Blog meltdowns, egos and echo chambers

Oh, boy. What did I write, just yesterday?

The fascist is whoever is trying to shut you up, shut you down, dis-employ you, silence you, cripple you or marginalize you for the crime of daring to fall out of step with the party and the conventional wisdom. Beware of them.

I also paraphrased St. Paul, who wrote, “all that I hate I am become…”

It seems that “all that some conservatives hate they are becoming…” thanks to the spitting emotionalism that has attended the issue of immigration for the past month or so. The issue, of couse, has been growing for 30 years, but now some want their solutions applied right now, this very instant, and you’d better not disagree, or you will be dismissed, de-linked or otherwise cast-aside.

I think some conservative bloggers, having felt victorious thanks to the Harriet Miers Debacle and the DPW Dissent are feeling raw-unto-hysteria because President Bush - who has given them almost everything a man can be expected to deliver as president, dared last night to NOT capitulate to their demands. Oh. My. They figured he’d blink and roll for them, again. After all, they KNOW so much better than he.

So now, we’re looking at this disagreeable meltdown over at Polipundit, which some of us saw coming last night. Lorie Byrd has published a farewell and suggested she and the other “guest bloggers” at Polipundit have been told their dissent from Polipundit’s hardline will not be tolerated.

I am not comfortable writing about this, because my policy has always been not to comment on other blogs except in positive ways - that every blogger should be entitled to say what they want and left to their own work. It is only because I believe the meltdown over there is a kind of living metaphor for what is happening to conservatives in general that I dare to break my own rule, but it’s making me cringe to do so.

Poli wrote: Suppose three out of four columnists at the Old York Times were pro-Republican. You can bet publisher “Pinch” Sulzberger would do something about that right quick.

Perhaps…but that’s why we characterize Pinch as a narrow-minded pill and a BARRIER to the free exchange of information and ideas. We’re supposed to be better than that. We, meaning bloggers. We, meaning “conservatives.” (If that is even what I should call myself, anymore…)

I suspect that emotions and the late hour were taking tolls on all parties concerned. Polipundit owns his site and is certainly entitled to propel it in the direction he wishes, but in making this move he’s losing some high-ground - he had bragging rights to a place that could claim a willingness to entertain differing viewpoints - a rarity in the blogosphere.

Note that my quote above on “the fascist” is not meant directly or personally toward Polipundit, whom I do not know, although I seem to recall someone sending me some criticism he made of me during the DPW or Miers thing. I can’t remember, because it didn’t matter. He was, as I say, entitled to his thoughts. I am sure he is no fascist. But…I must admit to feeling a chill to see him essentially tell his co-horts that they must either shut up on this issue, or agree with him, or leave.

Should Lorie Byrd have quoted Poli? That’s debatable. Possibly she should have slept on it and kept the conversation internal, but it sounds like emotionalism had its way with everyone yesterday. I hope the gang over at Poli can work it out, but…it seems unlikely. If Polipundit successfully cracks down on free expression in one area it will inevitably lead to cracking down on free expression in other areas, and so even if he and his “guests” (who worked very hard and helped BUILD the site into the success it is) could manage to work things out, I doubt the endeavor could continue successfully with its foundation so cracked. Sadly, without those differing viewpoints, though, the site will become just one more place you can go to see George Bush called “Jorge Arbusto.”

Don’t kid yourself, this is a microcosm of what is happening on the right. And “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”

I see in the Poli comments section that some are saying they will “de-link” Polipundit or take him off their blogrolls. While I have de-linked bloggers whom I found I simply didn’t read very often, I’ve never taken someone off the blogroll for spite. I recall being tempted, once, when a conservative blogger felt the need to use the occasion of the death of John Paul II to toss out some ignorant, misinformed (and arrogant) “Christian” blather about Catholicism, but that temptation passed. I happen to actually think that threatening “de-linkage” is the amusing tactic of the impotent (I understand I’ve been “de-linked” here and there, tee-hee). It’s sort of like Tony Soprano saying “he’s dead to me…” and then mousing and clicking someone into oblivion. In a virtual world, I guess that’s power.

The virtual world is partly to blame, I think, for the high notes of recrimination and verbal violence we’re seeing lately.
One huge drawback to the internet, and to blogging, is that one can completely insulate oneself from the real world. One can find a forum catering to one’s interest and all-but live there, talking back and forth with like-minded folks about anything from fly-balls to fly-fishing, from insurance to incest. While the internet has a capability of enlarging, the truth is most people surfing the blogs and sites find the ones they like and linger there, in the echo chambers of a few favorite spots, and thus they shrink their worlds. They begin to believe the illusion that because 80 or 800 or 8,000 people frequent the same site and jaw the same sentiments, that there are a whole lot more people agreeing than disagreeing with them. That, in fact, a breathtaking number of people - MOST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD, even - believe what they believe.

This is a very powerful illusion, and an empowering one, too. A fly-fisher may become convinced that his sport should be included in the Olympics; a pervert might come to believe he is normal - that the rest of the world is simply less honest than he, and proceed forward with his worst fantasies.

I think something like that is happening with the blogs. It is so easy to sit at one’s desk and pound out a screed, like Nikita pounding his shoe, and get some favorable feedback which leaves one feeling both both validated and important. Or, you don’t even have to be a blogger, you can be a member of a forum, accustomed to daily exposition of your views with accompanying “hear, hears!” It’s heady, seductive stuff. If all these people are telling you how great you are, how smart you are, how RIGHT you are, well…then it follows, that you must be great, smart and right, and why shouldn’t the president listen to you?

Mr. President, I have a BLOG and I’m not afraid to use it! I have a FOLLOWING! I have INFLUENCE! I’m an important person, dammit, I AM GOOD!

I don’t have your education, I don’t have access to knowing what you know, but none of that matters, Mr. President, I am a blogger, and I demand your ear, your respect and your fealty, your obedience. I AM YOUR BASE and you’d damn well better bow!

Think that’s exaggerated? Check out Big Lizard’s excellent post and see just how close to the mark that is.

The thing is, and I’m being serious, here…that sort of ongoing harangue, completely devoid of respect, of a willingness to take half-a-loaf and call it a win…that’s the stuff that could in the end WEAKEN the influence of the blogs. Stomp your feet and find any solution but yours to be insufficient, and eventually you look like a crank, and people stop paying attention. (See Varifrank, who is no crank).

Imagine being President of the US, dealing with the world as it is, right now, and having to hear that every pissant little writer with a blog is demanding THIS sort of action or THAT sort of solution and threatening to…I don’t know, hold the breath or lead his or her “loyal readers” into open revolt. Imagine being president and having to hear from an advisor that one-issue people, with one-issue perspectives are demanding a perfect (and probably undoable) action on their one-issue, or they’ll toss you overboard, because the other thousand things you got right no longer matter. That they’ll commit electoral suicide rather than accept a compromise.

Imagine hearing that and then looking at your map of the world, your intelligence reports, your CIA imploding with rogue agents, your troops all-but-forgotten by most Americans, your roaring economy being yawned at, your most effective tools to keep the nation secure being leaked and rendered ineffective, your congressional majority utterly lacking in cojones, the media moving toward mendacity, etc, etc, etc.

Imagine thinking of all of that, and then having to worry about the roar coming from the blogosphere - not from a writer having a one-time temper-tantrum and venting (I’ve certainly been known to do that, as have most of us) but by bloggers who have determined that they are not mere commenters and information gatherers/relators, but in-the-game movers and shakers, more tuned-in to the realities of any problem than the President could ever be, more morally upright, more patriotic, more extensively knowledgable, more…well, more caring, dammit! And more loyal to America, too! Just ask their readers!

If I were president, I’d stop caring what everyone was saying, too, after a while, and just try to do the best I could by my own lights, and hope things work out the best for the whole nation. Not just for the foot-stompers.

Undoubtedly, I will be denounced by more conservatives and a few bloggers for daring to suggest it, but I am a blogger, so I know whereof I speak: the seductive tones of the echo chambers and the Amen Chorus can skewer perspective and (if one is not cautious) overinflate the ego. We are all susceptible to it; to deny that is to be fully in the ego’s grip.

I just hope that the blogosphere, and all the millions of folks traveling within it, blogging or commenting, can keep all those egos in check…I fear it cannot. And if it cannot, what a blog-quake we’re in for. And will the nation feel it? Will the next congress or the next president do something to stop the blogs? It’s not like they haven’t already been discussing it. Not this president, mind you, but several waiting in the wings have already danced around the issue.

“Let me keep to simplicity,” said (the newly elected) Abbess Catherine. Only that could balance this terrifying power.
- Rumer Godden, In This House of Brede

Oh, and Jim Geraghty has some suggestions on how the GOP and conservatives can prevent their own electoral/political deaths in the upcoming elections. A good piece you should read.

Smoke on the Water is also suggesting that the conservatives take a breath and try to regain their composure. Good piece.

32 Responses to “Blog meltdowns, egos and echo chambers”

convert Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 8:25 am
Excellent analysis, Anchoress. I fear that what is happening in the blogosphere on the Right is a very bad thing; the Left side of the blogosphere has been completely over-the-top, shrill, intolerant, and hateful from day one–that’s why the Democratic party has lost ground since the late 90’s–they’ve been completely taken over by the extremist wing.
Now I see Republicans willing to give it all back to the Left over this one issue( and I agree with their position on immigration, by the way)and I stand amazed.

Listen to me: I spend my life behind enemy lines with people who mostly have no idea that I’m a conservative. They talk freely, thinking none of the enemy is around. If the Democrats get control of Congress and WH again, they’ll SEE TO IT that we are forever out of power. They hate us with an intensity that distorts their faces, actually leaves them breathless with anger when they talk about us. You think I’m nuts? Okay, fine–but file this post away–they’ll find a way to stop blogging altogether–by a series of new “libel laws”, by reinstituting the old “Fairness doctrine”, by outlawing sites as “hate sites”–you mark my words. Immigration, taxes, gay marriage, abortion–all important to us, but they won’t mean squat when the Democrats make it nigh impossible for us to communicate with one another, to organize and be activist, and most of all, TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT FROM THEIR LYING MEDIA. Grouse all you want, but you for damn sure better vote Republican if you want to have any hope of leaving this country you love in good shape for your children!
Beth Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Once again Anchoress, you took the words right out of my mouth (or fingers?).

I have absolutely nothing to add.

Send your hate mailers my way, I’ll singe their ears (eyes)!
Terrye Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 10:21 am
I agree with Beth Anchoress, you said it all.
Bender B. Rodriguez Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Wasn’t all of this forecast when the “elites” decided to torpedo Harriet Miers?
Sigmund Carl and Alfred Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Excellent post. In fact, I discussed how even the terminology is helping to define various agendas.
Bender B. Rodriguez Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I really don’t understand these morons, who think themselves smarter and better than everyone else. (and who even savaged me, a complete and utter nobody, not even a real blogger, but merely some guy who occasionally posts comments, when I dared to post comments questioning their elitism over Miers).
.
Don’t they know that George W. Bush is the best friend they have??? Is Congress as a whole their friend? No. Is the House of Representatives their friend? No; the leadership and certain factions in the House, maybe, but not a majority of the House. Is the Senate their friend? Hell no. Is the judicial branch their friend?? Double Hell no. Is the mainstream media their friend? Triple Hell no. Are state governments their friend? Some are, many aren’t. Are local governments their friend? By and large, no.
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George W. Bush is the best friend they have. He is their last best chance for doing what is right and necessary. And what have those “elites” been doing? Shooting and stabbing him in the back. Destroying his credibility, and destroying his ability to get done the things he and they want and need done.
.
It would be one thing if they did this before September 10, but we are now at war. And all this only has the effect of emboldening the enemy. OBL is laughing today. Zarqawi is dancing a little jig today. The Iranian government is high-fiving each other today.
Dave Justus Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
A blog is substantially different than a media source that claims to be news. For the most part, blogs are opinions and they exist for the purposes of their owners.
.
Some value the give and take of debate, but others prefer to advance specific policy goals. I don’t know that either is ‘correct’ or automatically more desirable than the other.
.
Given the low cost of starting one’s own blog, and the complete editorial control that that gives, I don’t see a lot of harm in one person refusing to allow others to post on their site. The narrowness of viewpoints may of course limit the attractiveness of that site to many, but that is a cost the owner is allowed to take.
Terrye Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
I saw this on the Corner . According to the CNN poll cited Bush was a big hit last night with the people who matter, the American people. Maybe he should buck his base more often. It is not as if he owes them a whole hell of a lot.

I wonder if this poll giving Bush 79% approval on his speech is credible? Hope so.
Stix Blog Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 3:02 pm
Frustrated Conservatives.

Yes, I am frustrated with how the Republican Party has abandoned thier core ideas. Most notably smaller government and less spending. But am I going to just say that I am going to sit out the elections because I didn’t
Sensible Mom Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 3:04 pm
Thanks, Anchoress.
igout Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 3:38 pm
No, we can’t sit out the election. But we mustn’t let GOP pols know that, otherwise they’ll keep taking us for granted. That’s the mistake black voters make everytime; they don’t make the democratic party sweat.
So, even if I didn’t feel like raving at gale-force over immigration, I would anyway. Hope you understand,Anchoress & Co, even if you don’t agree.
Terrye Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 4:36 pm
igout:

They may just start to think some of you guys are not worth the trouble of trying to make happy, did you think of that? There are more Independents than there are fiscal conservatives.
igout Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
Terrye:
They might. We might as well get that settled soon, so everybody can move on.
Beth Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 4:59 pm
It’s ALWAYS the same segment of the GOP that pulls this crap. I’m still pissed off about 1992–they did it then, and look what it got us REAL conservatives? I hope they liked 8 years of Clinton. I hope they like all the Clintonista judges and the morons in the CIA and State Department that are willfully subverting the war.

THANKS A LOT, “BASE” (not) CONSERVATIVES!

Bush owes the screaming toddlers nothing. They’re not reliable, never have been, and as such are not “the base.” It’s all or nothing to them.

Terrye: thanks for that Corner link.

those who support the president’s policies rose in number from 42 to 67 percent.

Heh.

I’m going to assume at least half of the 33% who don’t approve are knee-jerk partisans on the left, which means that group of toddlers is laughably outnumbered. (”But he owes us!” LOL)
Beth Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
igout - move on to where?

Electing another Clinton?
Donna Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 8:46 pm
Beth’s right. Sitting at home in November, or voting for some obscure 3rd party candidate will only ensure that the Democrats will win. And, instead of ignoring some of your wishes - they’ll ignore all of them.
buckey1 Says:
May 16th, 2006 at 8:47 pm
Was over at Lucianneland yesterday for the President’s speech thread. Some of the people even said that if they yelled and screamed louder that they would be heard and perhaps they could move the action further to their liking.
I agree that the Harriet Miers fiasco and the DP deal has certainly emboldened the ‘”kook right” to act out. I personally wonder if these people arent’t the Patrick J. Buchanan wing of the GOP? For them, its either “my way, or the highway.”

I don’t have much respect for people who can’t reach out beyond their narrow paradigm. They don’t want to try to “right” the wrong of illegal immigration- they just want these people rounded up and shipped off- not matter the consequences and the Consitution be damned!
Watcher of Weasels Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 1:37 am
Submitted for Your Approval

First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… here are all the links submitted by members of the Watcher’s Council for this week’s vote. Council li…
Jo's Cafe Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 4:44 am
It’s Spreading….

…
Jeanette Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 4:59 am
Anchoress, you are a conservative, just not a far right wing nut. I’ve been a republican and conservative all my life, and I am thoroughly disgusted with those who dare “demand” anything from this or any other president.

We are the base! We can disagree with some things the president does, but to publicly call him humiliating names and cheer someone on for doing it is over the top.

If you agree with them on the principles of illegal immigration but don’t spout the hate speech along with them you are called a Bushista or a Bush Boot Licker. If that be the case, then I am a Bushista and proud of it. I’m a Bush Boot licker by their standards and I’m proud of it. I’m an American first and a republican after that, but I will never kick the president just because his poll numbers are down and I think I can get away with it.

I was brought up better than that. I guess they weren’t.
All Things Beautiful Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 10:53 am
How Do We Legalize Illegality?

“Blog meltdowns, egos and echo chambers” penned beautifully by the ever graceful Anchoress, God bless you for pointing me towards the way to resolving the issue, rather than simply flying off the handle and screaming “lame”.
AJ Strata Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 11:35 am
Excellent post Anchoress. You have the gift of communication. I should note - in my own defense! - that I did not take Poli of my blog roll out of spite or retribution. I did not want the implied association that having him on my blog roll implies.

To me the blog roll is a list of sites one is recommending to readers to visit. I could not, in good conscience, continue that recommendation.

Glad to see you back and in good blogging form.
Point Five Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 11:49 am
W3C Deprecates <A> Tag At Request Of Right Wing Bloggers

The W3C, the international organization tasked with defining protocols and standards for the World Wide Web, including HTML tags, has approved a request by right wing bloggers to phase out the <A>, or “anchor”, tag, which instructs browsers…
Sister Toldjah Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
The immigration debate: room for middle ground?

I’ve not commented a great deal about the President’s speech on immigration because I’ve learned from last year’s experience over the Harriet Miers brouhaha and this year’s experience over the UAE port deal that sometimes …
newton Says:
May 17th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
Anchoress,
*
Ditto.
Common Sense Runs Wild » Pat Robertson Jumps The Shark Says:
May 18th, 2006 at 12:24 am
[...] While everyone else has been by distracted by Bush bashing, illegal immigrants and the Da Vinci Code, Pat Robertson has been busy talking to God. The Rev. Pat Robertson says God has told him that storms and possibly a tsunami will hit America’s coastline this year. [...]
Hashmonean.com | Israel vs The Global Jihad » 2006 » May » 18 Says:
May 18th, 2006 at 7:18 pm
[...] All Things Beautiful has a big post up, looking at the rift that opened and aiming the criticism where it is in my own opinion best utilized. The issues that have been bothering me, were nicely laid out in one of her links as well. [...]
Watcher of Weasels Says:
May 19th, 2006 at 1:44 am
The Council Has Spoken!

First off… any spambots reading this should immediately go here, here, here, and here. Die spambots, die! And now… the winning entries in the Watcher’s Council vote for this week are Public Virtue by Done With Mirrors…
CaNN :: We started it. Says:
May 21st, 2006 at 8:23 pm
[...] THE VIRTUAL WORLD is partly to blame, I think, for the high notes of recrimination and verbal violence we’re seeing lately …. (theanchoressonline) [...]
The Sundries Shack Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
[...] Blog Meltdowns, Egos and Echo ChambersThe Anchoress [...]
The Anchoress » Extremist Ideologies Insane Ends… Says:
May 16th, 2007 at 7:36 pm
[...] of daring to fall out of step with the party and the conventional wisdom. Beware of them. Related: Blog Meltdowns, Egos and Echo Chambers The Anchoress pinged back with Tell me again who’s “steamrollering” [...]
The Anchoress » Blog Archive » Pres. Bush’s instincts better than some Says:
June 5th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
[...] Ship them all back! They’re criminals! Make them come in legally! If you don’t agree you’re a traitor!” and you killed anything constructive that might have occurred by scaring the easily-scared [...]