Any Good American
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“Any good American isn’t racist.”
It’s that simple. I didn’t say it. She said it. Take it up with her. So..y’know…straighten up and fly right.
Freelance Ombudsman
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I think Yglesias gets this wrong.
The New Republic, a capital-D Democratic magazine, has brought on board Michael Kazin (a lefty) and Jim Manzi (a conservative) to:
regularly disagree with [TNR]—to write short pieces that call us out when they see us making dubious intellectual leaps, and to serve as collegial irritants to our assumptions.
This seems like a good thing to me. Yglesias thinks that, since both of those authors have their own blogs, there are two potential outcomes here: they will either pull their punches when commenting on TNR articles they might otherwise comment on from the freedom of their own blogs or they will decide to comment on articles they wouldn’t, when left to their own devices, normally find comment worthy.
It seems to me that Yglesias confuses “pulling punches” with framing an argument for a specific audience. And he confuses “commenting on the not comment worthy” with “finding things comment worthy when there’s an audience that wants to hear those comments.”
Basically what I think Yglesias is missing is that, yes, Kazin and Manzi both have their own blogs or out media outlets through which they regularly offer commentary, but what they don’t have is TNR’s audience, not most of it anyway.
It’s amazing how comment worthy something might get when you have somebody that wants to listen to you. And it’s amazing how you might decide to be polite when you stop preaching to the choir, those that find you on your own space, and instead find yourself trying to talk to the enemy.
I don’t think either Kazin or Manzi are the kind of people to reign in their own intellects in order to treat TNR readers with kid gloves.
And one need only start taking some random samples of Yglesias own blog and comparing them to what he wrote about at the Atlantic to know that when you switch readership you start blogging differently. Or look at his friend Ezra Klein who was hired by the Post to find health care a proportionately more interesting topic than he used to.
It’s not like Manzi and Kazin used to write about soil collecting methods. Their social and political commentators already. So they comment on an extra TNR article they might have otherwise ignored. TNR articles are important to TNR readers and they deserve to hear different opinions. If they don’t want them, the Kazin/Manzi project will go away. If they do like them, it’s win-win(-win).
I used to blog for a local humanities non-profit. The fact that I don’t blog about history, art and culture anymore, isn’t because I don’t still find those things useful or interestng, I just don’t have a readership that warrants I do that very often. But if I got that assignment, I’d be sure to do it.
Vigilante Arrested in Pakistan
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Possibly inspired by frontier foolhardies of the 19th Century like filibuster William Walker (pictured), Gary Faulkner was arrested in Pakistan for trying to assassinate Osama bin Laden. That is, well…you have to appreciate the guy putting his life on the line for what people back home will gladly talk for hours about in bars.
I have exactly zero idea what the relevant laws are here. Murder’s probably illegal, but I suppose the guy could argue he was just there to apprehend the terrorist leader and if things went awry, which they most certainly would, well then…”I had to kill him your honor.” and all that. Not that I think this guy would have lived to get that close. Although, it is shocking he’d been there before on previous missions.
Anyway, for the time being the best write up of the arrest is at Wonkette who has a wagging finger of snark for the major news services that are having such a hard time reporting simple facts correctly.
Two highlights:
- He is 52 (according to CNN) or maybe 50 (according to the AFP) or maybe even 40 (according to Reuters). The ninja is so stealthy that even when he is sitting absolutely still, ordinary men have difficulty perceiving his form and making judgements about such irrelevant matters like “age.”
- He had no intention of killing Osama bin Laden (CNN). He told the police he was going to kill Osama bin Laden when he was arrested, and they laughed at him (AP).
What are the causes of T-Shirt WAR!!!!!!?
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Twitter Roundup
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Here’s (some of) the stories I linked to on Twitter this past week (@porchy).
- How to Report the News (Sociological Images)
- Iron Man was right to propose superhero registration program (Attackerman)
- Another civil liberties shortcoming from Obama (The American Scene)
- 43 Sexiest Presidents (Nerve)
- 95% of Americans enjoyed a tax break in 2009 (Brendan Nyhan)
- Citizens United may help libs as much as conservos (Monkey Cage)
- The Baradar Capture (Michael Tomasky)
- Prisoner Abuse is still one of the worst human rights crimes happening in this country (Ross Douthat)
- Lulla- Bayhs
- Bayh retires (CQ Politics)
- How the Dems can replace Bayh (Washington Independent)
- Bayh hints at race for Indiana Gov (nwitimes)
- Bayh’s Timing Angers Republicans (Political Wire)
