NYT: liberal blogosphere...bunch of "crackpots" ; DU place to hate Bu$h

[luaptifer]

What’s this in the ( liberal?! ) NY Times?

Filed under: General— ross @ 11:58 pm

http://www.itaffectsyou.org/blog/index.php?p=305

The NY Times is running a piece on the blogosphere's reaction to the tsunami, and it starts out by painting the liberal blogosphere as a bunch of "crackpots." As their example, they refer to Democratic Underground as a blog which they describe as "an online gathering place for people who hate the Bush administration." Um, no. DU may have a blog, but it is primarily a discussion forum. While to many that may fall under the category of nitpicking, the Times description is more misleading. It is accurate to say most DU participants do not like the Bush administration, but it is their belief in various progressive, American ideas which drives their participation. To describe it as they do makes it easier to hang the label of "crackpot," which seems to the their intent from the start.

The article goes on to imply the general reaction of the left blogosphere was to blame Bush himself for the tsunami rather than criticizing him for his bungled response. While it would not be difficult to find people who feel that way on DU or elsewhere, it's entirely misleading to imply that was the general feeling.

While acknowledging that many of the blogs placed links to charities, they quickly added the following:

But the blogosphere's tendency toward crackpot theorizing and political smack down could not be suppressed for long.

"It's so much of what they feed on, so much of what they are," said James Surowiecki, the author of "Wisdom of Crowds."

The article turns a bit more sober after this point, but the mischaracterization at the outset are inexcusable.