Joe Klein Blames Conservatives For "Intolerance" Among Lefty Bloggers
Thursday, June 7, 2007 at 12:44PM Leave it to Time Magazine's Joe Klein to turn an article presumably about left-wing blog rage into an attack on the right. Klein places the responsibility for out-of-control rage and intolerance among left-wing bloggers on...well, conservatives:
But 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. Some of this is understandable: the left-liberals in the blogosphere are merely aping the odious, disdainful—and politically successful—tone that right-wing radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh pioneered. They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics.
A note to Mr. Klein. I enjoyed Primary Colors immensely, but to argue that the anger and savage content on the left-wing side of the blogosphere is the responsibility of conservatives in the media and the Bush Administration is nothing short of absurd. Furthermore, such an allegation exempts the extremists on the left from any responsibility for so carelessly and freely spewing their vituperation. Klein comes up just short of excusing their behavior as understandable. Don't any of these lefty bloggers possess free will and that little mechanism most civil people seem to have that let's us know when a certain expression of anger might fall into the category of being socially unacceptable and classless? But then again, it's always somebody else's fault with leftists anyway. Klein is simply creating one more set of "victims."
Reader Comments (1)
I've responded to the Klein nonsense over at Coffeespy and included my very own Scottish Right charicature (http://coffeespy.com/?p=270).
Keep up the good work!