A suggestion for the civility goal

[JNelson6563]

I see so many blanket statements here about supporters from all camps. "Deanies are so..." "Clarkies are so...." "Kerryites are so..." and so on.....

This is the sort of statement that set off flames because there are plenty of supporters in the respective camps that these blanket statements do not apply to.

Here's an example: One particular Clark supporter voiced their opinion of Dean and assured us that this opinion was based "on facts". This poster was asked to provide/cite those facts repeatedly, to no avail. This same poster, at a later date, posted an e-mail they'd sent to a journalist who wrote a story on Dean and had the audacity to not talk about Clark in this Dean article. It was so off the mark I was kinda embarrassed for them.

Anyhow, given the reasoning I see used here so often, with these two examples of ONE Clark supporter's behavior, I have the right to now claim "Clarkies do not know what facts are" or, just as accurately "Clarkies are liars" (seeing as it is a lie to claim you have facts you do not). Or I could make blanket statements such as "Clarkies are so narcissistic they are outraged not to see Clark discussed in articles that have nothing to do with Clark."

Absurd? Of course. I would never dream of making such statements, much less holding such beliefs. I know there are supporters in all camps who are civil, intelligent and quite likable.

So how about we stop with the blanket statements and go to the trouble of typing in some qualifiers? Like "there are a few Deanies who..." or "Some Clarkies....."? I think it would help to reduce the acidic tone of the dialogue around here.

Just my .0125

Julie

[G_j]

1. I hear ya

as if we don't get enough of that from Rush and friends. Where does it come from? Is it the Jerry Springer syndrom in our culture? The way extremely polarized 'wackos' are picked to represent opposing views? There are some interesting theories about America's "argument culture".
I think some of us tend to do it in terms of freepers also, for IMO they do not represent your average Republican.

We are not all above this cultural malaise.

[JNelson6563]

2. I thin that small change could

make a difference. A simple "some" or "a few" preceeding attacks of supporters from other camps.

Here's hopin'

Julie

[Rowdyboy]

3. It peeves me greatly

when the behavior of one, juvenile, name-calling middle schooler is used to slam all the supporters of the candidates. ALL the candidates have supporters they should be ashamed of-and there's nothing the more serious supporters can do to muzzle the idiots. So you wind up with the blanket indictments of candidates you cite. Its really sad.