magnet. The pull is so strong that it crowds out everything else. There are no issues. No life experiences. No pressing concerns. No bigger picture thinking involved in the choice of who they vote for. It is all the magical magnetic vagina.
I’m sick of this. I tried confining my activity here to the ridiculous “safe zones” that the vast majority of Clinton supporters huddle in. But why should I have to do that? This site is mine as much as anyone elses. I believe in the Kos vision of where we can take this thing but we sure as Hell aren’t going to get there if we don’t, collectively, start remembering why we are here.
And while I am more than prepared to believe that there are trolls and moles among us who are laughing themselves to sleep at night over a job well done in turning this place into what it currently is, it don’t mean a thing if we willingly become their dupes.
We are here to elect Democrats. Not do the Republican Hate Machine’s job for it.
If you don’t get what that means. Watch the Republican debate and figure it out.