Monday, November 12, 2007

The Political Online Community vs. the Non-Political One

I've been very fortunate to receive links from some of the big-time political bloggers to my post on the political session I attended at BlogWorld Expo. Hundreds of visitors came by to read what I had written. Some left comments. Some of the comments were unpleasant. I was pretty snarky to both sides in that post, but only the lefties became vicious.

Contrast that to the comments I received on my first Dove Real Beauty post.

I used to read Hugh Hewitt's blog several times a day. I even posted comments there, or rather, Jacob the Syrian Hamster did. Despite the fact that almost all of the commenters were conservatives, the comment threads were very abusive. I confess I did my share of abusing. Why is it that the political threads get so nasty and the others don't?

These days, the only political blogs I read regularly are Captain Ed and the Puppy Blender. Gateway Pundit was nice enough to link to me, but his posts are too harsh and his comments are too aggressive for me. I just don't want to spend my energy on things like that. Rose and howlls and Kelly and Justin and foxfier and all the rest of you bring energy to me when they leave comments. Participating in a forum where everyone is screaming at each other takes energy away. The difference in the tone of the sessions at BlogWorld really brought it home to me.

Update: Of course, immediately after posting this, I stopped by Gateway to see what was being said, looking for corroboration on my thoughts, found an interesting post at the top of his blog and left a comment. Help! I can't stop!

11 comments:

Wollf Howlsatmoon said...

I thought I was in a bad mood Before I followed that link.

Please count me as one of the "degenerational" Family.

Her respnse was such a circular argument that Wollf became dizzy.

Must lie down......
After ice cream of course.....and definitely NOT Ben & Jerry's.

Wollf

Foxfier said...

....

Let me rephrase the response:
"Well, he said this, and-- oh! Look! A pony!"

Honestly, I don't think you're missing much if that's the best response someone can come up with to counter your posts.

(Which, BTW, I enjoyed-- I just didn't have anything to say, so I was silent.)

Wollf Howlsatmoon said...

ffs..soon to be "Mrs" ffs,

Thanks for clearing that up. If you rephrased that response knowing anything of me and my ADD, you have Perfect comedic timing for my needs this evening.

If you haven't ever visited...the you are G-d sent humor.

Thanks, I got t..ooh, something Shiny!!
Wollf....roflBao..(yes, B, KT has a G rating)

Foxfier said...

*curtsey*

Always pleased to serve.

-Foxfier

K T Cat said...

To tell you the truth, my eyes glazed over about halfway through. I also closed down the comments on the post where I'm being called a racist pig dog. No one is reading what I wrote, they're all reflexively screaming. I can do without all of this, thank you very much.

K T Cat said...

I just went back to the controversial post and removed all the controversial parts. I'm usually pretty good about catching myself before I do that to prevent just this kind of flame war.

What's interesting is that the righties all understood what I was trying to say and the lefties just went berserk and didn't read the thing at all.

K T Cat said...

One last comment about the controversial post. I thoroughly considered deleting the body and replacing it with a picture of Momma Daisy.

That'd show 'em! :-)

Foxfier said...

I checked out his site.

Don't bother.

He's trying to be the Culbert report, but lacks the writers.

A living strawman, really.

K T Cat said...

I had always wondered if the left vs. right thing was overblown and the lefties really weren't a pack of enraged loons, but I'm finding it harder and harder to keep that opinion. I quote an accepted statistic and draw conclusions from my own life and all I get are accusations of racism. It's crazy.

Also, these people have no idea what I've done in my life to help boys of all races overcome fatherless households. When I managed my Little League teams, I would take some of my leave time and spend my own money to take the boys without fathers to professional hitting and picthing lessons.

I haven't joined the Big Brothers yet, but that's just because I don't have the time right now. As soon as my kids leave the house, I'm going to put a lot of time into that.

I guess that makes me a racist.

Wollf Howlsatmoon said...

You should have trotted out your "picture".

You're "obviously" only half "white".

Meow.
Wollf

Kelly the little black dog said...

Thanks buddy!