A funny thing happened on the way to the forums

Election Night highs promise post–election blues.

Honestly, if I’d spent 2 November 2004 snorting four grams of cocaine through a one–dollar bill, the comedown could hardly have been worse.

Few things in life are as exciting as the mass exercise of democracy.

Few things in life are as depressing as the hollow feeling of the period immediately after – when, really, it can feel like there’s nothing left to do anymore.

Such is the price of being a democrat (small ‘d’). The result hardly matters, does it? It’s the event that gets us so frisky. Election Night – nothing sounds quite so exciting.

To ease the pain, my editors told me to pitch my tent in the openDemocracy US Election 2004 forums, where all kinds of characters relive the highs and lows, examine the past, forecast the future, discover like–minded souls, and debate in (mostly) good spirit with “the other side”.

Forum posters are active sorts. I’m offering the idler’s guide.

What is a forum?

Post–election posts range from elation (“Long live Pax Americana!”) to despair (“the end of democracy as we have come to know it”) to outright paranoia (“I can’t respond to that because the PATRIOT ACT is in effect and analysing every word we type”).

(Actually, “hillary_cermak”, I am analysing every word you type, and I’m much tougher than the drippy – and inexplicably capitalised – PATRIOT ACT.)

The political range of openDemocracy posters is impressive. Neo–conservatives export freedom and democracy (with a touch of shock and awe) across socialist peninsulas; caring liberals shower their pity in the crib of a “High Church Tory”; various whackos pump conspiracy theories into the bellies of True Believers. Invariably, the evolution of an individual’s thoughts and beliefs is there – via the terrifyingly retentive “User Profile” – for all to gawp at.

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The forums, in short, are many things: agoras of democratic debate, echo chambers, confessionals, purifiers, Buddhist retreats, university seminars, grammar rodeos, singles bars, beauty contests, variety shows, not to mention a good laugh to read.

Here there is earnestness, anger, humour, parroting, originality, repetition – the whole gamut of democratic splendour and sludge.

What is democracy?

Two great things about democracy:

• The mixture of the high with the low, the elite with the dross. A visit to the forums is a little like traipsing through an art exhibition that mixes Tintoretto with Tracey Emin (albeit more Emin than Tinto).
• Self–correction. Democracy allows for mistakes and for recovery from mistakes. Incredibly, in the spirit of democracy, the forums end up being self–corrective. In one notable ding–dong between residents “owly,” “brolly2_1” and “henry_hart_1”, “owly” gets movingly righteous: “I would remind you of Open Democracy rules :–Please use the forums in the spirit of openDemocracy. Be respectful of others, no matter how disagreeable you find their views!” “Brolly” then offers a diplomat’s apology: “With regard to the phrase ‘resident poodle’ I am quite prepared to amend it … Perhaps the word ‘poodle’ was unnecessary and therefore I will not use it again in reference to your contributions.”

Astonishing!

“Sometimes people in the forum can be quite mean to me, but never as mean as they are to each other,” Solana Larsen, my colleague and forum moderator, tells me. “But these are serious subjects, and it’s hard for everyone not to get personal sometimes. The quality of the arguments is generally so high that you can almost feel the stage fright when people first venture in there.”

On the whole, as some of them say about Dubya, the posters “get it”. Democracy is lived as well as defended and bemoaned. Damn thing, you just can’t get rid of it! “It is impertinent for non–Americans to begrudge the right of U.S. citizens to elect the political leader of their choice,” says John Rhys–Burgess. “It is entirely their prerogative if they wish to appoint a dangerous and deluded psychotic.”

Speaking of whom… The President of the United States gets a lot of airtime in the forums. “a simpleton president who just wants to “blow sh1t up!” and is quite happy to fabricate pretexts in order to do so,” is how “Tezza” honours him. “Thank God Bush has won!!” exclaims “kingp64269”. “I’ll take this “simple” man anytime.” Wrong, says “Tezza”, “The American people are afraid of people (like John Kerry) who challenge them to think for themselves.”

“TimLFrancis” replies: “Tezza, The simple answer to your outrage is for the “world” to get off their butts and do something.” People like “Tezza” “are reduced to pathetic whining, and are rightly ignored by the powerful.” Somehow – oh, aren’t ordinary folks just zowee! – this morphs into a debate about Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

All of which resides under the heading “In deepest sympathy” offered by “sandy.anthony,” a banner that infuriates “fdbjr”: “What is killing modern liberalism is the sort of elitism expressed in this line, and the continuing retreat from populism.” “henry_hart_1” adds his two cents worth: “Kerry is a pure politican, whose only lodestone is the latest poll … But post–9/11, in a much–changed world, we can’t afford to be led by a guy who’s led by nothing, and who would have almost certainly governed by committee and town–hall meeting.”

“I am not religious, I do not own a gun, I do not live in a rural area, I am not racist, I have a Masters level education, and I do not even consider myself a Republican,” explains the fantastically–named “travisfisher” who voted for Bush and has a captivating take on the myth that Bush’s triumph was all about evangelism. “I used to be a diehard liberal,” confesses “bigguyinjersey”, but “the dems fell asleep at the wheel … too busy taking care of the far left” and “not looking out for the average American”.

Kerry lost because he’s a “socialist,” say those on the right, and socialism “runs counter–intuitive to Nature itself. Unfortunately, the world is as much “jungle–law” now as it was when we first appeared in loin cloth.”

No, says “mirostano” (who admires the “elite” and thinks the majority of Americans “nobodies”), Kerry lost ‘cos o’ all those “tattooed God’s soldiers in big cadillacs and huge pick up trucks and their pregnant wives” whose “arrogant ignorance made me want to cry and I did (later).”

Good thing, too. The forums sport a super joke about a Southern Republican with a Glock .40.

More on the elite in an essay (with a neat comparison of Kennedy of Dubya) from a despondent “ronr327”. “If I believe in the “wisdom of the people”, am I not inconsistent, not to say elitist, if I now reject the people’s judgment? I do reject it, and so be it!” Answers on a postcard, please. Or better yet, in the forums.

What is America?

An equally combative thread is entitled “Is there healing from a death wound?” (er, no, not usually). The strikes fall with a relentless dull thud: “November 2, 2004, will be a day that will live in infamy,” “Blow by blow [America’s] status, respect in the world, and the ideals for which she stands have been pummelled and more can be expected,” “the clock [towards fascism] is ticking once again,” “Democracy has been wounded by ambitions of empire and the world will not just lay down and take it,” “Congress will cower to the demands of the emperor lest they be taken out like Daschle was.”

“henry_hart_1” responds to the latter that “Daschle was VOTED out of office. It’s called the democratic (small “d”) process. Maybe you should go back and study 4th–grade civics.” And “mr3theobald” offers a defence of US foreign policy: “We took out the trash that everyone else was holding their nose and tip–toeing around. There is no evidence that the US wants to dominate the world unless you consider spreading democracy (which I assume everyone here supports on the OD site) a form of cultural hegemony.”

Well, do you?

And then, those pesky moral issues that swung this election Bush’s way. “In a secular society, it’s not my role to promote brotherhood and compassion,” “mr3theobald” goes on to explain. “That’s the role of religion. I’m satisfied with government’s role in proection from Islamo–fascist attack”. “hillary_cermak” (of “PATRIOT ACT” fame) laments the “instant gratification and “mine at any expense”” all–American ethos. “I’m not going to convince you of my stance,” she says, “nor will you change my views; I know and accept that … I’m all for morals and spirituality. Karma does spin on a wheel and we’re spinning rather quickly.”

“mr3theobald” responds by quoting the US Constitution. Emotive stuff, people. Yet still there are those who contemplate a move to Canada!

“Democratic values closely mirror the values of many of the world’s major religions,” says “e.e.palmunen” in a different thread. “Just because they don’t exactly espouse one religion doesn’t mean they are immoral.”

Unsurprisingly, the forever fashionable claim abounds that America the beautiful is now an ugly old blimp. “In the daze of deception, America appears to have lost its way. Her majesty has been captured by the enemy within. Her greatness has been used to exploit her and her strengths to deflate her dreams and the dreams of the world,” judges D. Lindley Young. “The US has made itself into the boorish, hulking neighbor nobody invites to the parties,” says “CoolGraham”. “The republic is dead. We have witnessed the last parody of democracy. America has chosen greed, hypocrisy and arrogance,” bleats “tsepesh”. Expect lots of this: some measured, some off the scale.

What is truth?

The best stuff originates from Ohio (as few have said before). “Zoon” writes from Columbus, where, after having worked to get the vote out for John Kerry in The State That Decided It All, s/he now identifies a rural/urban divide that goes down like a flaming zeppelin with “henry_hart_1”, who accuses “Zoon” of urbanite contempt for rural “dummies”. “Zoon” thinks city–folk follow debates about policies like trade liberalisation (“rightly or wrongly, I feel that I *should* have a reasoned position”), whereas the life of your average hick is “less saturated by news … and that therefore, the ins and outs of policy discussions are largely uninteresting to them.”

This kicks off some serious discussion – about the issues, insulation, isolation, the election, the vote, the Amish, the Elks and Moose, Plato, the origin of cabbages, the weaponisation of space, the price of fertilizer, gay marriage, gay neighbours, and back round to the rules of discussion. “Tolerance is really a harder virtue to practice than we like to think, but it’s essential for democratic conversation,” says “Zoon”. “I laud your call for more reasoned – and reasonable – discourse among people of good will, whatever their political stripe,” “henry_hart_1” replies. “I admit to being easily antagonized and am often quick to scorn on this site … and I can certainly use more patience and less sarcasm.”

Beautiful.

Not that “owly” is in such a generous mood. “The standard of debate and discussion on [openDemocracy] is abysmal to say the least, and the Editorial direction also leaves much to be desired. I find it at times profoundly depressing.” He rightly suggests that (across most of the media) the ideas of the neo–conservatives are “not even discussed in rational manner” despite their leftist origins and their genuine commitment to democracy. “So discuss it and don’t be frightened to debate it,” is “owly’s” prescription. He also makes a posting that is indubitably fine enough to refute his own complaints.

“In some broad sense, I think, we vote for a vision of community,” “Zoon” concludes. There’s the American national narrative, and then there’s the openDemocracy forums. Judge for yourself to which “Zoon” refers.

I could go on and on, and, indeed, by the time I’ve snapped the final full stop on the final paragraph, the content of this article will be outdated, old news. The forums, unlike articles about the forums, never stop, but keep moving forward and changing and starting all over again, and … well, you know what I mean. You can never keep up with opinion.

To camp out for a day or two in the US Election forums is to read about the first world war, Versailles, Pearl Harbour, the second world war, Venezuela, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, the professional poor of Peru, Nascar, PNAC, Sherlock Holmes, smoothie Scots, Conan the Barbarian, torture, tramoya, Will Shakespeare, Leo Strauss, the Electoral College, hanging chads, Arabism, zero point energy theory, agriculture, popcorn, KoolAid, as well as Bush vs Kerry.

It is to inhabit the universe of “brolly”, “Zoon”, “owly”, “kingp”, “huck”, “kwatt”, “bigguyinjersey”, and various other characters whose monikers are straight out of a Russ Meyer movie.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author alone and do not represent those of openDemocracy as a whole.

One truth: quality posts raise the level of debate; stupid posts produce necessarily stupid responses.

“The fact of the matter is, America had a well thought out, almost two year discussion (unlike any I’ve ever seen), ranging from health care to Afghanistan, and our electorate agreed with more of the Republican views than they did Democratic ones.”

Fair point, “travisfisher”. Though I’d like to make note of one last thing. “fdbjr” asks: “Do any of the columnists on OD ever stop to think how completely they have descended into glassbauerspiel? … They are leading unexamined lives, in which ignorance becomes not bliss, but a smug self–righteousness.”

As one of these (supremely) self–righteous columnists, I can assure you, Mr/s “fdbjr”, that I think every day about my descent into glassbauerspiel. I find, however, that there are never quite enough hours to make a comprehensive examination.