In defense of the non-troll concerned.

[DeepModem Mom]

Some of us are born optimists, and some of us are worriers. I'm a worrier. I'm concerned. I'll be concerned until Obama is declared the winner sometime on, or after, Election Day. In fact, I'll be concerned until he takes the oath of office on the Capitol steps.

Do I post about this? Not really, although I stand up for the right to post -- and for others to post -- articles, information or opinions that not only pump us up, but those that provide a dose of realism and/or raise a subject that might be troublesome for us.

I think there should be room here, not for trolling, but for frank and realistic discussion of the campaign alongside celebration of how far we have come as Democrats in this campaign and how extraordinary and successful a candidate we have.

I believe Obama not only has the potential for greatness but an opportunity to achieve greatness. I'll be concerned, however, until the election is called, and Barack Obama is sworn in in January.

(Oh, and I don't need to be thanked for my concern, nor, I think, do others here with sincere concerns. Thanks.)

[Ozma]

1. I agree with everything you say. We live in strange times! N/T

[Essene]

2. im concerned with your large amount of text, as a fellow worrier and verbose concerned

[gateley]

3. Agree. nt

[cali]

4. wow. in your mind all the positive news is just stardust to pump us up

and the negative shit (where is it?) is all reality based.

that's just sad.

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Not at all. There is overwhelming positive news. Did I say that???

Let me see. I don't think so --

[mohc]

9. Well

"information or opinions that not only pump us up, but those that provide a dose of realism and/or raise a subject that might be troublesome for us."

That seems to imply that positive information is pumping us up and that troublesome information is a dose of realism. Currently a realistic view of the situation would be an overwhelmingly positive one, and a negative view would be without a basis in reality. For me it is about balance. Right now the chances of McCain winning by 1% are about the same as Obama winning by 20%. If we had a balanced view here we would see just as much talk about historic landslides for Obama as we do about him losing. But that is not what we are seeing, as the negative views far outnumber the positive ones.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. As I said, "There is overwhelming positive news." I haven't noticed negative...

posts outnumbering positive posts. But maybe I don't monitor the board as closely as some here.

[mohc]

16. I was not clear on that point

I used positive and negative in two different senses in my post without clarifying my usage. The baseline is that Obama should win by say 10%. A "negative" post would be one discussing the possibility that Obama might not win by 10%, including the possibility he could even lose. A "positive" post would be one discussing the possibility that Obama might win by more than 10%. There are far more posts discussing the chance that Obama might lose than talking about Obama winning by 20%. Its all a matter of perspective. If one chooses to view posts talking about the lead Obama now has as being "positive" instead of "realistic", then they probably do not view the posts discussing his chance of losing as being as negative as someone that does view them as realistic. To make it more concrete, Obama has a much better chance of winning Georgia's 15 electoral votes than McCain has to win 270 electoral votes nationally, but I have seen way more discussing of the latter.

[DeepModem Mom]

19. I agree with your electoral analysis -- and I will take a closer look at the board. nt

[DeepModem Mom]

6. I believe what I said was what an EXTRAORDINARY SUCCESSFUL candidate we have. nt

[endthewar]

7. I'm concerned about your concern for the concerners

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[DeepModem Mom]

8. LOL!

[yardwork]

10. There's constructive concern and then there's the other kind.

[Silent3]

11. There's a lot of mindless knee-jerk reaction here at DU.

Yes, there are real trolls, but I think they're fewer and farther between than you'd imagine given the scorn and vitriol heaped so quickly and automatically on the heads of anyone who dares to express a little worry.

I'd guess that many of the... shall we call them "concern bashers"?... are more insecure about an Obama victory than the people they bash. Many act as if they have a superstitious fear that victory will be snatched away from Obama by the next whiff of concern that comes along, that the only thing that will secure victory is unrelenting positive talk and positive thought. The "jinx" of worry must, apparently, be met with jeers and taunts and dismissiveness to be properly neutralized.

[iceman66]

13. Thank you for posting this

I couldn't agree more!

[endthewar]

14. So you're saying that you share her concern?

Does that concern you? :rofl:

[seabeyond]

15. being one that lives in the now, dealing with now, with reality and not fearful of

what could be's that havent happened.....

geez what a lousy way to live, lol.

i get tired of all the i am concerned this will happen or that will happen. what do you say to that.

ok

now, lets wait to see if it happens so we can then deal with it.

it gets old

we can say whatever about future that hasnt happened. waste of time and energy and feeling an actual pain with an illusion mind created

[DeepModem Mom]

18. Believe me, there are many of us who wish our minds were always...

thinking positive thoughts. In my immediate family of four, there are two of us who are the worriers, and two others who can put worries in the back of their minds. I'm just saying people are different, even here at DU, I think -- and we could exercise a certain degree of tolerance.

[renie408]

35. Nobody's mind is always thinking positive thoughts. BTW...you realize

that you just illustrated the point that Eckhart Tolle makes in his books perfectly, don't you? Your mind is a tool, like a hammer. You can learn to swing a hammer in the most efficient, positive way and you can learn to control your mind, also. The part that is worrying isn't YOU. If you can observe the part that is worrying, you can control it. That doesn't mean that the thoughts never happen, but when they do you recognize them.

[renie408]

21. Bingo. Worry is an empty row boat. n/t

[elocs]

23. Right. I consider worry to be useless and pointless.

Does worry make one's life better, more enriched and fulfilled? More productive? How exactly does worry help anything, especially things that are out of our power to change? Worrying about Obama losing will not help him win. If we all work and support him as fully as we have, then with the lead he currently has he should win. I haven't read anywhere of anyone suggesting that we should just slack off now and enjoy things and party.

[MuseRider]

17. I agree

but good luck with this. At least you had the guts to express it.

[renie408]

20. Here's the thing...we are ALL concerned. What good does it do?

Hey, I will trump your concerned and raise it to worried. I will worry off and on until Obama wins the election. Then I will worry until he gets inaugurated. Then I will worry every single day he is in office. The 'other team' includes some seriously sick fucks.

Worrying does no good. None. Zip. Zero. Worrying is not planning and it is not doing. Worrying is a draining, depleting emotion. Worrying is non-productive. And coming here and spreading worry is spreading all of those things to other people.

Look, whether we worry or whether we rejoice nothing is changed. Because you worry out loud and somebody else rejoices out loud...are you more wise than they? No. So why not rejoice? Does that mean that you don't occasionally worry? No. Does it mean that you ignore plausible threats? No. It means that you recognize that worrying is pointless, feels bad and drags everybody else down.

[DeepModem Mom]

22. You make really good points. I myself try to post overwhelmingly positive posts...

but part of the reason we are here is for support of each other. It seems if somebody, as Rachel says, needs someone to "talk me down" that shouldn't be out of bounds. Obviously, I agree that someone who makes a practice of posting doom and gloom instead of optimism does us no good.

And sometimes there is negative information or there are negative events that can and should be acted on.

And, as in my above post, I would point to personal differences, which are, I think, probably inborn.

[renie408]

27. I think the difference lies in how the post is worded.

You see some posters writing, "Hey, I heard _______________________, what's the deal with that?" And you see other people writing, "I saw that Obama did __________________________ and now I am concerned that it is a problem." The second one is going to get smacked every single time. The first one will still get smacked, but not as often. And it isn't going to happen that everybody is going to be universally supportive, no matter what you write. The thing to do is take the criticism with a grain of salt or at least try to figure out where it is coming from. Right now, the DU has been inundated with conservative trolls who have been sent forth by their leaders to seed doubt on progressive message boards. Now is probably NOT a good time to voice your concerns, no matter how long you have been here.

Also, the people who write the 50 "Don't count your chickens until they are hatched" posts a day are just asking for it. Those threads are doomed. For one thing, nobody likes being patronized and told 'now kiddies, don't you get your hopes up" and for another...well, maybe there isn't another.

I am not sure that pessimism and optimism are unchangeable personality traits. I think that people lean one way or the other, but they can develop optimistic thinking if they try. Just like you can develop pessimism if you think negatively long enough.

[kennetha]

26. So you only want to hear what makes you feel good for the most part?

[renie408]

30. Is that what I wrote? NO

There is a difference between reading the news, seeing what is going on and worrying about it. There is a difference in writing, "The right is attacking Barack Obama for his relationship with Bill Ayers." and writing, "I am worried because the right is attacking Barack Obama for his relationship to Bill Ayers." One is a statement of fact. The other expresses a pointless emotion.

My point is that worrying about negative things does not change them. It only changes YOU. If it bothers you, DO something about it. Worrying is not DOING something. Sharing worry is like sharing a disease. If you feel like something should be done about the right attacking Obama due to his relationship with Ayers, write "What can we do to counteract the attacks from the right about the Bill Ayers connection?"

See the difference?

[BeFree]

24. There is...

....room here for good discussions. But when someone sparks off about Rezko and Ayers, it shows a lack of knowledge, or stupidity, take your pick.

DU does not suffer stupidity. Stupid opinions get their apt rewards.

[DeepModem Mom]

25. Agreed. Lack of knowledge and stupidity -- not good. Let the other side...

keep that a specialty.

[BeFree]

29. They own it

And when someone displaying the same attributes wanders in here expecting us to scratch their belly like good little liberals, they find out that DU is not to be taken so lightly.

Some times I almost feel sorry for them.

And some times a few truly innocent get scars. Well, ya gotta be tough,eh?

[helderheid]

28. Given the last 2 Presidential elections were stolen, there is valid concern. I share yours. I will

relax when he's been announced the winner.

We've made SOME strides with getting rid of evote machines, but we have more work to do.

Voters are STILL being purged from the rolls.

Fortunately, we have some media, we have the internet, and we know what happens when we have a MASSIVE turnout as we did in 2006. This CANNOT BE too close to steal.

Love ya, DU!

[BeFree]

32. Did you know?

That 30 million new voters turned out in 2004?

That the increase in votes from 2000 was 20 million? 100m << 122M

There were 122 million votes '04. To get a similar increase this year, we'll need 20%, or another 25 million more votes. 122M << 147M.


I know, all these numbers are making me numb, too.

[helderheid]

36. Well, count my husband as 1 new voter! :)

New citizen in 2007.

[gabby garcia]

31. maybe you don't need it but I can't help myself...

thanks for your concern!

[NashVegas]

33. Very Smart, Successful Managers Understand Doubters

And will often run potential operations by them, because they want to know where their weaknesses lie. I just don't think that's something you can expect from GD: P.

[DeepModem Mom]

34. Okay, guys, I have to sign off now because my car is making a funny noise and I'm CONCERNED...

and have to go check it out. Thanks for all the responses to this thread, which I meant to be really more about differences among people than about politics.

Back later!