Today's diaries included a few calls for DK to dump Acorn for its recent apparent indiscretions. I followed a few of them, out of curiousity. There may be perfectly good reasons for repudiating Acorn, but most of what I've heard about so far is trivial - "A few bad apples", as Rumsfeld would put it. What caught my interest was how closely aligned some comments/diaries were with the right wing meme machine - concern trolling, basically. I don't usually worry too much about trolls because there seems to be a very enthusiastic cohort in DK that enjoys chasing them down. And I'm not active enough to maintain TU status. And I try to keep peace in my heart. And sometimes I feel the genuinely well-intentioned, but somewhat delusional individuals get hounded out of DK, when they could have easily been brought into the fold.
But I ran across one individual today that got me thinking. His diaries and comments were enthusiastic, but off-key. I started noticing signs of snark - referring to Obama as "He" and "Him" (capitalized, suggesting a holy reverence), out of date rants about PUMAs (they're not still an issue, to my knowledge), and the kind of frothery that I would write, if I was trying to run a character on Freerepublic, while snarking to my liberal friends about how gullible right wingers were.
For example, can a line like this be anything but snark: (slightly paraphrased) 'Remember the remakable accomplishments: cap & trade, Iraq withdrawal timelines, SAVING THE US ECONOMY, and dont overlook the SPECTACULAR campaign that He ran.'?
I'm not sure whether to reference the source, without calling a diarist out. I was somewhat tempted to start tracking the individual, or luring them out, but I have many other things I'd rather be doing. And I certainly don't want to start harassing a legitimate DK participant.
But it bothered me. When I have TU status, I often read the banned comments, and track out the threads of banned individuals. There's a lot of vitriol. Some people are just begging for it. Others strike me as strongly opinionated people with a strong stubborn streak. Sometimes their language just isn't aligned with DK's, and the gap becomes a chasm.
I'm grateful for DK's self-policing mechanism - I think it works quite well. I've been called out for transgressions, and supported by TU's against trolls and hijacks in my diaries. At the same time, I appreciate the diversity of opinion here. I sometimes see strong attempts at meme shifts, and feel that DK has developed a strong coherent resistance to many forms of manipulation (Like the way kids in kindergarten build up a strong immunity, by being exposed to so many different contagions).
Which is why a scenario like this one bugs me. I'm decently convinced that this diarist is messing with DK, but don't have the personal drive to pursue the issue. I've run into individuals like this before, and let it slide, because I don't have a good plan of action. So this time, I figured I'd throw it out there, see what the community thought.
Let me know!