Time Magazine: Left-Wing Blogs are Getting Nasty

A very interesting article on Time Magazine's website today by Joe Klein on the hatred being spewed by leftist bloggers today. The article is personal and Mr. Klein himself is no fan of conservative blogs, but he points out something to his fellow elite journalists that conservatives have noticed for years.

...the smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless
tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere.
Anyone who doesn't move in lockstep with the most extreme voices is savaged and
ridiculed—especially people like me who often agree with the liberal position
but sometimes disagree and are therefore considered traitorously unreliable.

As someone with a little experience in the blogosphere, I can only echo Mr. Klein's predicament. I'm a conservative, but that doesn't mean I turn a blind eye to conservative vitriol. Indeed, it's out there and can be quite as unnerving as anything left-wing.

But the thing, it seems that the leftist ad hominems are much more visible and much more tolerated. Liberal media like The New York Times or Harper's Magazine or the Daily Kos are routinely given a free pass when it comes to spewing hate. That's what is frustrating; not so much that it's there, but that it's not called out.

Liberals seem to hold a particular venom against conservatives that most conservatives can't identify with. Why is that? Well, one reason is that if you are truly convinced that America (as she stands today with her values and heritage) is in fact the evil enemy, then you are constantly on unholy ground. Another reason is that the Left fears that most of America would in fact call themselves (given the definitions accurately) socially conservative, and that creates a sort of breeding contempt for the bigger man.

In any case, it's a positive note that this has made it to Time Magazine. Like cockroaches, the more visible leftist haters are, the more they tend to scatter.

The Liberation of Paris

"Equal rights for all, special privileges for none"

What an extraordinary sentence! One that embodies the essence of the American system of government; one that this nation has constantly embraced as fundamental to our very purpose for existence. A uniquely American yet organically human creed.

And completely irrelevant when it comes to Paris Hilton.

Yes, yes, yes; I have heartfelt sympathy for anyone who finds himself in prison. It's not pleasant; I don't have to have ever gone to know that. But bluntly put, prison cells are occupied on a reservation-only basis. You do the crime, you do the time as the saying goes. So why does a rich, young, bodacious ("beautiful" is a strong, deceiving word these days) blond do the crime but not the time?

Because that just wouldn't look good on Drudge.

This is clearly case of media-consciousness on the part of the Sheriff who confined Ms. Hilton to house arrest. Overblown reports of rampant disease in the cell and emotional trauma in Ms. Hilton had their way with the justice system, and Ms. Hilton can now serve her sentence in the comfort of a million dollar mansion and with the companionship of million dollar guests.

I honestly wish I could drop some sort of verbally brilliant, sarcastically poignant bomb here. But it's just too simple to overplay. Paris Hilton received favored treatment from the justice system because of her

1) Wealth

2) Sex (both literally and figuratively)

3) Looks

4) Family

(in that order)

Pathetic is a good word for all this. It's not as clever as the occasion deserves, but it's still close enough.