Wednesday, March 14, 2007

How priorities can be revealing

http://newdonkey.blogspot.com/2007/03/frames-run-wild.html

There's a bit of self-censorship going on in the lefty blogosphere. Liberal bloggers constantly tell each other not to say things that reinforce right-wing talking points. The author of the blog New Donkey rightly points out how pernicious this is, because it limits debate. It's an excellent post which I recommend everyone read. But I have another angle here.

Righty bloggers also practice this, but it's not directed at liberals. I have yet to see a conservative blogger urge other conservatives to not say things that would help liberal talking points. What righty bloggers do is urge each other and liberals not to say things that would give comfort or reinforce Al Qaeda talking points. I still think it's dumb, but it is revealing that liberal and conservative bloggers have such different priorities about who they want to avoid helping with their speech.

Why do lefty bloggers expend so much energy trying not to reinforce right-wing talking points, but don't expend any energy at all trying to avoid reinforcing Al Qaeda talking points? I realize that's an extremely explosive accusation, so if someone wants to demonstrate to me that liberals do worry more about the foreign enemy than the domestic enemy I'll be glad to hear it.