Two (more) things that really get my goat lately about the liberal blogosphere:
1) You know, the guy in the White House has an actual record of what he has and hasn't done this past 4+ years. Most liberals would find that record abysmal. In criticizing this administration, can't we stick to all these known facts, and more are being revealed every day it seems, rather than go to the friggin' National Enquirer to dig up and delight in rumors that Bush is back on the sauce? It's positively unseemly the way some blogs are salivating over this, even to the point of making excuses for the supposed value of tabloid journalism! You can't have it both ways; either tabloids and sensationalized rumor-mongering are part of what's wrong with modern journalism, or everything is fair game and bloggers have no moral standing from which to criticize modern journalism.
2) Every now and then it's not a bad idea to explain a recurring gag. I subscribe to over 700 blogs via Bloglines, about half of which I try to read or at least skim regularly - and I'm not getting some of these in-jokes. Can liberal bloggers imagine at all how alienated newbies (and blogs are still a relatively recent phenomenon, there are new readers all the time) must feel trying to make heads or tails out of gags like "Holden Gets A Pony"? Anyway, thanks to Tena at First Draft for explaining this bit when I asked. Sometimes asking is all it takes, but one shouldn't have to, and I hope that liberal bloggers bear this in mind. We're the side that believes in inclusiveness, after all, it doesn't do for us to be overly exclusionary.
1) You know, the guy in the White House has an actual record of what he has and hasn't done this past 4+ years. Most liberals would find that record abysmal. In criticizing this administration, can't we stick to all these known facts, and more are being revealed every day it seems, rather than go to the friggin' National Enquirer to dig up and delight in rumors that Bush is back on the sauce? It's positively unseemly the way some blogs are salivating over this, even to the point of making excuses for the supposed value of tabloid journalism! You can't have it both ways; either tabloids and sensationalized rumor-mongering are part of what's wrong with modern journalism, or everything is fair game and bloggers have no moral standing from which to criticize modern journalism.
2) Every now and then it's not a bad idea to explain a recurring gag. I subscribe to over 700 blogs via Bloglines, about half of which I try to read or at least skim regularly - and I'm not getting some of these in-jokes. Can liberal bloggers imagine at all how alienated newbies (and blogs are still a relatively recent phenomenon, there are new readers all the time) must feel trying to make heads or tails out of gags like "Holden Gets A Pony"? Anyway, thanks to Tena at First Draft for explaining this bit when I asked. Sometimes asking is all it takes, but one shouldn't have to, and I hope that liberal bloggers bear this in mind. We're the side that believes in inclusiveness, after all, it doesn't do for us to be overly exclusionary.
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