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Monday, April 05, 2004
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RESPONSIBILITY
Some interesting things occurred on a blog I read regularly this morning that I'm going to keep in mind in the unlikely event that this blog gets popular.
As I'm sure you all know, on April 1st, four American civilian security contractors were killed in an attack by Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah. If any of you read political blogs, you'll also know that their capacity as private citizens in Iraq was very controversial among the far left. Phrases like "mercenaries" were used. It was suggested that the four "deserved" their fate. The posthumous attacks on four recently murdered men who were only doing their job bordered on the profane.
Then it got worse.
One of the four was named Michael Teague. From everything that I've read, Mr. Teague was a decent and honorable man with a sterling reputation. Unfortunately, he shared a name with the former "security chief" of the Aryan Nation. One blogger, who I will not name or link to for reasons that will become obvious, tried to make the case that the two Teagues were one in the same. With this blogger, it was something of a political crusade. If the Bush administration is using "mercenaries" to fight in Iraq, then they deserve to die. If the Bush administration is recruiting from the Aryan Nation, the argument follows, all the better. This is not unique in how politics works.
Professionals in politics, however, do not publish as they research their allegations. This amateur Woodward and Bernstein was basing her case on two photos that she had seen of the men. Both photos were grainy and depicted bald white men in their thirties. I'm somewhat familiar with bald white men in their thirties About two weeks ago, I did little jokey posts comparing my pictures to those of John Malcovich and Michael Stipe of REM. Yes, bald white guys of a certain age do tend to look alike in grainy pictures. It turned out that this blogger's theory was wrong. The two Teagues were in fact different people. However, a close friend of the late Mr. Teague found the post and was displeased by it as I'm certain any of you would be.
I came across this story through a blog I read regularly and admire a great deal. That blog commented on the "investigation" this morning and linked to the original post. The readers of the second blog tend to be conservative and the author of the blog is very, very popular. That's when things got very messy.
By the time our aspiring "investigator" realized her mistake, several readers of the second blog (presumably) invaded. Her blog was spammed and several death threats were left in the comments. Comments threatening her children were left as well. For some reason blogger #1 writes under her real name and posts the town (and from what I can tell, it's a small town) on each page. All it would have taken was for one lunatic to get whipped up into a patriotic fervor and this woman and her children are dead. I'm not suggesting that that would happen, but I'm certainly not dismissing the possibility that it could.
This blog almost entirely consists of things and people that piss me off. Luckily, there's no shortage of such things. I'm an angry, miserable bastard and that's why you all love me so much. Did I mention my modesty? No, I didn't. I'm modest, too. I write about things that piss me off. It makes me feel good. Besides, I don't get out much. I also link a lot. I do that for a reason. Those of you who have the time and motivation, can read about what pisses me off in my post and then hit the link and investigate it for yourselves. Maybe I'm completely full of shit, who knows? I allow you the opportunity to decide for yourselves.
Today was an eye-opening experience. While I don't think that I've linked to a post that I find offensive and offers personal details about the author, I may have. I honestly don't remember, but I doubt that I have. I only get about six hundred hits a week here, but I only know anything about maybe ten of you. That leaves 590 people each and every week who could very well be batshit insane. So while I don't think I linked anything that could result in someone getting hurt, I think I should be extra careful in the future. So if you read a rant about something that I read on a blog and it's not linked, you'll know why.
I'm sure that none of you really give a shit about the inner workings of this crap, but it's a slow news day and there isn't much else to write about. Oh, speaking of the inner workings of this crap, I'll be posting less frequently starting tomorrow. I'll be out of the house for about thirteen hours a day (if all goes well) and won't have a lot of time to be putting up 17 mindless posts of drivel each day. Just so you all won't be too heartbroken, I will try to continue to post at least once a day.
Aren't I the thoughtful boy?
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