Wednesday, August 6, 2008

The Left Eats Its Own--Blog Banning at Daily Kos

Lee Stranahan (h/t ReUnion PI) posts on Stranahan.com that he has been banned from the social democratic Daily Kos site (Lee erroneously calls Daily Kos "progressive"). A blogger on Daily Kos writes:

>"So apparently Lee Stranahan has been banned from this site for publishing one too many "Hey, what the hell is up with John Edwards and his completely odd and totally inept efforts to hide his love child from the media?" posts. Well isn't that just goddamn admirable of you all.

"In solidarity with Lee, I ask that you ban me as well. I'd rather not leave the site peacefully and willfully - no, preferably, I would like to be removed from the great orange monster for expressing dissent. That way, I could put one of those moronic "Dissent is Super Patriotic!" bumper stickers on my car and get the full experience."

Stranahan writes:

"Now I’m banned. I can’t write about ANYTHING at Kos. Can’t comment, can’t post a non-Edwards piece. Nothing...And I stand by my title - it’s largely John Edward’s fault that I’m banned."

Stranahan has a point.

There was a time when the left could claim that it really was on the side of democracy, that the "democratic" part of "social democratic" really meant something, and that it was victimized by witch hunts. With the advent of political correctness, the American left has become a suppressive movement, losing all claim to tolerance, democratic thinking and any claim to the appellation "progressive". The left is the perpetrator of witch hunts, not the victim.

I have worked or lived around counter culture and left wing communities for much of my life, and I conclude that they are as suppressive as any corporation or cult. It is not coincidental that all of the left wing governments have been intolerant of dissent. It is inherent in the social democratic ideology that true believers become convinced, much like cult members, there is one true answer and that anyone who deviates from their answer is to be silenced.

So while I pity Mr. Stranahan, I do not empathize with him. He has chosen to align himself with social democrats of his own free will.

2 comments:

Stranahan said...

Oh, don't pity me.

I view this as more a problem of mobs than ideology. Large groups act in weird ways...Eric Hoffer nailed this idea decades ago.

And of course on simply a practical level, banning me was just a bad move. I got a lot more exposure from the banning than I ever did posting on DKos.

I think they just expected me to lay down and die or something, which is odd since they knew I write for a national audience on the Huffington Post.

Mitchell Langbert said...

But isn't that always the mistake that tyrants make? Solzhenitsyn, etc.