Capricious Moderation & Southbashing

[QC]

Here's an interesting case, involving a thread in LBN about a woman who murdered her daughter for no longer being a virgin.

Since the crime happened in Birmingham, you can all imagine what form the thread took--there's no need for me to go into detail, since we all know the routine by now. But what is interesting is how bizarrely capricious the moderation has been and what it suggests about whether "our kind" is welcome at DU.

Much of the speculation there took the usual form of rants about backwoods fundamentalists and the like. A DUer who posts here from time to time pointed out that they were off track because the woman who did this is not the snake-handling "redneck" they were imagining. She is, instead, black, and there are serious doubts as to her sanity. The post was instantly deleted. In responding to a post declaring that this was obviously a white woman who killed her dughter because she had sex with "a minority," the same DUer made the same point, which is quite relevant to the discussion, and the post was again swiftly deleted.

Allowed to stand, however, is a post containing the following:

they are hateful and insane down there and they should be kicked out of the United States....

If the earth opened up and swallowed Alabama and sent it straight to hell I would party for a week.

Sorry to anyone sane that lives there, but that's the most severely fucked up state in the Union and I have nothing but hate and contempt for it....

I wish the Feds would go into that state and burn it down, fat chance with one of their own GWBUSH in office.

I'm not inclined to criticize the mods, because they do a hard job that is bound to piss somebody off no matter what, but this is pretty egregious, and it really does suggest that we are not welcome here.

If you feel like fighting the good fight again, which admittedly does get old, seeing as how we get to do little else here since the election, feel free to drop by the thread and counter some of the usual bigotry.

[Frogtutor]

1. Geez, what the hell?!

They're ganging up on the Christians lately, too, without much moderator interference...

How are Democrats supposed to present a united front against Republicans with this kind of crap going on? You'd think people would be happy that the Democratic party has as many southerners and Christians as it does, and be willing to attract more...

It seems some people just want to cut off their noses to spite their faces...

[QC]

2. You know, for a lot of people here, politics is not about action.

You know, little things like winning elections and making progressive reforms that actually improve people's lives. You and I see it that way, of course, but not everyone does.

For a lot of people here, politics is all about grandstanding. It's a chance to preen and pout and declare one's exquisite moral purity before the world. That's why we get all those dramatic exit threads, for example--the ones where people stand up and bravely declare such things as "I will leave the Democratic Party with no regrets if they embrace the Ku Klux Klan," something that is not going to happen, but that is not the point--the point, of course, is to play the drama queen and be the center of attention. In other words, it's politics as therapy.

It's also why a number of DUers genuinely don't see a problem with being divisive. Simply put, they don't want to get the votes of Christians, Southerners, rural people, gun owners, etc. because doing so would involve compromising their moral sensitivities by inviting into the temple those whom their prejudices cannot abide.

There was a time when DU was a very valuable place for progressives. We could learn a lot here and also get the fellowship with fellow progressives that those of us in places like the South have a hard time finding in real life. But that time is past, and I am quickly coming to believe that DU, thanks to its divisiveness, is a liability to our side, not an asset.

[radric]

3. Just my observation...

as a moderate Democrat that many of the people on DU are no different than many Freepers. Most spew the same bile and hatred towards anyone or anything that doesn't fit into their little world's mindset. I really don't see a lot of difference between them other than their political stance. Bigotry, prejudice and hatred don't reside in just the right wingers.

[QC]

4. Exactly. This place is becoming Free Republic's mirror image. n/t

[Machiavelli05]

13. Exactly

Well said.

[wildeyed]

11. I grew up in SF area and DC,

then moved to the south as an adult. My sense, allot of the people doing the south bashing live in hardcore blue areas of the country and don't understand what it is like here. When I lived in DC, I knew one republican. One. So moving to the left would have seemed like a good strategy. But now I am in a more conservative part of the country, I have a different view. My personal views are still quite liberal, but I see what we need to do to win, too. Another thing, many people don't understand how important religion is to people in the south. But liberals can use it,too. I put a "Blessed are the Peacemakers" sticker on my car and got positive feedback. From Bush voters, too, go figure.

I am deeply tired of the "I'm leaving the Democratic Party if every single politician doesn't do exactly what I want every minute of the day, even though I never spent a day in my life working in politics and have no idea what I'm talking about" threads, too. I always want to post, 'k, don't the door hit you on the way out! :)

Honestly, I just avoid the south bashing threads. Some people just can't be helped, and some of them are on our side, too.

[Syrinx]

5. it bothers the hell out of me too

It is absolutely bizarre that the post about the woman's race wasn't allowed to stand. In most situations, her race wouldn't matter. But in this case, it would've shattered the illusions upon which the bigots in that thread had constructed their straw man.

And it was supremely ironic that the "good California liberal" decried the hypocrisy of ALL Alabama judges, and in the next breath, wished for the utter destruction of an entire state -- and presumably for the deaths of all its people.

Some people would be very amusing, if not for their own infuriating hypocrisy and hatred.

[AlFrankenFan]

6. There's a lot of anti-Southern hatred STILL going on

and it sucks! I just visited the Lounge today and there's a bunch of threads bashing rednecks and it's just sickening. Alabama's folks are sure as hell five times as nice as the ones in California (having visited Alabama and having a mother who lived there and living in CA right now).

[BamaGirl]

7. The attitude is just infuriating, isn't it?

If they keep up this attitude, we'll never return to a place of influence as a party.

"It's also why a number of DUers genuinely don't see a problem with being divisive. Simply put, they don't want to get the votes of Christians, Southerners, rural people, gun owners, etc. because doing so would involve compromising their moral sensitivities by inviting into the temple those whom their prejudices cannot abide.'



That said, I'm beginning to think things are going to get much worse with the sniping in the Dem. party before they get better. ::sigh:: It's a cryin' shame. Not only can the party not unite after Nov 2, but the divisions are worse. No wonder the Reps keep winning.

[Syrinx]

8. It's like DU is TRYING to make the pugs SEEM correct

A few of the so-called "progressives" here are nothing but fire-breathing dare artists trying to get away with as much as they can to embarass the true progressives.

They want to make themselves "stars," inventing new categories of the oppressed, and finding new people to blame.

They aren't interested in helping real-world people.

And yeah, I hate George Bush -- I ain't no phony. But we have a lot of enemies within "our" own ranks, too.

[QC]

9. Well, anti-Right is not necessarily Left.

A lot of people here truly hate the Republicans, but they are about as Leftist as my Aunt Ethel.

It takes more than thinking George W. Bush is a goober to be a Leftist.

[radric]

10. I don't hate..

Bush or the Repubs myself. I consider Bush the worst President in our history but I can't say I hate him. What most of the people here on DU don't seem to realize is you aren't going to win any national elections by running to the left. It's just not going to happen. I'd say most people in this country are slightly left or right of center politically. These are the people that decide elections. The left or right wingers are already locked into their candidates so there will never be much movement there. I don't think Kerry made a good case for himself with these voters. I voted for him because of the alternative. That's a sad way to have to cast a vote...

[DemBones DemBones]

12. I posted early in that thread, when they were blaming

the killing on the mother's religion, with no mention of religion in the story! Damn it, not every crazy action in the world is inspired by religion.

Lots of attacks on religion, especially Christians, particularly Catholics, and on Southerners lately. But we've always had them to some degree.

It gets very discouraging.

:shrug: