What am I missing??

[kentuck]

If DU is so insignificant, why do you post here?

I read the NY Times almost every day. I read the Washington Post. I read the Progressive. I read The Nation. I read the Huffington Post. I read Thinkprogress. I read a lot.

But the best thinkers I have found are right here on DU. They may be profane at times. They may be ridiculous at times. But sometimes they are very enlightening and intelligent. There are many good writers and thinkers here.

So why do some folks talk and act as if DU is meaningless? All those other places are important but DU is nothing? Can someone explain?

[Subdivisions]

1. Alan Grayson doesn't think DU is insignificant. He admits

to getting a lot of his ideas from DU.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I consider DU vital to my being able to keep up to date and current on just about everything.

[gateley]

4. Ditto - and to learn about things I never knew existed. And...it's the

FIRST for breaking news. This is where I come if something is up and I need to know what.

I LOVE DU!

[xchrom]

3. Recommend -- oh they read it. Nt

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

5. Sometimes as a sounding board, sometimes to rage,

sometimes to let it out, sometimes to try out new thoughts, sometimes to change minds, sometimes to share history and sometimes to give unfiltered news.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

11. Oh yeah, and I aways learn something, not just sometimes.

[rug]

6. For a meaningless site, there's an awful lot of drumbeating going on in GDP.

[FourScore]

7. Ditto and recommend. n/t

[RainDog]

8. Thom Hartman and Joe Bageant apparently check in from time to time as well

since they've both quoted DU.

anyone who says DU is irrelevant to them shouldn't bother to post here, imo.

[laughingliberal]

17. Thom Hartman even posts here on occasion. nm

[Lyric]

9. Short answer? It's not meaningless.

I think there are some people who WANT to believe that DU is utterly trivial and "fringe", but they're wrong. We aren't the center of the universe, but we're sure as hell not hermits in a political cave here, either.

We are a lot more significant than certain people would have us believe. The easiest way to disarm a movement is to convince the people behind it that their values, thoughts, and principles are trivial and unimportant. There is a certain contingent of people (both here and elsewhere) who have a personal stake in trying to make sure that our community's esteem for itself stays disproportionately low. The moment we start to show a hint of solidified confidence and community empowerment, someone will inevitably come along to either (1) poke at sore spots to provoke infighting, or (2) use sarcastic, ridiculing language to suggest that any positive sense of community worth is just a "delusion of grandeur" or "egotistical nonsense".

Kinda makes you wonder why.

[RainDog]

10. oh, I found DU after Media Whores (rip) linked to this site

and then saw a link on Salon in something from Joe Conason.

So, anyone saying that is trying to undermine liberals, maybe? who knows.

[laughingliberal]

18. I see it as an attempt to demoralize, "No one's listening to you. Might as well give up." nt

[stray cat]

12. It beats twiddling my thumbs or knitting while I enjoy a cup of coffee

[The Uncola]

13. I understand exactly why you ask this.

There are some really arrogant _________________ (add the descriptive label that appeals to you) that use that kind of narrative as yet another way of trying to silence our voices. They also try to implicate that because we post here, that it's the sum total of our work towards our goals. If they want to think that, it's just fine by me. For me, this is a wonderful place to start from, as there are many very astute and informed people, covering a whole heck of a lot more ground than any one person ever could. There are also, of course, some real dickheads, but then, the ignore function cures them in a hurry.

[mahina]

14. Hey Kentuck. I think it's what we do with the information that defines whether it has meaning .

Yes, lots of people do talk as if this place is meaningless, but I don't believe them.

[applegrove]

15. Du has a shorter news cycle than the MSM. That's why I like it.

[seabeyond]

16. i read a lot too, and like du the best, also. nt

[Igel]

19. Some people watch tv.

I read DU and post.

1. Useful set of references to interesting assortment of articles on news and views from a decent range of opinions. Between that and non-DU sources I look at it covers all but the loony left and radical right parts of the spectrum. Yes, both exist.

2. Interesting set of ideas presented in some posts. Sometimes I start to object, and realize that I'm convinced by an argument. That wouldn't happen in most places. Doesn't often happen here. Sometimes I read an argument and think it's flawed and by posting I work out my own argument. Often I write the post and delete it. Most often, in fact, since the posting would serve my ends and only serve to annoy others more than I'm willing to do. This post might meet that fate. Might not.

3. DU is meaningless in most aspects, in the grand scheme of thing. Fortunately, most people don't individually constitute the grand scheme of things. My guitar is important to me; it's meaningless in the grand, intermediate, and even fairly small scheme of things. Yet it's still important to me. Saying it's meaningless, by and large, doesn't mean that other guitars are more important (although the argument could be made that professional guitarists' guitars are more important). I don't watch tv, and to play guitar or vln too much leads to tendonitis, while typing, oddly, does not. So I hang out on DU. The moderators that be are tolerant.

On the other hand, since DU doesn't claim to be the end-all of progressive politics--and provides no evidence as to its importance or lack thereof--its relative meaninglessness is also meaningless. If it's important to a group of people; if it allows the exchange of views and information; if it provides an outlet to express feelings and build a sense of online community, that's good. It doesn't have to shake The World; there are lots of little worlds that it forms a part of, and that's enough.

As for "the best thinkers," I've noted that most people in praising great thinkers praise little more than themselves: They praise those who best agree with them, who best show that what they've always believed to be true (or would have, if they'd thought about it) is true, who give form to their unexpressed attitudes and beliefs. (I have a feeling that some classical Greek writer said the same thing--the great thinker that he was. ;-)

[kentuck]

20. I notice that I "edit" myself, also...

Sometimes I will have a good two or three sentence start to an argument or response, and I will delete it. Is that weird? :-)