They hate us! They REALLY hate us!

[Plaid Adder]

Wow, I just googled "Democratic Underground." Yeesh!

When Sullivan and Limbaugh talk, the wingnuts listen. The first, oh, 100 hits or so are right-wing blogs linking to "the thread DU didn't want you to see!!!!" or other things that were singled out for special comment by one of the two leading lights mentioned above. It's only once you dig through that mess that you get to the sites that link to DU in any kind of a positive way.

I have to say that when I think about my audience, I normally don't wonder how something is going to play to the wingnuts, but apparently that's who's reading DU...more assiduously, it would seem, than anyone else. You have to wonder. Why the passion? Are we THAT dangerous?

It's also funny to see how the double standard works. Not only are we pilloried en masse for our bloodthirsty hatefulness (based, primarily, on that one "I hope more troops get killed" thread) but once the mods do the right thing and suppress the thread, we then get pilloried for "censorship." I guess if we did it the Free Republic way, we would just let it all hang out, no matter how offensive a thread got to the majority of the members, or indeed decency and common sense.

Ah well. As they say, all publicity is good publicity...and AS and RL have certainly given us plenty.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Guaranteed]

1. OH yeah...

We're dangerous, baby!

DY-NO-MITE! :evilgrin:

[Renew Deal]

8. Wait until we're united.

They are toast.

[Guaranteed]

15. That's right.

You know this division is only temporary, right?

When the Repukes start in after the nominee is clear, we'll be right back in the same boat, as focused as ever.

It'll be like before the war.

[onecitizen]

2. Now there ya go........

I'm gonna lose sleep tonight. Just kidding but I really don't care much if they hate me (since I can't speak for anyone but me). I consider it a badge of honor.

[Guaranteed]

7. Seriously...it's a given.

It's the price you pay for advocating reason and truth. I wouldn't have it any other way. I feed off of it.

[Zuni]

3. I can smell fear

and it is coming from the Bushbots and the dittoheads. We are retaking our country and they have gone into panic mode.

[Bluzmann57]

4. Well if DU is that "dangerous"

then I'm damn proud to be here. Maybe its good that these people monitor this site, it may accidentally wake one or two of them up. Then they tell their friends(if they have any) and so on. Or better yet, they tell the "wrong" people and then they tell friends and poof! a Dem sweep in '04. OK OK maybe it's too much to hope for, but it's nice to think about.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. We're nowhere near as virulent as L-dotters...

They're just plain NUTS!

[Sugarbleus]

10. alg0912--->hahahaahahahahahah graphics too funny...

[Cooley Hurd]

14. Thanks, Sugarbleus!

...and welcome to DU! :hi:

[Renew Deal]

6. It's like the clip they play on the Stern show.

Something like this...

People who like stern listen for 1 hour 30 minutes.
Biggest reason, They want to hear what he will say next.

People who don't like Stern listen for 2 hours and 20 minuts.
Biggest reason, They want to hear what he will say next.

We are far more interesting than they are.

[Goldust]

9. "Democrat" Underground

Search for that you'll find some interesting repositories of intellectual sophistry. This guy (http://donnyferguson.blogspot.com/) even has something from here as the signature line on his blog.

The McDonough County, IL (http://www.il-democrats.org/mcdonough/mcdonoughpoliticallinks.html) Democrats also have us listed as "Democrat" Underground for some reason.

[Snellius]

11. They're all burnt out.

Bush is a stupid embarrassment. The Republicans in Congress are worse than the Democrats ever were. They know it. There is no conservatism. It's just power politics. All these rightwing ideological firebrands have completely burnt-out: Sullivan, Limbaugh, Coutler, Drudge, Hitchens. They're are drunk or stoned or weird. They come over to DU because they're still trying to find an enemy that may make them forget for a while that their cause is dead.

[HootieMcBoob]

12. Should we fight fire with fire?

Would it be poosible to do a similar thing with freerepublic? In the same way that many bloggers made "miserable failure" bring up all kinds of things on bush at google. Should we fight fire with fire? There are many many more outrageously offensive threads at that site on a daily basis than you could ever hope to find at DU.
:evilgrin:

[LeahMira]

16. Now that's thinking!!!

Would it be poosible to do a similar thing with freerepublic? In the same way that many bloggers made "miserable failure" bring up all kinds of things on bush at google.

:evilgrin:

[LeahMira]

13. What happens...

Wow, I just googled "Democratic Underground." Yeesh!

... when you google "Free Republic." Yes, I could do it myself, but would like the same person to analyze both results. If you're interested.

I have to say that when I think about my audience, I normally don't wonder how something is going to play to the wingnuts, but apparently that's who's reading DU...more assiduously, it would seem, than anyone else. You have to wonder. Why the passion? Are we THAT dangerous?

Probably that's how they see it. Recall, please, that Democrats are going to tax people who work twelve hours a day in order to give that hard-earned money to some "welfare queen," and that we're going to take G-d out of the classroom and teach their offspring secular humanism. At least that's how they see it. Given that view, they must feel that they need to stay one jump ahead of us and be ready to blast our "socialism, fascism, and godless communism" right out of the water before it starts sounding good to some of the weaker-minded among them. Ahem.

I wonder if Democrats are reading Free Republic or any of the wingnut message boards and blogs to find out what's on their minds? I admit that I have lurked around Free Republic from time to time, but I find that there really isn't much exchange of ideas going on there that I could see. With all the pinging and kicking and bumping and requesting someone get on someone else's mailing list, it's actually kinda boring. Still, I think that we need to speak to some of their concerns.

One thing I think is really funny in a sad sort of way is the fact that they are so opposed to taxing the top percentage of the population and giving the tax breaks to the poorest groups. They seem to think THEY are the ones who will be paying through the teeth! They actually imagine THEY are the wealthiest segment of the population... as if they were in the same category as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, or Donald Trump! Geez. Unless I read people really wrong, they would be the ones getting the benefits of a tax breaks for the poorest groups. Someone should mention this to them, IMO.

[Starpass]

17. Ahhh, the fights on the playground continue

..and that is about the depth of it all. America is not paying attention to any of us. They are paying attention, unfortunately, to people like Limbaugh. We need airwaves; not typing space. While we are spitting and taunting each other, the gladiators are warming up in the arena to engage in a fight that has nothing to do with website conversations, opinions, threats and bravado. The big boys play in a league that we think we understand but not have yet scratched the surface. They play with real power, real money, and real political dealings. That's why Americans always end up angry and disillusioned.

[LeahMira]

20. You are right...

America is not paying attention to any of us. They are paying attention, unfortunately, to people like Limbaugh. We need airwaves; not typing space.

That's why I am a little worried about Dean especially (but the others as well) focusing so much on internet campaigning and possibly assuming that internet support translates into grassroots support.

The Pew Foundation has funded loads of studies about the internet and its impact on American society. Some of the findings include the fact that not all Americans are as internet dependent, comfortable, or whatever as we are in this group. Even while Americans have computers in the home, and so they have the capability to access the internet, a lot don't use it.

Of those who do have it and use it, many claim that they look for news and current events information that is more in-depth than what television provides, but then when they are asked which sites they get news from they cite CBS, MSNBC, etc., which (IMO) gives them not an alternative point of view but just more details and supporting information for the (corporate) point of view with which they are already overdosed. I don't know if it's just that the average person doesn't know about the existence of truthout.org, alternet.com, or zmag.org or if it's something else, but people who do use the internet imagine that they are informed about all sides when maybe they really are not.

Some other considerations are that not everyone is as passionate about politics as we'd hope they would be. A lot of folks use the internet to get health information, to shop, to connect with religious sites, or to hook up with hobby groups. If I recall correctly, less than a quarter of internet surfers are surfing to find political news and information, at least during times that are not primary or election times.

Finally, there's the really enormous discrepancy between white internet users and minority internet users. Pew did studies of internet use patterns among both Blacks and Hispanics specifically and, probably because of economics more than anything else, they just aren't on line.

The various studies are available to read at: http://www.pewinternet.org/

But my own concern, which is American Indian internet presence, led me to the conclusion that NO ONE should depend on the internet too heavily as a means of communicating with the public about their "issues." TV, newspapers, and radio have the internet beat by a mile, and likely will continue to do that into the future.

[DinahMoeHum]

18. Heh heh. The "natives are restless tonight". . .

Boom bada boom bada boom bada hey hey
Boom bada boom bada boom bada hey hey

Those RW assholes couldn't pay us a better compliment.

:kick:

[Blue_Chill]

19. I hope more troops get killed?

I'm sorry folks but we deserve to take heat for a thread like that existing here among us. Only a sick fuck would write such a thing and if we don't have a problem with it then we are no less guilty. I'm sorry but I just can't support shit like that.

[denverbill]

21. You're assuming it was a DU'er.

It doesn't take much brains to get an account at DU. If this is the post I saw yesterday, the guy had about 100 posts and then posted that drivel. For all I know, it was fucking Rush Limbaugh himself posting it. It's not like it was WillPitt or PlaidAdder or any other long-term DU'er.

If I go over to FreeRepublic, sign up, and post a message calling for all blacks to be executed would you say RimJob deserves to take the heat for having a thread like that?

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LeahMira]

22. Think about it...

Only a sick fuck would write such a thing and if we don't have a problem with it then we are no less guilty. I'm sorry but I just can't support shit like that.

Well, Blue_Chill, I generally don't use the same vocabulary words that you use in conversation, but it doesn't particularly bother me when you use those words... except now when you mention someone else's gaffes.

I really, truly don't believe that any of us wishes for more death on either side of the war. At the same time, it wasn't until (among other things) the American body bag counts mounted that the American people turned against the war in Vietnam. Of late, this country has relied more on bombings from the air to "shock and awe" the enemy, and I read in an article about Hiroshima something that caught my interest. The pilots of the bombers have no sense of the destruction on the ground. They don't see the bodies blown to bits, the blood, the horror. Then another article I saw yesterday was mentioning Bush's "mooning" plans and the fact that it's being taken for granted that space will be the site of warfare soon. Things could be dropped on earth from space and there's no way that anyone could fight back by shooting down the plane.

So, what's the conclusion? America is waging wars in which those out waging it are not forced to see the enemy. How depersonalized can you get? Thousands of people's lives are turned into a "target area" while American lives are ticking along unruffled. No post traumatic stress, no Agent Orange aftereffects for the men... what is this that we are about?

I don't think American lives are intrinsically of more value than Iraqi lives. Given that premise, and given the kinds of choices we are being forced to make here, I can understand why someone would say that s/he hopes more troops get killed.

I agree, it's a twisted sort of statement... but we are living in a twisted sort of world these days.

Let's get together and take our country back from the sick fucks that are doing these shitty kinds of things to all of us, OK?

[Kamika]

24. It's extremely poor journalism

Amongst 30000 people statisticly atleast 1 will have opinions like this, to take that and paint eeryone like that (especially when I bet he/she got flamed for it) is worst possible journalism ever.

If they want to give DU free commercials fine by me... it's not like they will convince anyone but the hardnut freeper idiot that thinks everything Rush says is true, about anything.

I mean geez we could go and find racist/sick stuff in freerepublic aswell but if we had a show like Rush I think we would have better taste then go on about it.

[LTR]

25. Using message board psots is an example of shoddy journalism

C'mon neocons! You can do better than that!

[theorist]

26. The reason they hate us.

We are more than just a disjoint group united by a loosely defined sense of anger. We all make up a community. I just realized this last night. Anyone can see that DU is made up of a group of funny, clever, analytical, and (most of the time) level-headed people. It took me awhile to realize why DU had all of these great qualities, but I was pleased with my conclusion. Every progressive thinker is welcome as long as they strive to be educated.

We will never let the other side define us based on what we hate.

[tom_paine]

27. The TRUE double-standard, PlaidAdder

is the fact that Freepers have been attacking websites and Poll Freeping for God-knows-how-long and NOTHING, NOT A WORD is mentioned of them.

Hell, people who bash DU must know that a quick perusal of NaziStormtrooper.com easily uncovers much death-wishing and murderous fantasy directed at liberals in general and the Clintons in specific.

Not to mention the fact that "Poll Freeping" is named after them because they perfected the technique and used it unchalleneged for YEARS!

No the Orwellian double-standard here is the fact that Imperial Family and their allies, even greasy little Brownshirts like the Freepers, are largely immune from exposure. They can continue to skulk in the shadows and undermine the Old Republic they profess to love and help destroy every day...