After seeing the attacks on Ann Coulter from The Anchoress, Captain Ed, Right Wing Nut House and other blogs, I have come to realize that the political blogosphere has finally become as trite and mundane once you get above the "B-listers" as the political publishers out there. It was inevitable, but I didn't expect it to devolve into such a killjoy this quickly.
The political blogosphere is basically dead and stale. It has come to mince words a la the mainstream media and has never shown itself to be fundamentally different from the mainstream media. In fact, in the scheme of things, the takedown of Dan Rather can be seen more as the blogosphere equivalent of the few suicide bombings that actually gets passed Israeli security than as genuine evidence that it is better at fact checking than the mainstream media.
It began when these people started attacking Vox. He is a far more interesting blogger because he actually makes you think if your tendency is not to go attavistic at the first sign of disagreement with your cherished prejudices and beliefs. Ann Coulter is the conservative counterpart. She is offensive, and in politics that is a good thing. We ought to be offended by politics because politics should never be something we enjoy and feel comfortable with.
I am starting to share Matt Welch's disillusionment with the political blogosphere. There is hardly any difference between most bloggers that make it big in the political blogosphere and the hacks that make up the bulk of the professional commentariat on both sides of the spectrum.
It's not about civility anymore, but rather about attacking words instead of ideas. People are uncomfortable with the idea that maybe Ann is right, maybe the widows have assumed an inordinate level of respect due to having husbands in the wrong building at the wrong time. Those of us who at least try to think clearly about politics can appreciate their loss, but find their grand-standing asinine. And I say this as someone who actually (for mostly libertarian reasons) shares their disgust with the Bush Administration. Cindy Sheehan, for example, is a nauseating bitch who has taken her grief and turned it into an extreme narcissism. There comes a point where it becomes absurd and they must be called out for being such petulant and pathetic self-promoters.
If Rall, Vox or Coulter get under your skin, you are an overly-sensitive person. You take politics way too seriously. The only people making things lively and entertaining are the extremists who say what everyone knows to be true on some level, to some degree, but can't say. Come on, did you people really think that you were fooling anyone by denouncing Vox over the Nazi comments, Coulter over her latest comments or Rall over his usually deranged (but sometimes mildly realistic) cynicism toward the Republicans? These ideas don't scratch the surface, they cut right through, and reveal a subcutaneous layer of merda del toro.
And that's why I read the funnies in the papers more than the "articles."
You should do that more online.
Lighten up and live.
I don't always agree with some of the things those people listed (and others) say, but it does cause one to think.
Some people don't like to think.
It hurts them and they must make it stop, I guess.
Maybe if they tried Anacin or something.
I do that. Pearls Before Swines is on my Google homepage and one of the first things I check in the morning when I get online.
It's true, though. Women generally are too timid to really stand up for themselves when their lives and liberty are threatened in any way. Deep down inside, they know that they are no match for most men, especially when the men are determined to get their way.
I've found, though, that if you are willing to actually take on the non-hardcore extremists on campus that you can usually get away with "disagreeing" with them.
It's not about civility anymore, but rather about attacking words instead of ideas.
That's exactly right. People initially believed Orwell was fantastically over the top with his "thought police" but as it turns out, he was prophetic. We now have "hate crimes", crimes whose penalty are stiffer than others because of the offender's emotions and/or thoughts as he committed the crime in question. Isn't that crazy? Oh, and don't you dare bring your sexist views to a campus or office environment. Punishment awaits you there too.
I'll leave with a thought that Vox put forth a few months ago. He said something to the effect that women only have whatever power or privilege that men allow them. Snap!!! Try saying THAT in public sometime!
November 2004 I said "mission accomplished" and went home. I haven't been able to bring myself to serious, sustained political blogging since. And I think you've effectively hit on many of the reasons why.
The sniveling, the pissing matches, the faux outrage, huffing and puffing and bloviating in hopes of blowing up another Rather-sized storm, oh and of course the ever so hard-hitting "Pajamas Media"--**SNORE**!!!
Coulter doesn't pull her punches--good for her. If that makes her a pariah amongst the terminally constipated, oh damn well.
I have no particular desire to be one more bit piece of the choreographed party-line voice. Especially when the Big Tent has popped it's stakes and left me behind in the sawdust. I didn't know that back then, I just sensed a shift. But it's become quite apparent over the last couple of years.
If anything, I'll be joining the rabble-rousers in the anti-incumbent movement this fall.
I don't blame you. I have been mostly a "civil liberties and geek blogger" since I "reset" my blog last october/november. I just looked back at the political stuff and realized that I needed a complete change of direction because it was killing my blog and actually embittering me as a person. It's a really hateful passion, I think.
Exactly, DBS. In fact I have a post coming up that you'll enjoy a lot. It's just a picture, but it's something I took with my camera phone on the way home from work in NoVA.
Her comments sound mean, but so what? Are they true? They seem to be.