Every once in awhile, I hear people whine about how JU is allegedly a "right wing" site, and squelches liberal bloggers. While it is true that liberal bloggers have been squelched here, they have NEVER been squelched because of their politics, but rather the nature of their interaction with others. And conservative bloggers have been silenced as well.
Sooo, on with the story.
I decided it was time to register with Democratic Underground. Not because I agree with their ideas, mind you, but to read and post the articles that were written. I didn't get very far, though, before I realized that DU intends to be a cloistered community and to disallow anyone from outside their ranks. This from their TOS underscores my point:
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Who We Are: Democratic Underground is an online community for Democrats and other progressives. Members are expected to be generally supportive of progressive ideals, and to support Democratic candidates for political office. Democratic Underground is not affiliated with the Democratic Party, and comments posted here are not representative of the Democratic Party or its candidates. |
(emboldened type added by author).
See, technically a GREEN should be disallowed by DU's TOS. And as a Libertarian, I don't stand a chance. Because, you see, DU's concern is not about discussion, it is about control, and it is about spin. It's a virtual guarantee that a DU regular won't see much of an opposing viewpoint in what they call "news".
By contrast, one can always find opposing viewpoints at JU. It's what we're about. While one side puts out a story on evolution, another is equally busy constructing a story on creationism. And in the 2004 presidential election, Bush, Kerry, Cobb, Badnarik, Nader and Peroutka ALL had articles written about them on the site...in fact, the platforms of the three prominent third parties were posted to this site WITHOUT editorial content in the body of the article. There was a genuine opportunity to obtain information far beyond that available in regular media outlets.
So, if you want a site that severely restricts its content, go to DU. If you want a site where free expression's pretty much intact, JoeUser's the right place for you. After all, very little's out of bounds on your own blog site.