The Blogotics of Personal Destruction

I'm going to have to register myself on the side of those that feel uncomfortable with the "scalp-collecting" fever now on display in the blogosphere. It's more pronounced on the right than the left, of course, but left-leaning bloggers are starting to work the same tricks (for example, with regard to Jeff ManWhore--I mean Gannon--now you've got ME doing it!), and justify it by the usual methods of equivalence (can you imagine what the uproar would be if Bill Clinton let a gay hooker into the press corps?), revelations of hypocrisy (this guy wrote antigay stories, but he's a gay hooker?), and lowest common denominator (we have to get down in the mud and fight because that's where the game is played nowadays). As compelling as these arguments are, it doesn't make me want to do it any more.

I have no problem with fighting; it's what we progressives have been begging for. Fighting rhetorically? Absolutely. Using rhetorical hyperbole to mock and deride the oppponent? Yes! (I'm pretty sure it's why I was put on this Earth.) Fighting legislatively? Yessir. And we're doing that, at a level unseen in years, with a rigidity of party unity that rivals the GOP.

But when we engage in the blogotics of personal destruction, I don't think it improves our cause. That's not what interested me in blogs in the first place. That's not why I started writing one. I believe, as do many others, in the unlimited potential of blogs to be so much more than an aggregation of the villagers, lighting of the torches, and pointing in the direction of the nearest heretic to cast out of the township. Blogs are not simply a hit squad. At least they're not on the left. Blogs do so much more:

-they focus the debate like a laser: Blogs help to make sure that the stories buried on B22 get into the public sphere. The greatest example of this right now is Josh Marshall's lantern-shining on the public comments of Republican and Democrat lawmakers over Social Security.

-they vote with their pocketbook: The real story of the blogs is that they helped Democrats outspend Republicans in this election cycle for arguably the first time in history.

-they organize, organize, organize: look at the well-framed issues used in the Kerry campaign that came right out of the blogs. Look at the systematic boycott of Sinclair that brought them almost to their knees. Look at the growth of meetups and action items and organized calls to legislators and all the rest.

Not only are these some of the great benefits of blogs, they play to Democratic strengths. Mob rule and scalp-collecting play to Republican strengths. This is what they do. It's what they've done for decades. From the break-in to Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist's office to the hauling of people like Susan McDougal before Whitewater prosecutors (and ultimately to jail) right up to the present day, the strategy of the right wing is takedown politics, pure and simple. They've simply migrated this technique over to the blogs, supported it with a message machine infrastructure, connected the filtering process so that something can go from Drudge to Instapundit to Limbaugh to the Washington Times to Fox News to CNN in the space of one news cycle, hitting everywhere else in between, and slapping each other on the ass at the end of the day.

Our great strengths include the fight for civil rights, women's rights, and gay rights. Nonviolent resistance. Screaming into the wind "You're wrong" and doing it every single day until the wind changes direction (and it always does). These blog tactics are the personification of that.

Digby's starting to turn me around on this issue, and I think the Gannon-Whore story is legitimate and deserves plenty of attention and yelling. That doesn't mean it makes me exactly comfortable that this is where we've gone in American politics. I'm reminded, of all things, of the Nixon speech where he says, "Other may hate you, but don't hate them, because then you lose yourself." I just think we should step boldly once we get the facts, but very carefully. I think the outing of Maya Keyes during the Illinois senate campaign was pretty brutal and destructive to someone who ended up being a shining voice for gay rights and conservative hypocrisy about family values. We open ourselves up to charges of hypocrisy just by pursuing the Gannon hooker angle. I can see the "I thought blowjobs didn't matter" blog posts now. I wrote a while back that you have to get on the playing field before you can move the goalposts, so I guess digging a tunnel into the field is OK.

One thing we can do is compartmentalize, which the Republicans have done quite well. The vitriol comes from talk radio, and the columnists are more measured (even if they're saying the same thing), for example. The truth-squadders on the left need to feed out to our media in a way that deflects the "blogotics of personal destruction" label. I do agree, however, that the best way to deal with a bully is to punch him in the nose. I just don't see a way back once you do that, a way to turn politics away from professional wrestling and back to helping people help themselves.