Redstate

...not really, but it does illuminate various nooks and crannies.

By Moe Lane Posted in Blogosphere — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

[UPDATE]: Oh, my, but this gets better and better: looks like the blog Jesus' General is the guy who mucked up Nashville's progressive blogging community, not to mention acted as a good little tool of the Patriarchy. I'm going to indulge myself and bump this one.

Let us set the scenario.

Once upon a time, there was a blogger by the name of Brittney Gilbert, author of Nashville is Talking. Note: 'was': she quit. Why? Because of this post, which is a link to another post about Steven Gilliard...

Oh, and before I forget. We will hew to the letter of the principle de mortuis nil nisi bonum dicendum est and simply note that if Steven Gilliard really did inspire Jane Hamsher's inadvertent gut-shooting of the Lamont campaign then Gilliard should get a street named after him in Irbil. Not having an effective majority in the Senate fatally crippled the antiwar movement's ability to meet its objectives this last legislative session.

Read on.

...anyway, Ms. Gilbert (who is, apparently, a rather vocal Lefty) posted and linked to something from a blogger called Smantix (who is, apparently, a rather vocal Righty) wrote about Steven Gilliard (who is now passed on). This was apparently Ms. Gilbert's practice for local Nashville bloggers, not to mention her paid gig - note that, ye schradenfreudians - even when it involved Smantix, who is apparently an old unfriend of hers. A goodly number of folks (from Ms. Gilbert's side of the 'sphere, mind) then proceeded to descend upon her blog and called her all sorts of nasty names until she quit. This is as opposed to Smantix, who is pretty much basking in the hate in his own comments section.

Forgive the frequent use of 'apparently', by the way: I noticed all of this because Glenn noted it. And that's where it gets interesting, because in his updates Oliver Willis, Media Matters for America employee, apparently accused Glenn Reynolds, private blogger, of having "an agenda and a cause to push". This bemused Glenn, both because he thought that the quitting was due to something else entirely and because somehow those sweet, sweet VRWC checks keep skipping him by completely*.

So, let's recap. A Lefty blogger is chased off of both the blogosphere and her job because she can't handle the kneejerk reaction and comments made by her own side (while the Righty that indirectly caused her firing is reveling in the Dark Side of the Force directed his way): meanwhile, the neutral comment on it by another, much more prominent Righty is immediately seized upon by a Lefty media worker as proof of a hidden agenda. Net result: one own-goal by the triumphant Left and one further datum supporting the hypothesis that whoever's funding Media Matters may not be getting the best value for their money**.

I love the blogosphere, particularly when the parts that I don't love so much try so hard to shoot itself in the collective foot.

Moe

*Probably going to the same place that mine are. Mind you, I understand the power that the 'just being a shill for the Man' meme has on the Left 'sphere: it provides them with that small, but absolutely essential air of condescension necessary in order for them to allow themselves to find merit in any Righty.

Oops, did I just type that out? My bad.

**On the other hand, I understand that Brittany Gilbert's looking for work.