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[bryant]

Pop quiz!

What's the difference between attending a rally organized by some pretty unpleasant Communists who support Hussein (a hard core dictator) and

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<p>Pop quiz!</p> <p>What's the difference between attending a rally organized by some pretty unpleasant Communists who support Hussein (a hard core dictator) and <a title="The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: Vlad Sez: "Shut the Fuck Up!"" href="http://www.nicedoggie.net/archives/000551.html#000551">supporting the dictatorial Putin</a>?</p> <p>Apparently, a week or so. You know, Putin cheated in his elections too. Just saying.</p> <p>Another pop quiz!</p> <p>What's the difference between supporting Putin's right to crush his rebels however he wants and supporting <a href="http://WWW.nicedoggie.net/archives/000558.html">Iranian students threatening an uprising</a>? Just a day, in that case.</p> <p>Does Putin have more moral ground than Iraq or Iran? Oh, sure. I don't actually think that the Chechen rebels are precisely as admirable (or despicable) as Iranian students protesting the Iranian regime. But please, let's make our praise of Putin a little more sophisticated then "Our country, our dead, our solution." Cause that line of reasoning applies to the dictators you don't like, too.</p> <p>I begin to think that "Anti-Idiotarian" is code for "low rent Rush Limbaugh."</p>

Comments

[rfrancis]

So I went and looked at these things, despite my better judgment. And I'm mystified.

I mean, why read this stuff?

[bryant]

Cause Glenn Reynolds has a position of some prominence as a blogger, and is often interviewed by mainstream media, and considers people like Mischa to be fine examples of blogging. Cause Andrew Sullivan gets published in meatspace, and gets huge numbers of visitors on the Web.

The political blog space has been, to a large degree, colonized by people who were deeply frightened by 9/11, and who responded with aggression and so forth. I can understand the terror, but I can't excuse the macho posturing.

I'm nothing much compared to Patrick Nielsen Hayden or Jim Henley, but it's an ecosystem in which silence is taken to represent defeat. I think it's important that someone goes out and points out the inconsistencies, the hatred, and the poor logic. Criticisms must exist, and they must be discoverable. You'll note that in Mischa's entries referred to above, there are trackback links to my blog. Someday someone will read my stuff and say "Huh. I guess Mischa really is kind of a dork." One person, for me, would be a success.

I try to balance this (and my anger at these neo-Limbaughs) with sports talk and occasional gaming. I hope I don't come across as too pretentious.