Stats

Comments Posted By celere

Displaying 0 To 0 Of 0 Comments

Why the Media Don’t Get Obama’s Campaign

Obama’s reelection campaign IS good, and I’m a volunteer in my town. But a campaign only goes so far. Many Americans know only what they see/hear on radio and TV.

What’s currently driving me nuts is that Huffington Post — a big popular news/political site — is ACTIVELY campaigning against the president via headlines, photos, slanted reporting, and only a few commenters seem to get it. Too many people are falling for it.

Plus, I am CERTAIN that they are trying to bring him down in time for a primary challenge, and judging by which potential candidate they play up every chance they get, it looks like it’s going to be Hillary Clinton.

IS THERE ANY WAY TO THROW A MONKEY WRENCH IN THIS PLAN? I keep trying to tell folks what’s happening, but you have to watch everything you say out there. It’s so frustrating…

» Posted By celere On November 13, 2011 @ 1:26 pm

Tenderfoot No More

I like your parents, funksands. 😉

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 6:51 pm

The Dark Times are Here

CrisR, I’m loving what Ed’s doing, keep hearing the phrase “working class hero” while watching him. This is where we have to draw the line. This could be the battle. This is the issue that could hit home for most of our fellow Americans (those who aren’t fully brainwashed against unions). This, I sense, is the opportunity to clarify what’s at stake.

Wish I could be with them physically, but what we do out here in cyberspace also counts.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 5:41 pm

An HP Moderator Replies

Good point, Truth. I agree.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 11:31 am

Welcome, bettybp! There are lots of us newbies here. It’s so benign and pleasant compared to HP, takes some getting used to. 😉

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 11:29 am

Really glad to hear this, KT. We can’t just suffer in silence. The situation needs wider attention.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 11:26 am

Truth, there seems to be something inherently addictive about Internet forums. I constantly have to put it in perspective.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 11:14 am

X2, as they say over there. 😉

Really, Orcas.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 10:42 am

Yes, DawgBone. It was becoming downright creepy. The feel of the place had taken on totalitarian and malevolent overtones. Icky as all get-out.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 10:40 am

One of the posters in your list is an absolute Obama hater, but I don’t want to say who it is. He/she and I locked horns over his/her agreement with a similar statement that Obama is worse than Reagan and Bush. No kidding.

» Posted By celere On February 14, 2011 @ 9:23 pm

A Short List of Pres. Obama’s Accomplishments

Thanks, PocketWatch. The weirdness over there is becoming unbearable.

» Posted By celere On February 14, 2011 @ 9:03 pm

I quoted most of this excellent list on h p but they wouldn’t let me complete it and wouldn’t allow any mention of PlanetPOV. But they did allow a link to PoitiFact.

Such censorship, hm?

» Posted By celere On February 14, 2011 @ 8:59 pm

Everything from “Over There” belongs “Here!”

Thanks, DawgBone, nice to see you too! I’ve put in a question about the avatar thingie at the help desk.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 6:34 pm

A few good hours of back-and-forth on the Wisconsin thread (which should have been, but wasn’t, the main) — then all of a sudden, wham! lockdown, with 400+ pending comments.

Somebody’s insane.

» Posted By celere On February 17, 2011 @ 2:26 pm

Thanks again, Kalima and Adlib. The site looks great. I’m glad it’s here and glad I found it!

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 10:08 pm

Thanks for the welcome, Kalima. You and Adlib have created a lovely place here, and I look forward to exploring it.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 9:49 pm

Ah, I should have guessed there would be big money behind HP, given who started it. So yes she had quite a leg up on things from the start. And now it looks like her intentions weren’t the best; therefore, all that money was, in the long run, wasted. (Unless she’s trying to be a “kingmaker” for the 2012 elections, which is what I suspect.)

What you wrote here is really nice Adlib; I find it inspiring. The ability to inspire is a gift that is VERY much needed at this time. I think you have a good thing going.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 9:44 pm

Well okay, that’s fine, Kalima.

I thought that’s what Adlib meant when he/she responded to my comment about a website that could compete with HP with, “Et voila.”

I don’t normally go around just telling people how to run their websites. Not THAT much of a backseat driver. 🙂

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 9:30 pm

This is a really nice website, Adlib, and I haven’t even begun to check everything out. But to compete with HP, it needs more publicity, it needs to be “out there” in the public eye more, and you, if you are the spokesperson, should try to get yourself interviewed by places like MSNBC, as Markos of Daily KOS and Ms. Huff have done.

That seems to be how it works. Maybe you already do these things and I’m just not aware of it.

Also, this might be a good time to make a play for the disaffected HP bloggers. Invite them on board, give them some kind of perks to make them want to blog here, etc.

Just some ideas…

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 9:11 pm

Good article, Fi. Thanks for posting it. Reading this,

“Washington Post journalist Dana Milbank opened an article with the question, “Did Arianna Huffington just sell out her fellow progressives?” and proceeded to answer in the affirmative. Others have expressed doubt that the 9,000 registered bloggers who write for the Huffington Post for free will be willing to continue to be so self-sacrificing for AOL”

made me wish some of those 9,000 bloggers would pool their resources and start their own site to compete with HP.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 8:23 pm

Thanks, Escribacat. I totally agree with what you’re doing and have been trying to do the same thing. This is why I keep expecting them to ban me.

But if we just delete our accounts and leave, then there’s no corrective to all the nonsense; it goes unchallenged. Someone has be there to tell the truth.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 12:40 pm

I’d like to share the reasons I’ve chosen not to leave HP thus far.

I had been observing what was happening there for about a year, and for a long time I didn’t know if it was “just me” or if other people had also noticed the change in tone, the unfair, slanted reporting, the increase in censorship, arbitrary deletions, artificial popularity contests, etc. It was a relief to learn that others had picked up on these problems as well. I’m not on Facebook and don’t have many outlets on which to discuss this stuff. For awhile, I was hoping HP would be professional enough to put up a permanent user thread, in the spirit of customer service, where people could openly address their likes and dislikes about the site, their preferences, etc. I suggested it a couple of times before it hit me that it was pointless to try, because there seems to be an unyielding, autocratic, iron fist in control. That was a distressing realization.

So I am very grateful to the person who told me about PlanetPOV. Everything about this place seems worthwhile and positive — the content, the tone, the openness. People seem so much more relaxed and real. And we can finally talk openly about what’s been going on over there.

But I never took HP personally enough to feel sufficiently hurt and angry to “break up” with it, as if it were a relationship. There were two basic things that attracted to me to HP:

1) The opportunity to discuss politics — and strategy — with other progressives. The MSM (except, recently, MSNBC) and all the powers-that-be ignore us, and we need each other if we’re ever to have any hope of returning America to something approximating democracy.

2) HP has a HUGE audience to read our points of view and our ideas. I believe strongly in the power of words and ideas as a means of reaching and influencing others. I believe that hundreds, or even thousands, of articulate progressive voices on a very popular, well-read site can make a REAL political difference. We can counter the MSM lies. We can debate Righties, undo their arguments, and make some of them reconsider their views. We can undo some of the Faux News brainwashing. We can help those in the middle to think with more knowledge and insight.

Basically, I see HP as a tool to reach the minds of my fellow Americans. It’s no longer a “pleasant” tool; there are so many trolls now, so much stupidity and nastiness floating about, insane moderation, etc. At this point it almost feels like entering a war zone and lobbing a few truth bombs about. But I think it still makes a difference — a small difference, maybe, but a real one. If every day I can make even one person think, I consider that success. If by chance my insights are picked up by someone with better connections, a louder megaphone, that’s a success, too. I try to encourage and support other good progressive voices out there through faving, fanning, and supportive comments. I don’t want us to be lone voices. Together, we exert influence.

I don’t want this country to go to hell. I don’t want our children and grandchildren to have to live under some kind of corporate oligarchy. I don’t want humanity to lose the promise of democracy. And I don’t want my life to be meaningless. I want to do my part to change things for the better. We’re all going to be dead some day, and this world will go on without us. But if we try, maybe we can help it choose a better, more sustainable, more humane path. I believe we can.

Some of the strong commenters are still there at HP, and when they show up, it’s an incredible comfort. It feels like — I don’t know, comrades? — good guys fighting the good fight. It almost feels like a duty to me.

As for HP’s future…if it continues along this negative path, then I hope it gets public notice that causes it to lose credibility and clout. And I hope a REAL progressive news source of similar scale comes along to replace it.

In the meantime, I’ll keep on fighting out there. Until, I guess, they ban me.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 12:15 pm

I’ve got certain simple core values and most of the time they align quite well with “the Left.” Occasionally the fit isn’t perfect, but when that happens, the Left still fits, albeit as a subset. Pared down, it’s all about moral values, though the focus will shift in and out.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 12:31 am

So glad to see other media commenting on what’s going on there. It needs to be acknowledged. Thanks, intotheabyss.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 12:20 am

Tips For Newcomers (and Regulars Alike)

Thanks, KB723. Sorry to be so late in responding; I still get lost around here. I’m in the dark about your references to “buzy body” and “checking preferences.” Could you explain them to me? No problem about unfanning me. I recall unfanning two people, one because he/she was SO hostile toward me, and one because he/she turned out to be a complete rightwinger. Basically, I see fanning as a way of marking a person politically progressive, so it helps in knowing where they stand. I never think of it as merely liking or not liking a person or trying to hurt anyone.

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 2:12 pm

Jdmn, thank you! The recent comment list is easy to find, but…where is the “blog roster?” There’s a “Blog Roll” on the right, but it lists outside sites.

I very much appreciate your welcome and will keep trying to find my way. 😉

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 12:31 pm

Is there a discussion thread list somewhere? I’m lost trying to navigate around. Just learned how to revisit the places I’ve been recently by clicking on my name in the member directory, but it would be great to see what all is out there. Is that possible?

» Posted By celere On February 16, 2011 @ 10:30 am

Hi zootliberal; thanks for the welcome. Yeah, glad it’s here.

» Posted By celere On February 14, 2011 @ 10:12 pm

Thanks KB. The navigation has me stymied so far, but that’s no biggie.

» Posted By celere On February 14, 2011 @ 10:11 pm

KB’s right; I use Lisa, and boomer uses Maggie. But there are a couple of other Lisas over there, and it’s no problem. In fact, they sorta seem like sisters. 😉

» Posted By celere On February 14, 2011 @ 10:10 pm

«« Back To Stats Page