I will say things that most people here may take for granted because I think there are some who are either not aware or are not taking them into consideration. I would like to hope that our Liberal friends here can understand why the feelings run hot at times and why they feel there is a bias against their party. Liberals do not understand why the anger is so deep and so widespread against any aggressive posting style from them. They point to similar posts from some New Democrats and say what is good for them is good for the Liberals as well. All things being equal it would be. But all things are not equal.
I am not endorsing the posting of volumes of talking points by anyone and do not support some of the most partisan of posts by my NDP comrades. But, what is good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
rabble.ca is called "News for the rest of us" it is funded by individuals and “left of centre” organizations in order to provide an alternate space for discussion that does not happen in the main stream media. Many people come here because this is one of the few (only?) places you can go to have a conversation that does (did) not have a presumption of the primacy of Liberal/Conservative visions of Canada. This place has a mandate and obligation to its founders and funders to offer a different perspective than the ubiquitous Liberal and Conservative perspective. We are here precisely to get away from the domination of those two party’s visions.
Yes, when New Democrats crowd out other parties like Greens or when they attack those who oppose participation in party politics and others -- they should be called out using the same logic: that the NDP has more airspace than they do outside of this place and must respect that others need this alternate space as well. New Democrats must be reminded of this. Moderators definitely do that from time-to-time.
But this does not apply to the Liberal party. The LPC is one of two parties that do not need an alternative space. The Liberal and Conservative talking points are not equal to the NDP ones here for that reason. The NDP perspective rarely gets presented in the MSM. But by the time I come to rabble.ca, I have already read, more often than I need to, Liberal and Conservative talking points. I understand why New Democrats come here to present what may not be found elsewhere. Liberals here should understand that for New Democrats this is the only source they may have for this vision. This is why I suggested a reserved forum here for them.
But Liberals here are like colonizers. They have their capital elsewhere. They seek to come here, dominate, and use the publicity resources of this place as an extension of the campaigns they wage elsewhere. This site is not an NDP site but it was specifically created to be an alternate to Liberal and Conservatives BY DEFINITION.
Many welcome testing our views against Liberals and are happy to see some participation from them but when it gets dominant, repetitive, insistent, aggressive, insulting, personal and trolling, the pushback is instinctual and yes, somewhat emotional. You Liberals are not on your home ground here. The rest of the people here are. You need to accept that. Sorry, this is NOT space for your talking points and accepted dogma. That space is the main stream media and their comment boards. This is a space with a mandate to discuss views that don’t otherwise get heard. Come here. Sure.
Here is where you might discuss ideas your party might accept but are on the fringes of acceptance and not recognized yet in the main stream media. Here you can debate what you have in common with progressives. Here is where you can insert from time to time a perspective to balance—with moderation. But when you seek to dominate this place with the accepted orthodoxy of your party and drive off opinions you don’t like, the response will NOT be the same as, for example, when a New Democrat posts things that the mainstream media won’t cover. And you will have to accept that the NDP and other parties don't like the Liberal party or leader much. Fighting that is pointless.
Here, when YOU throw around accusations of bullying, while engaged in nasty confrontations yourself, we recognize you for the collective you are part of: The Liberal Party with a domination of the public discourse that is far greater in proportion than the support your party holds; a party that has dominated the national agenda and culture; a party that has a lot more funding and many, many media supporters; a party that represents the current power structure of the country so many are left out of. You are huge. We are small. Most of all we recognize that you are the representation of what this refuge was built to be an alternate to.
When you seek to dominate the alternative space created to hear a vision other than yours, it is you that will be called a bully. Because this space was designed to be a refuge from you.
You Liberals are not just harming the NDP either. The fight you wage to take over the conversation here is getting pushback from NDP members. The resulting battle is leaving all the other voices that are not as loud -- even -- as the NDP excluded. You hardly hear from them anymore in the politics threads. That is a huge loss.
This does not mean that New Democrats should get mean or personal. But it explains why they retaliate by doing so when you do.
Your presumption of equality with the people who created this space to have some area you don’t dominate is controversial. You Liberals should be glad that the moderators and many members presume that you are, for the most part, equal here because this space was not built for you. Most people want to offer you the respect of equality because of the fundamental belief in the equality of persons. But the vision you present is not equal.
Yes we need to work on being more polite to you personally but we do not need to apologize for writing posts critical of your party and leader. That is part of the alternate vision this place is for.
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Some will hate my perspective expressed above or disagree with it. But I write it because this is what I think more than a few people here believe and it might explain why we feel and act the way we do – as you seem not to be aware.It may explain why you think everyone is a bully but you.
You should be aware of this thinking because it exists and it does not require your approval to exist. When we are angry and you are calling us names -- like bullies -- think of this. Understand this. Just a bit.
We need to focus on allowing room for the smaller voices outside the NDP here -- not having to constantly defend this place against domination from one of the two traditional parties at every turn.