I like to think that I am a fairly reasonable man. Tonight one of the people who have followed my work brought something regarding the Justice Democrats to my attention. In the recent past Melissa Byrne has been a clear advocate against the JD organization because of it’s association with Cenk Uygur. I reached out to Ms. Byrne on twitter, she had reported that she was stuck on a train, so I figured it was a perfect time to ask her about her tweets, including a tweet which seems to suggest that she has been advising Mr. Chakrabarti, the executive director of the Justice Democrats for weeks prior to the purge of Mr. Uygur and Mr. Koller. In the middle of the exchange she abruptly unfollowed me, cutting the line of communication before I could reply to her last message, and when I asked her why she blocked me.

I have no idea why she felt attacked, but in just that one exchange she expressed to me some real anger. I don’t like to make assumptions about people, but it seemed to me that because I appeared to be in support of Mr. Uygur she saw me as an enemy. Nothing I had to say mattered to her. I have often characterized this method of communication as ‘My mind is made up, don’t confuse me with the facts’. She had no interest in discussing the fact that although the head of TYT may have said terrible things in the past, he has built a progressive media platform which reaches thousands of people every day. To her all of TYT was rotten because of Mr. Uygur, and nothing I could say would change her mind. I will post the conversation below, because she has blocked me I cannot verify that she is not taking me apart in someway to her followers. I have no desire to be misconstrued as some kind of sexist ass when all I want to do is try and find a way for all of us who wear the title of progressive with pride to work to the common goal. The goal is simple in my view. The constitution stipulates that the function of government is in part to promote the general welfare. I see the progressive movement as demanding this promise be kept. If we cannot find a way to band together despite our history and our different pet issues we will fail again, and the forces that gave us Donald J Trump will push our nation further back in our fight for social and economic justice.

DM Chain between John Boulden and Melissa Byrne Edited to correct spelling mistakes

John Boulden: Hey thanks for taking the time to speak with me. Hope your train is not too held up. Was it just a simple wheel slip or did a whole car derail?

Melissa Byrne: No clue. Not my train. What’s the report you have?

J: Ah, I’ll give you the link, one sec (Link) Please give it a quick read and tell me what you think. A friend forwarded some tweets you made in the past about the Just Dems and Cenk Uygur. I was wondering if you would speak to me about it after you read my report and get a feel for my view on things. My primary mission here is to uphold my oath of enlistment. I feel strongly that our government is too far to the right and way too corrupt and I feel like I have to add my skills to our cause.

M: I have never liked or respect Cenk. You need research Zack Exley. He’s the real guy behind the merger of brand new congress and justice democrats He’s a grifter. Justice Dems has a chance to become decent But they need a 100% divorce from tyt.

J: Ok, would you mind if I spoke to you by phone or by skype? Im in the UK so I can skype your phone for free if cost is an issue, I needed it for all my VA stuff. I haven’t had a chance to talk to someone who really opposes me in this matter, and I don’t feel like I can make a really fair judgement until I get the whole story. I will read up on Exley now, but I am concerned that you think of things in such strong terms.

M: I’ve been an organizer for a long time so I can see grifters a mile away. It’s my super power. I’m swamped for the new few weeks. I’ll loop back when I get more time. But TYT is just Cenk monetizing you tube ad revenue.

J: I see, and you don’t see any benefit to him being a friendly media outlet for progressive candidates? With all due respect I kind of feel like folks on your side of the argument are willing to discard useful tools for winning this fight against the right wing just because you have a personal issue with the front man.

M: I haven’t found the outlet helpful. And as a woman’s who’s been the victim of sexual harassment, I have no need for abusive men. You can chose to support an abusive man. That’s your choice. I choose justice. And Cenk isn’t justice.

J: No, he is human, and as a human he has the capacity to learn and grow from past mistakes. How can we say we are tolerant to all people when we cannot tolerate people who have clearly come along way? This moral purity does turn off a lot of voters, and in the absence of an alternative they turn to a monster like trump.

M: He was sexist in 2011. He was sexist in 2016. But clearly you are here to attack me because I don’t support sexist men.

J: I am in no way trying to say you need so support Cenk, after all that would diminish your reason for disliking him, but to see his entire media group as useless for your cause seems to be a major strategic misstep. Wait, how am I attacking you? I just want to understand your position better.

M: Cenk should leave TYT. and have his friends leave

J: Why should he leave an organization he founded?

M: Because he should care about the movement more than his profit

J: The man is making a living with the skill set he has acquired over his life time, just as you are doing. Why begrudge him making a living while also promoting progressive causes?

M: Because abusive men make it so women can’t have a place. I might be stuck on a train but I have better things to do than talk to a man who’s okay with Cenk and stans for him. As an expert in organizing, I say TYT is harmful and that Cenk has no place in it.

At this point I am unfollowed, so I post this tweet to her feed directly:

@mcbyrne Ma’am, why did you unfollow me mid DM? What are you afraid of? I want to understand your position better, but being rude is no way to communicate and change my opinion on the matter

So I guess this tweet caused Ms. Byrne to block me. Perhaps someone can tell me what I did wrong, because I really think she saw me as an attacker. I got involved because I saw a place for my skill set. I was a sergeant, and we are trained in order to motivate people to do things that may be dangerous. I was struck by how Ms. Byrne pointed twice to the fact that she was a great organizer, as if this actually means anything. I don’t know her, but from what I could find out she should like she is very good a getting people to listen to her. But this does not mean she has a calm and considered opinion on matters. She seems so filled with anger that I fear any advice that she gives is colored by it. We cannot win this culture war with anger. The people are tired of anger. Anger gave us Donald Trump, and if we are not careful, and moderate our tone we will lose the people we are trying to save.

Make no mistake, this is what will happen. If we go to far in our quest for moral purity we will turn away people who agree with our economic message, and want money out of politics, but when they see people like Ms. Byrne wanting to cast out anyone who was ever sexist they will turn away. If our potential converts to the cause have a troubled history, if they came from a conservative way of thinking, why would they want to open themselves up to ruin at the hands of people like Ms. Byrne? Why would they come to our side to be picked on by liberal moral purists when they can stay safe and supported in the arms of the real racists and sexists? We must be more pragmatic in our approaches. We must have folks like Ms. Byrne, people who can motivate the true believers, the fanatics and the zealots, but we must have people like Cenk Uygur, who can speak from a position of personal knowledge about transitioning from a conservative to a progressive. We have to have a sort of cultural half way house where people disgusted with the rampant corruption of business as usual can ease into the progressive movement. We must be mindful that our opponents in this great debate are human too. They have loved ones they want to protect, jobs they are fighting to keep, medical bills they are struggling to pay just as we do. We have to show them an alternative where we accept them warts and all, and love them as the neighbors that they are.

If we fail in this most basic of tasks our movements will fail as a whole.

ATTACHMENTS – Previous tweets from Ms. Byrne regarding the Justice Democrats.



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