The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 5 of 7)

This article is right on target. My forays into the blogosphere have left me with the indelible impression that a lot people who submit commentary need be thankful that their identity is protected by anonymity. Since many of them seem to possess no cogent or independent thought to bolster their beliefs, they endeavor to make up for their lack of a persuasive argument by being as confrontational and obnoxious as possible.

How this approach enhances their ability to win converts to their viewpoint does not appear to be the point of these tirades. Character assassination using a strategy of stealth is hardly the work of the courageous. It more resembles a temper tantrum thrown by a petulant child.

Particularly disgusting are comments made by angry bloggers impugning the character of others by ascribing sinister motivations to the actions or words of people they do not know and obviously do not understand. A favorite tactic is to dismiss anyone who disagrees with you as someone driven by hate. Some common examples include: pro-lifers who oppose to abortion are accused of hating women, people who disagree with the concept of gay marriage believe this because they detest homosexuals, people who question evolution are consumed by a loathing for science, etc. Using this form of illogical reasoning, one could also claim that: those opposed to the use of DDT abhor people afflicted with malaria, people who favor affirmative action hate all Caucasians or those who reject attempts to bring about immigration reform have an extreme dislike of real Americans.

Name-calling and the use of offensive language often accompany these absurd accusations. How ironic! The same people who constantly remind us how much they care about the self-esteem of others have no qualms about trashing the feelings of people whose ideas they revile. Without a twinge of guilt they hurl vile epithets at their adversaries and pepper their comments with the crudest profanity they can muster. They appear to be completely oblivious to their own hypocrisy.

p>In spite of all this bad behavior, there is a lot of worthwhile commentary on the internet. Too bad we have to endure all the dreck that poisons our communication before we can get around to a serious discussion of any issue. Recent statements made by politicians, like those of Rep. Pete Stark, portend that there are no longer any boundaries defining the limits of our political discourse. All indications are that the political rhetoric this election cycle will be the ugliest and most mean-spirited in our history. Nowhere will that be more evident than in the blogosphere. br> -- Rick Arand br> Lee's Summit, Missouri /p>

This article does a good job of exposing and explaining a modern day problem, a genie that has escaped its lamp. Civil discourse has, indeed, gotten a good deal less civil. This cyber character assassination has become a preferred tool of the globalist radical Left, such as DailyKos, Media Matters, and other Soros funded and advised groups, as well as one of the American political parties. We have indeed seen many people in both public and private life ruined by this practice. We see whole industries sent reeling by coordinated cyber calumny attacks.

The one area, however, that the article does NOT address is that the same blogosphere has shown an amazing ability to take on the cyber-bullies and absolutely shred their arguments, to provide complete and total fisking of their attempted attacks. We have seen the blogosphere completely expose phoney news photographs from the war in Iraq within 24 hours of their appearance. We have seen the blogosphere, within 24 to 48 hours identify and expose the real person behind an attack as it did with all the phoney soldiers that put forward their anti-war rants and the lies about their own military records. Look at the speed with which Media Matters has been exposed in their attacks upon both O'Reilly and Limbaugh. Look at the speed with which John Kerry's lies and evasions regarding his military record and that whole mess was exposed, and the defense of the Swift Boat vets when they were maligned by the MSM. I could go on and on with examples of how the blogosphere has responded with warp speed to completely discredit scurrilous attacks, whether launched from the floors of Congress, the studios of the television industry, the pages of the newspaper industry, or the many environs of the denizens of Hollywood.

p>Mr. Orsi does, indeed, identify a real negative facet of our modern society. I, however, am not nearly as negative on this subject as Mr. Orsi. I have seen the blogosphere take control and defeat these scurrilous attacks in almost real time. I am, indeed, rather optimistic that the blogosphere can handle this problem just fine, thank you. Of course for those who do not want to know the truth, there is little that we or anyone can do. br> -- Ken Shreve br> Behind enemy lines in New England

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