I became involved in hundreds of political flame wars on Answerbag and Sodahead after the economic collapse and during the ramp-up to the 2008 presidential election. Interestingly, we fought over many of the same things that were mentioned in the Democratic debate tonight—that were hardly mentioned in the mass media at that time and certainly not in the debates I remember. We fought over the 1999 repeal of Glass-Steagal, the lack of MWDs, the Iraq War, the NRA dominance over our law makers, the Patriot Act, the 1989 repeal of the Fairness in Broadcasting Doctrine, the legal bribing system we call Lobbying in the US, our corrupt election campaign laws, and on, and on, and on… I was in there with ET_pro and others—I think Seek was there also under another name; or somebody an awful lot like her.
By the end, Slate reported that there were Republican Neo-Cons, either volunteers or paid operatives (the modern equivalent of envelope stuffers) sent into Sodahead, Answerbag and other social sites to combat the what was perceived as a dangerous trend to the Left in the US. It was nasty, and I’m not proud of some the thngs I did at that time.
Finally, Answerbag changed their whole format where it made it more difficult to re-visit old and on-going questions. ET_pro had had enough and told me about a nice place called Fluther where one could debate without ad hominem attack (or anything like we were used to), armies of sock puppets, and just nice people who debate and disagree and have fun.
I went for it. I felt like a refugee from a war zone. All I really wanted to discuss was books, art, and engage in the kind of bullshit one might in the corner tavern after work. I think I had a bit of internet PSTD and would lash out every once in a while. But I met people like Janbb and gailcalled and realized that sometimes holding one’s tongue when under attack,a little intelligence and some honey worked better on one’s opponents than the written word’s equivalent of nukes.
So, here I am.