Sad Criticisms
Dean
I was saddened to jump over to Iraq the Model, which is run by native Iraqis very active in rebuilding and helping to democratize their country, and read this today:
Speaking of the sides of the blogosphere, I wanted to say that I only knew about the left side of the blogosphere months after we started. I thought that the right side was the whole thing, as in the beginning I thought we were just posting our thoughts 'into the darkness' and get lots of visitors without having any idea were they come from except Iraqi blogs. Later we found about the major blogs such as Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan, Buzz Machine, LGF, Tim Blair, Roger Simon, Right Wing news...Etc and for long months I thought these were the only major bloggers! I didn't know because these were the sites linking to us and from were we get lots of visitors and when I used to go to their sites I would find a somewhat similar list. It turned out to be that the other side top bloggers rarely if ever mentioned us or other Iraqi blogs except for the very anti-American ones. I realized lately that the blogosphere was divided into two major parts with very few bridges.
When I started looking at the 'enemy' I found out that most of them were not that horrible! They disagree with us and our friends and supporters on the right side but they feel no shame in reporting good things that can actually show their points of view as being not valid. Then I looked back at our blog index after getting many remarks like "just look at to whom these guys link! Instapundit and Chief Wiggles!" and, "Can you believe an Arab Muslim would link to LGF?? With their extreme anti-Arab, anti-Muslim tone!" and I was thinking, "Why not!? What's wrong with that? They support Iraq in her struggle! And how can they be anti- Arab if they support us?!"
It was really confusing to me in the beginning that liberals would not support the change in Iraq (remember we were isolated so we didn't know much about that) even though they were against Bush, as it's over now and any humanist should (in my mind) support democracy and peace in Iraq. Besides, I've always considered myself a liberal! On the other side, I had a bad impression that many of the people on the right were fanatics and racist! How much did we learn in this year!
Mmm-hmm. No comment. You can read the rest right here.
No, I lied. I do have comments. It's depressingly, and distressingly, unsurprising.
Let's be clear about what the guys at Iraq the Model are saying: they are native Iraqis, in Iraq, working hard for freedom for their country. They link to American webloggers who support their cause for freedom and democracy, and anti-war activists who claim they support Iraqis are attacking them for it.
They're even attacking them for being friendly toward Chief Wiggles of all people. Chief Wiggles!
What do you even say to people who act that way?
I should have asked something about it in my questions for Kevin Drum (below).
By the way, Art Chrenkoff, a refugee from totalitarianism himself, has some related thoughts.
Related Posts (on one page):
- Sad Criticisms
- Answers For Kevin Drum
I saw that gulf right at the start and stepped right into it to try and build bridges but what difference does that make to you ? Evidently none.
Because here you are doing your damndest to carry on dividing people into camps "left" and "right".
Oh bravo Dean. Bravo you for pitting more people against one another.
You'll just carry on linking and thinking what you like in your two-tone white-page blue-link world and the rest of us polychromic deviants can slowly wither away into silence for all you care.
My role: very small but here. I find Deans commentary depressing in that he seems to have somehow (again) twisted someone else's post to suit his own bi-tonal version of events. It comes across reeking, as Dean might say, of "intellectual dishonesty".
That is all.
Doesn't matter, Rosemary's been a party too. Between Rosemary and I we've put in huge time helping with Operation Give.
And as for my "bi-tonal version of events" -- oh bite me, Emigre. The people attacking Iraq The Model were from the left side of the blogosphere, as he made clear in his posting, and that's what offends me. You don't have to be glad Iraq's Baathist regime was taken out by America to acknowledge that most of us who DID favor it (me, Rosemary, Instapundit, and others who were target it) don't deserve to be treated like villains for it.
We care. We hated Saddam and we wanted something better for all Iraqi people as well as the people of the world, and attacking us for it is certainly not happiness-making.
But whichever way it's twisted, it still looks the same - you seem petrified that somebody has noticed the "left" are not the horrid demons you prefer to paint them as.
I never have and never will support war and I never have and never will attack a blogger for being "friendly" toward chief wiggles.
I've seen plenty of people from the "right" side of the blogosphere bully and harass Iraqi bloggers who don't suit their pallet though. I have seen whole blogs created and dedicated specifically to vilifying Iraqi bloggers that do not suit the "right" vision. And yet you do not mention this.
Let me show you what I am talking about. Here are some samples from comments received on a regular basis at IBC;
Time and again these types of comments crop up beneath Iraqi Blogger's posts. Far more then the average blog's troll count.
Why?
I never said you attacked anyone, Emigre.
If there are people on the right who have attacked Iraqi bloggers you may feel free to point them out to me. I am not all-seeing or all knowing. Some Iraqi bloggers I think poorly of, some I think highly of; those who are Saddam-apologists or who compare the US to Saddam don't get much sympathy from me. But in any case, I haven't attacked any of them and I don't know any who have. If you want to tell me about them feel free.
If you have jerkwads from America trolling your comments feel free to bring them up. But don't come in here bashing me for things I haven't said, or expecting me to answer for everybody on my side of the argument. I certainly didn't ask you to--I'd think you'd be joining me in condemning such people, in fact.
It is Ironic reading a quote from ITM in your post stating
and then to hear you carry right on inventing "the enemy" almost as if you had never read the ITM post at all.
You say
if that's not a precurser to re-writing the script for the Ministry of Truth then I'm Marc Chagall.
It is doubly Ironic reading your Chief Wiggles lamentation after reading the volume of froth I have heard from so called "right-wing" identifying bloggers and trolls.
I know you are of higher calibre then that Dean, I'm just pointing out a serious situation you appear to have overlooked.
I'd think you of all people Dean, might share my concern.
As for the rest: I have complained in the past when I have seen excessively anti-Arab or anti-Iraqi or anti-Muslim rhetoric here on this blog and I have occasionally removed blogs from my blogroll where I have seen that. That's why Little Green Footballs is not on my blogroll--even though Charles Johnson is basically not a bad man, many of his commenters disturb me to the point where they're just too much. There are one or two other blogs gone from my roll for that reason.