Guy Western said: One gets the distinct impression there's one of these canned rants for every occasion, all based on the one thing that's killing American politics. With so many sole causes of the demise of American politics, I can only say it's a good thing someone's keeping track.
I say:
Actually, I've been thinking there might be exactly such a thing. I've been reading the miscellaneous hate mail of the right and the arguments are consistent. I remember a while back when someone was complaining about the WHO and World Bank protestors organizing on the internet. They were discussing how there was a plan to infiltrate leftist internet groups, disrupt their activities and of course keep tabs on their rallies.
I watch Tom Swift react to the posts here and I wonder which it is: 1) he's genuinely alarmed by the leftist sentiments here and wants to vent his spleen at anyone whose politics lean in that direction, or 2) #1 is true AND he's been coached by the same sources that coach the right hate mail.
While it bothers me that this sounds like a "vast right wing conspiracy", I do believe in conspiracies of shared interest. That is, several groups or agents work together because they have a common goal, not because they're whispering in the back room. It's why companies will often settle on a price and not keep cutting prices to run the competition out of business, even without illegal collusion. It's why minority or geographical groups band together and work for similar causes - the causes affect all of them. People who are far right politically would count as a group like that. Maybe TS and others like him spit fire at the left just because they all feel that way.
Or maybe it's because someone who felt that way discovered that if you have someone on an eDemocracy list do that to everyone who posts to the left, then most of the posters will quit, or confine themselves to lurking. Jumping on people for expressing different viewpoints is a great way to censor them. Pretty soon all you'll have left is the brave and the lurkers.
Mary Baker East Side
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