[Sosfbay-discuss] My DailyKos Diary - DeLear v Berman

[Wes Rolley]

>Here's a much too common staunch Dem response to the fine article by
>Alex on DailyKos supporting De Lear.  This (un)reasoning is entirely
>too common unfortunately.  I love the last line in particular.  "I
>really don't want to read positive things about the Greens here." So
>smacks of "Don't confuse me with the facts!".  Greens need to get out
>there in the Blogosphere as Alex has and dispell the stupidity of The
>Duopoly.  Take a chance, be bold and take a stand for Greens!
>  
>
Drew,
As Alex and I have previously discussed, he got off easy.  If you really 
want to see someone get pounded, read my diary at 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/10/27/124155/63

I think that Alex and I have the right ideas.  We are both taking taking 
the arguements for a Green Party to another level. We are still learning 
how to best use the media available to us to the best advantage.  This 
particular episode tells us a few thing that we can learn to use.

Sites like DailyKos instill a sense of community.  It is in the 
rhetoric.  It is even in the very user interface that they use, 
especially in such devices as the ability to "reccommend" a diary post 
so that it stays on the front page.  Most of the Green Party efforts to 
make use of the internet (Ken Sain's old blog, Green Commons, my own 
California Greening) do not do that.  It is something that I need to 
consider as I move forward after the election hysteria is over.

Members of this community are like a family, they can squabble among 
themselves, but they close ranks when questioned (attacked?) from 
outside.  Make no bones about it, DailyKos is a very, very Democratic 
blog where adherence to the party is more important then being on the 
right side of an issue.

This adherence is further re-inforced by demonizing the opposition 
(Republicans) to the point that "if you are not for me, you are against 
me".  This is Bush Logic for the War on Terror.  It is Markos Zuniga 
logic for dailyKos.  I can almost see the new prescription to refer to 
him as Comandante Markos (with a K this time).

I would love to see an alternative to DailyKos in which there is a 
different paradigm, one of inclusion, of building a congregation rather 
than protecting a familiy, one of supporting diversity of (ideas, 
viewpoints, background)  rather than demanding doctrinal purity.

One final observation is that You Tube has emerged as a low cost, 
effective medium for getting ones message accross.  It does not take a 
lot of money to produce a short video.  Those that are well done will 
call attention to themselves, if given a little intelligent help.  Those 
that are particularly viscious (Playboy attack ad on Harold Ford... 
pulled from mainstream TV but with a life of it's own on You Tube) or 
particularly humorous (many) get repeated.   I think that we should 
start planning to use this medium to expand our reach, as You Tube is 
truly global.

Combine the two, building our own community as better than dailyKos, and 
an effective use of video via You Tube and other source, will be winning 
combination.


-- 
Wes Rolley		 
17211 Quail Court	
Morgan Hill, CA 95037
(408)778-3024

"Happiness is to be fully engaged in the activity that you believe in and, if you are very good at it, well that's a bonus." -- Henry Moore