MyDD :: So much hate. So little time.

So much hate. So little time.

by bobswern, Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:50:03 PM EST

First a little background...

My diary on MyDD, six days ago (last Tuesday), entitled: "Clinton Supporters: How Can We Not Support Obama Now?" was posted on DKos a day later within a diary by CaptUnderpants: "Something amazing is happening on MyDD" this past Wednesday. The Captain's diary zoomed to the top of the Rec List there with over 500 comments and almost twice as many rec's.

After learning about this, I decided to spend a little time reading DKos posts and comments over the past few days, in order to make an assessment of the state of affairs at DKos with regard to the community's ongoing efforts to unify our Party behind our presumptive nominee--a candidate whom I now wholeheartedly endorse.

Let's face it folks, unlike MyDD, where I post regularly now, DKos is not an "equal opportunity hate" site. If there's hatred spewed forth, it's usually one-way, with Hillary--who's doing everything possible to support Obama now--and her remaining hardcore Hillary supporters on the business-end of that hate, too.

In many instances, I've read on MyDD and DKos that it's going to take "some time" for certain, acknowledged Hillary-haters and Obama-haters to get behind the call for unity now. (I had a reference and a link here as an example, but I'm just going to make this reference unspecific, since most know someone that still maintains this type of sentiment.)

So, I'm doing my best to make certain that everyone uncertain about voting for Obama realizes what's at stake this year. (See my link, above, to CaptUnderpants' diary from the other day.)

I understand that for other past and current Clinton supporters, however, it's not as easy. Some continue to be truly undecided; many have other issues to resolve first. The same holds true for Hillary-haters. But where's the upside here within all this expressed hatred at this juncture?

I mean, after all, how many former Clinton supporters and undecided voters are going to make up their minds about their candidate preferences on average each day between now and the general election on November 4th? By my calculations, roughly 36,000,000 people voted in the Democratic Primary, with approximately 18,000,000 voting for Hillary and the same voting for Barack.

Let's see...there are approximately 148 days between now and Election Day. 18,000,000 Clinton supporters divided by 148 days equals 121,622 votes per day on average, in terms of a rough estimate as far as Clinton supporters making up their minds about what they're going to do when it comes to their vote on November 4th.

But...wait!

Far more people will vote on November 4th in the general election than voted in the Democratic primaries. So, the number's higher than that which I'm estimating here. (We'll just stick with the lower number to keep everything nice and conservative as far as these claims are concerned.)

I mean, after all, if you need another day to get all that Hillary-hate and venom out of your system, what's another 121,622 votes between friends, right?

As you've already determined, it's more important that you vent and disaffect a portion of those 121,622 voters making up their minds each day with your blogging about your Hillary-hate, here and on other sites, so that these undecided folks don't vote for Barack Obama in November.

I mean, what's more important? Your ego and mental health, and your compulsion to spew that Hillary-hate on pages like those here and at DKos, or the future of this country?

As for those Hillary supporters still harboring Obama-hate, do you really think all of your expressed hate is going to influence people to not vote for Obama now? If you do, you're posting your rants on the wrong sites. As for me, I'm doing my bit to help Hillary's supporters to move forward as Obama supporters. There's something bigger than any candidate at stake this year!

What about you? Are you part of the solution or the ongoing problem? Aren't we all after the same goal?

Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, blogosphere, meta, MyDD, DKos (all tags)

Permalink :: 16 Comments :: Post a Comment

Tips for avoiding counterproductive hate! (2.00 / 5)

by bobswern on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:52:10 PM EST

The overwhelming %age of voters (2.00 / 2)

don't visit blogs. They don't care about you, me, or the things we say online. It's high time we stopped using the threats of legions of voters being swayed by people arguing over the interwebs as incentive for better behavior.

should we go outside? / should we break some bread? / are you'nterested?

by Firewall on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:52:29 PM EST

Re: The overwhelming %age of voters (2.00 / 2)

the problem is that some so-called journalists can't stay away from the blogs and that hatred spills over to the so-called news.

and people, including the HRC supporters, watch it.

by colebiancardi on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:53:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]

you said it (none / 0)

a huge percentage of non-event political news (opinion pieces in particular) are sourced directly from activists on blogs- its easier and 'journalists' that have no training in actual journalism or have completely forgotten the training they received, are too lazy and arrogant to look elsewhere.

by linc on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:06:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The overwhelming %age of voters (2.00 / 1)

That said, I'm all for better behavior, but let's not pretend millions of people are hanging on our every words, breathlessly waiting for the next bicker between user X and user Y in deciding whether or not to vote for candidate A or candidate B.

should we go outside? / should we break some bread? / are you'nterested?

by Firewall on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:53:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Voters influenced by media and opinion leaders (none / 0)

Most of the media and most of the opinion leaders, nowadays, obtain a good portion of their info from these very blogs!

So, while most voters don't read blogs, most folks that SHAPE the opinion of most of the other voters do read these blogs.

Or, is your post justification for all this hate I'm reading everywhere?

by bobswern on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:56:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Voters influenced by media and opinion leaders (none / 0)

See my post above before impugning my motives.

should we go outside? / should we break some bread? / are you'nterested?

by Firewall on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:57:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Voters influenced by media and opinion leaders (none / 0)

And for the record, I agree we need to move on to talking about the general and dismantling McCain than picking over the sores of the primary. However, a lot of people are still in primary mode - not just the ones still attacking Clinton, but the ones who still haven't made peace with the fact that the primaries have ended, the GE has begun, and all Democrats are morally obligated to support the nominee, if only to prevent the success of the man who would have us stay in Iraq for 100 years more.

In other words, it's not so much a problem of Clinton hatred as it's one of an inability to move from the primary to the general, whether in dislike or fanatical devotion to the Clinton campaign.

should we go outside? / should we break some bread? / are you'nterested?

by Firewall on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:09:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: So much hate. So little time. (2.00 / 3)

I guess it isn't just the MSM that is jonesing....bloggers are as well

god, I hope they get it out of their system and realize that Hillary Clinton ran a good, tight race with Obama and lost.

She is backing him. The Clintons are still the top-dog for stumping for others - hell, they stumped for many of Obama supporters in the past.

they are fighters and we need all the fighters we can get.

by colebiancardi on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 01:52:32 PM EST

Re: So much hate. So little time. (none / 0)

Good diary, Bob, and I was about to respond to it in detail but the baby is screaming. Gotta run, I'll come back later

Hooray for John McCain!

by ragekage on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 02:03:03 PM EST

good point bob (none / 0)

but i can't help but wonder why we continue to waste energy on this. i mean, i totally agree with you here, but shouldn't we be focusing on mccain?

Visit us at TexasKAOS, where we're taking Texas back!

by annatopia on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 03:43:18 PM EST

I totally agree... (2.00 / 1)

...meanwhile, look what's at the top of the Rec List here, as I write this.

That's my point...all this wasted, counterproductive energy.

by bobswern on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 03:49:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

amen to that, friend (none / 0)

funny, mydd was an oasis of sanity over the weekend.

WTF happened? i can't believe i just spent 20 minutes skimming that thread. i could've been writing LTEs. in fact, to make up for it, i'm going to go fire off an LTE to my local paper right now. =)

Visit us at TexasKAOS, where we're taking Texas back!

by annatopia on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 04:40:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: good point bob (2.00 / 1)

I think that those that supported HRC and will support Obama in Nov would like the hillary haters to give it a fucking rest.

seriously. Otherwise, it will be hard to focus on McCain when every other comment is about how horrible and evil Hillary and the Clintons are.

by colebiancardi on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 03:49:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

i hear ya (none / 0)

but there's haters on both sides, and everyone needs to take a fuckin' chill pill, ya know? we are, after all, supposed to be on the same team.

Visit us at TexasKAOS, where we're taking Texas back!

by annatopia on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 04:40:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: So much hate. So little time. (none / 0)

The math is misleading. The denizens of the blogosphere are not truly representative of the population at large.

Bloggers and commenters are generally less inhibited, far more volatile, and tend to express themselves in the loudest (and often most profane) possible terms, thinking that's the way to get noticed. Emotions are far more intense in anonymous forums such as these, especially so on a site with as many numbers participating as Dkos, where the numbers of obnoxious posters can overwhelm the community moderation.

I suspect that of the 18 million people who voted for Sen. Clinton in the primary. a decent number didn't necessarily feel strongly about their vote, and polls do seem to bear out that a number of early primary voters had changed their minds by the end of the process.

Now, how many of those remaining are regular visitors to blogs? I would guess a fraction. How many get their news and information from other sources, including friends, family, traditional media, radio, etc? Quite a few. How many probably are taking a break from politics until the convention? I would guess more than a few. How many will develop their opinions and make their decisions in response to the ensuing campaign messaging and media narratives? I expect a lot of them.

How many spend their time getting worked up over what people say on blogs? Not so many.

As is typical on the internet, everyone's trying to hype their point of view, enhance their own sense of influence, get noticed, stir up some trouble, indulge their obsessive streaks, and in some cases mask their true intent.

As far as these tubes go, I get it. There's a lot to get out of a lot of systems, and the best way to direct that energy is either against John McCain or in support of Barack Obama. Eventually, we'll all be able to comfortably do both at the same time, I hope.

"The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it." -- Dr. Horrible

by BobzCat on Mon Jun 09, 2008 at 05:57:10 PM EST

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