Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Boobs

I haven't paid much attention to Bloggingheads, which seems like yet another pointless platform for Mickey Kaus, but this exchange between Ann Althouse and Garance Franke-Ruta is fascinating. Althouse judges the behavior of the blogosphere based exclusively on how she is treated -- lefties are mean to her, and apparently have gotten under her skin. But if she thinks that nobody on the right is nasty, she is delusional. Since she still seems to support the Iraq War, that is probably the case.

What really amazes though, is the way that Althouse lost it when Franke-Ruta innocently brings up the -- and I never though I would type these words -- "Jessica Valenti Breast Controversy." After several minutes of complaining about how mean lefties are, Althouse threw a hysterical tantrum. But instead of the normal blogospheric rage, Althouse sounds like a wounded adolescent.

The web can be an extremely nasty place on all sides. Since the barriers to entry are extremly low, anyone can participate. It took about 45 minutes for me to set up my blog. It takes no time to leave a comment, and it can often be done anonymously. I have yet to be upset by any attacks upon me by other bloggers or by comments. Whenever the "Contra-Crunchys" attacked me I loved it. when "Stefanie" called me a "Soros Brownshirt" it made my day. But those attacks were lame. I have a feeling that Althouse is starting to believe that her critics have a point.

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