The original title of this diary had way more profanity in it. But then I realized I was going to write in my Mom Voice and I had better tone it down -- even though Mom is Seriously Pissed Off.
I logged onto the site yesterday afternoon for the first time that day. I'd spent the morning doing field trip duty with my son's elementary school class. Well, those third graders showed a lot more maturity than this site's collective wisdom did yesterday.
So what's important enough to chew up 3000 comments and at least half the rec list? Surely it would be the tragic international crisis unfolding in our own back yard? Or the election happening in five days that the right wing is threatening to win? Or the fact that opposition to marriage equality is literally on trial in California?
Meta wars on the most prominent Democratic blog this week? Have you nothing better to do? Because if you can't or won't grab a mop, the least you can do is get out of the way.
(Action links below the jump.)
First things first - let's talk about the serious work that needs doing. And let me start by asking folks to use the comments section constructively, and by saying I will update the diary with any other good ways we can all grab a mop right now.
Haitian Relief Action Links:
Haitian Relief Day 4 Collected Disaster Relief Links (h/t ALifeLessFrightening and also DallasDoc for kicking off the series and cosmic debris, Norbrook and Betson08 for keeping it going)
Shelter Boxes for Haiti (h/t TexMex for doing this every day since the earthquake)
An Insider's View on Disaster Relief - Q&A on Relief Efforts (h/t mindoca)
Post more in the comments and I will update.
Update: From CornSyrupAwareness in the comments:
Here's what I think... (4+ / 0-)
Text HAITI to 90999 to Donate $10 to Red Cross
Huffpo- Red Cross shocked by online support
9 Million plus given through text messages by Americans.
Also keep in mind Katrina is still with us. This diary by Louisiana1976. Big Easy to Big Empty: The Untold Story of the Drowning of New Orleans.
1 in 3 children born in this decade is predicted to have type 2 diabetes... just heard that on Martha Stewart. Oooo here comes Michael Pollan to talk to Martha. Nice!
And I've got nothing to add to DallasDoc's plea from yesterday:
Are we better than this? Can we, just for a few days, show respect for the dead and dying and focus on what's really important in the world today?
MA-Sen Action Links:
Act Blue Donate to Coakley
Donate to Coakley Background (h/t Arjun Jaikumar)
Link to Call for Coakley From Home (Nationwide)
Just heard N2N calling tool is temporarily down they are working on a fix, check back if you are having trouble.- 3 p.m. PST N2N appears to be back up. Phone away!
Link to find Coakley Phonebanks in MA
Coakley Phonebanking Background (h/t Populista)
TODAY at 5 p.m. is the deadline to apply for an absentee ballot. Click here to find out how to get one if you are a MA voter.
Click here to find your polling place or other voting info.
Prop 8 Trial - Follow the Action
Summary of Legal Issues and Trial Updates (h/t GLBT and Friends at Daily Kos)
Prop 8 Trial Tracker (h/t Courage Campaign)
There is fantastic activism happening right here in our community all the time. It's why I am still here and will stay here no matter how crazy it gets. To support the kind of work I believe in.
You are entitled to your own opinions about MA-Sen, but reading the comments in Populista's diary yesterday made me really angry. Here's a teenage political activist who has become a highly respected voice on this blog explaining how people can help a critical election only days away. Sit out if you want to. But what are you doing dragging down the work of others who want to help?
And if you must have a conversation about what the Democrats are doing wrong, and I agree that sometimes we need to have those conversations, do we need to do it right this very second? Do we need to do it in a week when there are frankly more important conversations to be having? How about waiting just a week, so that you don't distract from the actual work going on or discourage people from getting involved or god forbid from voting?
I don't care who "started it." My kids know exactly how far that excuse gets them. In the over three years I have been posting here, I've been insulted, accused of "shilling," gotten hurt and gotten mad about it. But I don't consider that a license to trash others in return. Glass houses, and all, you know. Your complaints about how badly someone else treated you aren't going to get much of a hearing from me unless you yourself are truly following the Meteor Blades doctrine.
Update - just to be clear on what I'm saying here I'm pulling up a response I posted in the comments: Take note of what I am objecting to. First, I am objecting to crowding out actual work in favor of a conversation that seems mostly about who belongs here and who doesn't, who hurt whose feelings, and who started it. I'm not crazy about that conversation in general and especially so right now. And that's directed as much to people who you might place on my "side" of that particular debate as to anyone. Second, I am objecting to conversations that are about discouraging people from voting, five days before an election.
I'll close with something I posted in the summer of 2008. It was directed at the site's proprietor at the time, but it reflects the frustration at the core of this diary:
You think I'm picking up your slack? No way. I'm already maxed out in almost every way you can envision.
Oh, I see. You are making a point. Yes, well, good for you. But I don't have that luxury. I'm making a future for myself, for my two kids, for my community and my planet.
And the only thing worse than sitting this one out, is to say you are sitting it out, in the most public way possible, to maximize the effect on others to hold back -- when you have every intention of giving your money and time at some unnamed time in the future.
But hey, you made your point.
****
Say what you want. Do what you want. It's a free country. But your choices aren't free. They come with a cost.
Grab a mop, folks. Or if you can't do that, at least have the decency to get out of the way.