Trigger Happy

On OJR : Let Slip the Blogs of War

The bloggers boldly declare that they are in favor of our war on terrorism — a courageous stand when only 107 percent of the population supports the war effort, but one that’s hard to keep up when all the bloggers are in agreement. This can lead to some pretty thin outrages and crabbed arguments. When Taranto seethes that the Spanish have no right to quibble about our death penalty because, well, because Spain was a fascist dictatorship as recently as 1975, you know you’ve reached some kind of low point in the art of forensic rhetoric. (…)

For all the bitching they log about the mainstream media, none of the bloggers are actually cruising the streets of Peshawar or Aden or Mogadishu. Thus, they’re wholly dependent upon that very same mainstream media. You can cut on Salon all you like, Mr. Blogger, but they have a man in Afghanistan. Do you?

[via jemisa]