iNet meanies

An RV enthusiast noted Geek to Live: How to deal with Internet meanies. A respondent suggested some places that have developed a reputation for such poor behavior.

Want to have some real fun and get a taste of what freedom of speech means to some people and what rude, ugly, foul mouthed behavior is go to one of these or all of these websites Atrios, Daily Kos, or the Democratic Underground. Look for the comments section under each post and click. Any one of comments is fine. It doesn’t matter. Enter a comment something like this: “I support our country and its troops. George Bush was right in invading Iraq.” or anything patriotic or supportive of America that may in some minor way be related to the original topic. DO NOT enter your correct email address or correct name whatever you do. Then come back 8 hours later and read the comments about your post. You will revise your standards for ugly internet behavior I guarnantee you.

These sites are the top progressive or liberal or left wing or Democrat Party places that have attracted the likes of John Kerry on occasion. It may just be correlation but it is worthy of note that it is a significant correlation between uncivil and bigoted behavior and ideological leanings.

And yes, when these correlations surface in an argument somewhere, there is an immediate response for any right wing oriented website with similar language. The tactic ends up trying to rationalize equating the local high school newspaper with the NYT as far as audience and influence.

We see the same bent in the Feingold and Leahy efforts to censure the President on what is becoming more and more obvious to be a false basis. We see other Democrat partisans impugn the President with unfounded allegation and judgment. These are ad hominem attacks on the person and not on the behavior. That is often a first clue that intellectual integrity is not getting much consideration.