Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Introducing myself.

Well, hello there. I believe we’ve met, though one can never be too sure when people just blur into one another; such are the travails of the big City.

I’ve been blogging on Daily Kos since January 2006, overall since early 2005 here in New York on the state blogs. So you might deduce that this is Daily Kos’ MBNYC; and you’d be correct in that assumption. One of the biggest regrets of my blogging life has always been that, contrary to my usual practice, for some reason, at the Great Orange Satan, I preferred the relative anonymity of the simple initial. I think I have enough influence to get that changed without having to give up my prized five-figure UID, but we shall see; among life’s many instances of irksome, that particular subject doesn’t rank all that high.

But enough about me.

I’m here, simply, because the boycott called by robinswing is one that is needed, and deserves my, our support. Why?

Because the party we all belong to, the Democratic one, is emblematic of our society at large. Daily Kos already has a shockingly low percentage of bloggers of color in its user base; the recent bannings have done little to ameliorate that.

Let me tell you a story. My background is largely haute-bourgeois privilege; all the right friends, a good school, advanced degree, nice clothes, haircut, all that. That’s the man MoveOn, bless their pointy little heads, sent to Columbus, Ohio, to walk the streets of the ghetto corralling voters. I had never seen anything like that, until at some point, I just stood on the street with tears coming out of my eyes.

Anyone who tells you that this country is now post-racial, transformed somehow by the transcendent fact that the man in the Oval is dark-skinned, is deluding themselves. It is not so. We see it in the crime statistics, wealth distribution, any metric you may choose.

And we are all of us responsible for this, some more so, some less. But wherever you fall on that continuum, this is cause for all of us to hang our heads in shame.

Surely, we can do better than this.

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Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 72 Comments

72 comments

  1. Kysen

    I am very, very pleased to ‘meet ya’.  ðŸ˜‰

    I’m glad that you, too, followed the bread crumbs and have found the Moose. I think you will fit right in (I’ll let you decide whether that is an insult or compliment).

    Pull up a seat…the table is plenty long…we are thrilled to have ya join in on the conversation.

    If you have any questions, ask in any active thread (or use the Contact the Moose link at the bottom of the page).

    Welcome to the herd, MBNYC Michael.  /grin

  2. HappyinVT

    I grew up in a suburb of Columbus (McCain did a campaign stop in my very white hometown).  Started my looooong college career at THE Ohio State University.  Anyone thinking the “The” is pretentious can bite me.  ðŸ™‚

    Anyway, I read a comment at one of the blogs I frequent, might have been TPV, that reminded me that the president like all the other firsts is bearing the brunt of breaking new ground and will, hopefully, pave the way for others to follow.  That doesn’t make it any easier for him, his family, or Democrats/Independents/Republicans (I know there are a few) who don’t hate him for the color of his skin.  But it makes his election, particularly given his name in the post 9/11 climate, that much bigger.

    I didn’t take this comment quite where I thought it was going but at the end know that you’re welcome here for as long as you decide to stay.

  4. hardart

    nice to see you here… i just joined this site too.. but i didnt change my name from dkos… i am stil hardart here and at mypeoplesview.  but in real life i am an artist. i live in los angeles.. my name id Mark Dutcher….  yo can see some of my art at http://www.markdutcher.com or just google my name….. in fact it is much better to ggogle because i havent updated my website in two years.. yikes..   maybe i will follow your lead and do an introduction diary too…..  

  6. sricki

    In the heat of all the open thread action, it took me a bit to click on your diary. I didn’t realize from the name that you were MBNYC. You probably don’t know or recognize me, but you very much stand out in my mind. Several reasons for that. The most intuitive one, likely, is that I lurk a lot on dKos and see your name around. Another reason, actually, is that I remember a very funny comment you wrote in early 2008 on MyDD. It wasn’t exactly…. laudatory about the Clintons, and I was a Clinton supporter at the time – but it made me laugh so hard that I didn’t even mind. It’s the first comment I remember reading on that blog, and one of the few I still recall at all. Most people’s comments kind of blurred together after a while because I spent a whole lot of time and energy there during the primaries. **shudders**

    Another reason I remember you… is that you’ve written some things on dKos that I found to be quite poignant and impactful. I am extraordinarily pleased that you’ve landed here during the boycott. After it’s over, I hope you continue to visit the Moose. It’s hard for me to keep track of people at dKos most of the time.

    Welcome, welcome, welcome!

    • mrsgoo

      very much. While I’m sure I’ll be back on the GOS I think I’ll be hanging here too. I like the slower pace of things. KOS is like drinking from a fire hose.  

    • Shaun Appleby


      Thus conscience does make racists and sexists of us all,

      And thus the native hue of resolution

      Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,

      And enterprise of great pitch and moment

      With this regard their currents turn awry

      And lose the name of action.

      Heh.  It really works.

  14. Stipes

    I’m beside myself at this moment, (big fan by the way!)

    “When a Man Loves a Woman” is an all time classic!

    Cheers!

    😉

  16. fcvaguy

    As each day goes by, I feel ever more comfortable and happy that I made the right choice to boycott. I think it was important to bring attention to the issue of racial intolerance on DailyKOS. I would not feel good about myself if I had not joined. It was the right thing to do. At the same time, I don’t at all begrudge those who wanted to join us but chose to stay.

  17. mahakali overdrive

    but wanting to say hi, MBNYC… I’m glad to see you, personally. I have tons to say, but more work than one human can do (and taking a two-minute sanity break) right now.

    Schedule boycotts in the Summer, please!

    Back to it and my biggest howdy do 😉

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