Apparently it is not pretty. Some people expressed surprise at the ugly tone of the thread released by Mickey Kaus, in which the JournoListas lashed out at Marty Peretz. But the trash talking on the JournoList itself was a ruse for some deeper level of cat-fighting that goes on off-list.
Note this comment by Eric Alterman directed at Jonathan Chait, who had questioned whether "the point of this [is] to create a forum where certain people can be criticized (or, more precisely, called names) without the criticizer having to fear a response?" Alterman responded, in part, as follows (emphasis mine):
Quit lying about my record, Jonathan Chait.... As you well know, there are plenty of attacks going on between yourself, Matt, Ezra, Spencer, and myself that do not make it onto this list because we respect the importance of civility here. Or at least we did.... I expect Ezra will want to intervene here, but please do feel free to forward our exchange to Marty. I can only imagine how proud he'd be....So the trash talk on-list pales in comparison to the fighting off-list, according to Alterman. What does that say about these oh-so-smart people who devote so much of their lives to attacking Bush (still), Republicans, conservatives, plumbers, moose-hunting moms, and everyone else who does not fit their paradigm of a compassionate and intelligent American?
What the JournoList reveals is that so much of liberalism as perpetuated by liberal bloggers and columnists is a facade, a veritable Potemkin Village of humane emotions hiding an ugly truth of egotistical anger and an obsessive need to attack others to prove to their own self-worth. And all this is gleaned from a single JournoListic thread.
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See these related posts: The JournoList Should Be Called The PlagiarList, Release ALL The E-Mails, Ezra, My First Tweet: The JournoList Sure Has A Lot Of Anti-Semitic Commenters, Ezra Klein Smears Ann Althouse.
William A. Jacobson: "What does that say about these oh-so-smart people who devote so much of their lives to attacking Bush (still), Republicans, conservatives, plumbers, moose-hunting moms, and everyone else who does not fit their paradigm of a compassionate and intelligent American?"
ReplyDeleteIs it surprising in any way? I mean, Keith Olbermann gives Jeneane Garofalo a forum to spout these sort of cute little rants: "The reason a person is a conservative republican is because something is wrong with them. Again, that’s science – that’s neuroscience. You cannot be well adjusted, open-minded, pluralistic, enlightened and be a republican. It’s counter-intuitive. And they revel in their anti-intellectualism. They revel in their cruelty."
Garafalo actually said that in a celebrity blog and not on Olbermann-- but still you understand the point. With a lot of media people it's not just BDS, but an unreasonable hatred of anyone who dares disagree with them.
These are awful people all around ... no better than the lowest netroots scum, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteNice posting...
"What lurks beneath the outward gentility and civility of the most enlightened liberal bloggers and columnists?"
ReplyDeleteMany of these people simply do not possess "outward gentility and civility" at all. Just remember Lawrence O'Donnell's screaming attack on Swift Boat Veteran John O'Neill in 2004 on MSNBC’s Scarborough Country. And he did it again with Cathy Seipp on Dennis Miller's show in 2005. Then there was David Gregory's extraordinarily rude conduct in the White House press briefing room, directed at press secretary Scott McClellan. And then there was Keith Olbermann's meltdown in 2005 accusing the White House of treason over something to do with Newsweek (I don't remember the details on that one). And wouldn't you know -- all of these out-of-control guys continue to get promotions and salary increases. The worse they behave, the better their career opportunities. Not so long ago, on-air conduct like theirs would have warranted an immediate firing. These days, employers reward incredibly bad behavior, so we can expect to see more of it in the future.
So I'm just not all that surprised to learn that JournoListas are as badly behaved and nasty tempered when they out of the public view as they are when we can all see them. Well, I don't see them myself -- I change the channel instantly whenever their faces appear.
"What lurks beneath the outward gentility and civility of the most enlightened liberal bloggers and columnists?"
ReplyDeleteHave you actually SEEN Keith Olbermann?