When Prolific Bloggers Act Like Children
Gut reaction: Grow up, people. Life’s too damn short.
Post Script: I read Sullivan daily and Althouse rarely, but I enjoy both and think both are intelligent and generally clear-headed people. Even then, I found this little spat embarrassing. That’s not to say there weren’t real offenses committed in this exchange; there were. So be it. Turn the other cheek and move on. And yes, I could have just ignored their debate, but I was fascinated by it for one reason: It’s a very clear study on how two educated, accomplished people can fixate on passing slights until they become virtual crimes against humanity, until both people are spending way too much time with a distracting public dispute that is, frankly, beneath them. Granted, I’ve been guilty of similar interpersonal spats in my life — and it’s usually taken an outsider to go all “Dr. Phil” on me before I could move on. Not that I’m Dr. Phil in this case, or that either Sully or Ann will give a damn what I have to say. But I’ve said it anyway. So there you go.
3 Responses to “When Prolific Bloggers Act Like Children”
You're right, time to “move on”
I agree with both Pete and Dorian that this kind of squabbling is beneath both Althouse and Sullivan, and that it's time to move on.
Having said that….
I know that Andrew Sullivan can lash out and be sarcastic sometimes, when he is being attacked, or thinks he is, but keep your eye on that word “sometimes.” I have read through the links Pete provided, and some of the links within Sullivan's and Althouse's post, and I see a very familiar pattern here (and I read Althouse fairly often — Sullivan a lot).
Ann Althouse is obsessed with being “disrespected.” Whenever she gets into a cyberfight with anyone (and she does and has, with many), the issue is always “disrespect.” I'm not saying that her perceptions are always wrong, but I *am* saying that when a person is quick to be confrontational (and Ann is — Sullivan *is not*), and when the same line comes up every single time — some variation of “You're being very disrespectful to me,” or “Why are you being so disrespectful to me?” — then I think there's something going on that is at least partially about the person who experiences disagreement or snarkiness or criticism as “disrespect.”
Andrew's initial post about Ann's engagement *was* snarky, but you know what? That might have something to do with past history, because Ann tends to be somewhat unsympathetic to the issue of gay rights, same-sex marriage, etc. She's been dismissive about it. So he was a bit snarky. But Ann's reaction is much more extreme, in my opinion, than the situation calls for. And her sense of being dissed, of being denied respect, is a constant theme with her, and, imo, not supported in this case by what Andrew said.
Kathy — I tend to agree with you.