Today is my first day in this group. For what it’s worth, I’ve made a few comments, but I’m increasingly dubious that whatever I say will actually contribute to conversations, so I’m going to stop such replies for now and instead make this general post.

Given the group name and the guidelines to which I agreed, I expected to be encountering thoughtful lefty critical analysis that would be a refreshing change from the kind of unnuanced thinking I too often find in Facebook political commentaries. But instead, I’m seeing many (not all) posts that rant and vilify as much as our worst enemies. I see generalizations without supporting sources (or in at least one case, a notoriously unreliable source), and I am sometimes confused whether a mean attack is genuine or a bot designed to sow dissension within the left.

I find an enormous amount of repetition with no added light, as in the seemingly never-ending laments about Bernie’s defeat and how wonderful he is. (Yes, it’s sad, but don’t we need to move on and not mire ourselves in an irretrievable past?) And I’m especially disappointed in the should-we-or-shouldn’t-we-vote-for-Biden wrangling. While I haven’t read everything on this theme, what I’ve seen typically sounds identical (with name changes) to quadrennial election comments for the many elections in which I’ve previously voted. (If you want to see my own take, based on often NOT voting for a main party candidate—which depending on your own zeal may or may not moderate this polarization—you can check my blog post at http://www.richardyanowitz.com/wordpress/to-biden-or-not-to-biden/.)

Just in case this one day’s contributions are a fluke, and they’re normally much more thotful, I’ll watch for another day or two. But if nothing changes, I shall withdraw from this group (which presumably will please others as well as myself).

I’m curious whether anyone else reacts as I have to many of the posts here, or if in this group’s context I’m just a serious misfit. (I’m also wondering whether a lot of the comments are from younger people, for I can imagine myself as having written similar polarizing statements, or repeated laments, in my long ago, youthful political days.) I will respond to posts that seek to be thoughtful, regardless of whether they agree with me, but not to ones that think nuanced argumentation consists of nastiness and righteousness.