D&C “Storychat” invaded by Freepers
Unfortunately for Rochester, many of the D&C storychats are being dominated by extreme-right zealots. It’s gotten so bad on a couple of articles that it’s starting to sound like the fever swamps of RochesterWatch.com…
Check out this discussion. It’s about Alyce Sanders, a black realtor who was recently asked by a suburban client to use a white agents photo instead of her own photo. She agreed, and sold the house pretending to be white.
Watch the wingers hammer these (false) talking points:
-Liberals are racist
-Public assistance perpetuates poverty
-Non-profits make money off of poverty; it’s to their benefit to perpetuate it
-Education would thrive if it wasn’t publicly funded
-Anything the government does is a failure
-Racism doesn’t really exist
-Black people are stupid and lazy
-Black kids are bad; it’s their own fault they get a lousy education
This stuff’s so offensive that I can hardly write it down!
One commentor even suggested that the D&C was biased here, and the title of the article should have been: “Realtor succeeds by being inventive”"
OK, sure, we all know that they’re just repeating the propaganda of the right-wing noise machine. These are toxic ideas that bubble up out of right-wing think tanks and, through repetition, eventually into the mainstream press. None of these assertions is provable. In fact, published research proves exactly the opposite. Lies, lies, lies.
Our problem, fellow progressives, is that these ideas succeed rhetorically to a certain part of the population. Some people are very susceptible to this kind of speech. We must not let it go unchallenged.
There’s a 90/10 rule to internet discussions, which states that only ten percent of the people reading a discussion actually participate in it. There are over 7,500 people registered in the D&C forums. That means there are probably about 75,000 people reading them. That’s a lot of voters.
The discussion is being dominated by a handful of ideological jerks. This cannot continue.
Rochester Progressives: HELP! Rebut these jerks. Refute their lies. Call them on their BS. Ask for sources. Link to sources that disprove their crap.
I feel like we’re the new Moral Majority, and unfortunately also the new Silent Majority. Speak up! Even if you just chime in with a few words, it helps to show readers that not everyone is buying what the wing-nuts are selling.
“That’s BS.”
“Prove it”
“Source?”
Step 1: Go to the main D&C Forum page: http://forums.democratandchronicle.com/index.php
Step 2: Click “log in”, then “set up your profile”
Step 3: Try to comment early in day, so that your comment is read by as many people as possible. Many people don’t know how to get to the thread index, so for all practical purposes the commenting only counts on the day the story ran.
Step 4: Comment often. The most recent comment is sometimes the only one visible to casual readers.
Just do it. There’s no commitment; you’re not getting married. Even one or two positive comments help…
Related posts:
You have a good point. Blogs are sexy, but “storychats”, while maybe badly crafted and full of trolls, do probably have more clout than we’d like.
The D&C is dead: why bother with it?
Because they have a Sunday circulation of almost a quarter-million papers. In an area with a population of about a million, that’s a significant readership.
Because they have 7,500 people registered for their chats.
Because probably most of those people vote.
Like it or not, the D&C is still a major opinion-maker here in Rochester.
[...] is funny. A few weeks ago, we posted about some of the offensive comments that were taking place in the story chats in the Democrat and [...]
“RochesterWatch.com”? Please. The D&C’s forecasted daily weather low beats the collective IQ of the typical posters on RochesterWatch.com. This gun-totin’ racist cadre sees liberalism as a disease while firmly convinced anyone left of Strom Thurman is an obvious ’socialist commie’.
Rochester’s answer to the Dukes of Hazzard, one could almost imagine the gang at RochesterWatch.com as they swagger around with their Concealed Carry permits while advocating turning Iraq and Iran into a sea of glass. Knee jerk reactionaries? Perhaps. Paranoid right-wing nut jobs?
Definitely.
They’re really all about the guns, aren’t they?
Oh, I don’t know…. between handing out discount coupons for ammo, gushing about the virtues of blasting humans into paste and amassing enough personal munitions to take on the Russian army, they manage to toss in a quip or two about the amoral liberal evils in all aspects of society.
RochesterWatch.com’s draconian approach to gays, liberals, minorities, international diplomacy and ‘patriot’ embrace of Second Amendment ‘rights’ speaks highly of their intolerance and ‘me-my-mine’ mentality.
Truly a depressing group of local Luddites, their intolerance is shocking enough but what’s more revealing is that many of their views aren’t all that uncommon in the local community. I find it frightening and unnerving these people haven’t managed to move past the mentality of the 1970’s. Upstate anachronisms among us.
Education, it would appear, is not a highly prized virtue in RochesterWatch.com. And that’s sad beyond description.
RochesterTurning gives encouraging reason for hope and optimism for this community. Thankfully, it’s the antithesis of RochesterWatch.
Thanks for the kind words. When you’ve got a minute, check out these photos they’ve got posted. They speak volumes.
Actually, it’s the bastions of measured and progressive thought such as RochesterTurning that are keeping me in this, my hometown area of more than half a century.
RochesterWatch members are nothing if not obsessively compulsive about their devotion to the Second Amendment. A few of the more poignant photos of their manic ‘hobby’ are here…,here…, and here….
Can’t find the adorable photo spread of one of their toddler spawn sitting amidst a pile of Daddy’s proud and deadly weaponry, but it raises all sorts of questions about the mental health of some of the members of RochesterWatch.com.
Their jaw-dropping and incredulous posts are what keep me lurking in the shadows. Like watching a train wreck, it’s been said, “Keep your friends close and your enemies even closerâ€ÂÂ.
This group of local yahoos really take the cake.
Christ, it’s worse than I thought. I generally support the 2nd amendment, but this… this…
What the h*ll is wrong with them? It’s like they never grew up - bunch of eight-graders sneaking throwing stars and nunchucks into school with adult purchasing power.
Do you suppose some of them actually have machine-gun permits, or are those illegal guns?
“Permits?? We don’t need no stinkin’ PERMITS; we’re Americans and that means we’ve got a ‘right’ to bear arms.”
In their warped world, bigger is ALWAYS better. A false sense of bravado always goes better with assault rifles in the closet; defending themselves with literal overkill doesn’t mean they’d actually NEED such an arsenal, but patriot paranoia being what it is, one never knows when an Islamic extremist will come knocking at the door in Greece NY. Bush’s Policy of Fear works better than hijacked planes.
“Those infidel-head lopping ‘ragheads’ are EVERYWHERE, doncha know? Why, Greece-Ridge Mall must be full of ‘em… that’s why we need Concealed Carry permits so we can mow ‘em down in front of the Bon-Ton.”
To be sure, Rochester and Monroe County need MORE gunpower in the hands of its residents… not less. Assault rifles in the city would definitely help bring down the incidents of shooting, no question about it.
Or so goes the theory.