LESSON ONE: Don’t mischaracterize a blog and demonize a blog. It has readers and it can talk back (and probably lose you votes).
PS: This whole new line of calling political sites people don’t agree with “hate sites” is a bit ironic because so far most of the people calling sites “hate sites” are trying to inflame their readers and listeners to a) hate another site b)hate those those who agree with the views of that other site and c)ignore people on THEIR side who indulge in the same kind of gratuitous adjective-hurling and lashing out.
It’s one more sign of how our politics has deteriorated where name-calling is accepted as arguing issues. It increasingly resembles elementary school kids calling others “poopy pants.” But it builds ratings and blog hits. And ranting and calling names is SO much easier than simply laying out and countering arguments with stronger arguments.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.