Ordinarily I don’t mention when I un-roll another blog, but I thought I should go into why I’m not following Pandagon any more.
The warning signs came a few months ago when Amanda was still pushing for Edwards. At one point in an entry, she was dispensing advice on how to affect primaries so Edwards would have a stronger showing — overall a good idea, but her presentation was something along the lines of, “Here’s what you should do.” In context, that should felt considerably more like an order than a suggestion, and it rubbed wrong.
Additionally, the commenters on Pandagon often seem to have extremely low tolerance for those who don’t line up precisely with their views, which is ironic in any population that styles itself liberal.
Finally, though, she linked — with favorable comment — to an article from the Village Voice that starts out by launching lowbrow and narrow-minded (as well as humorless) critiques at another blog which, frankly, I value much more highly than hers. I didn’t read past the first page. Willingness to appreciate diversity in voices matters, and she seems to have lost sight of that fact.
If the liberal front is beginning to lose its sense of humor — something that almost always happens whenever a subgroup begins to take itself too seriously, begins to get a little taste of power — I promise you that in a decade it will look precisely like the conservative front does now: Angry, out of touch, and foaming with rage when things don’t go precisely as desired.
Life is too short to waste on that kind of anger.
“Additionally, the commenters on Pandagon often seem to have extremely low tolerance for those who don’t line up precisely with their views, which is ironic in any population that styles itself liberal.”
Which is one way of putting it. Another way of putting it is “They’re fucking psychotic, I want my Mommy, I think I just peed myself a little”. Which is how I would put it.
A lot of people had the sense to ditch Pandagon when Jesse and Ezra decided to call it a day, and I wish I’d been one of them. It really hasn’t been Pandagon ever since.
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/ezraklein_archive?month=10&year=2005&base_name=pandagon_gone
Five or six people speaking up about why they don’t like Amanda (has something to do with her writing, the way she writes, the way she talks to people on her blog, the way she communicates, etc.) Then Amanda shows up and says “But what you really hate about me is, I have a vagina.” Then it all goes to hell, and the really nasty misogynists come out of the woodwork (though I’m sure some of them must be Amanda supporters, or Amanda herself, trying to make the critics look bad by association — see, this what it was ALL ABOUT in the first place! — i.e., you don’t like Amanda because of her writing, this guy doesn’t like Amanda because he despises women, therefore people who don’t like Amanda are misogynists.) That’s what Amanda’s done throughout her whole blogging career, best I can tell — avoided the growth that comes as a result of accurate criticism by denouncing the critics as misogynists.
That’s the lead blogger, and the commenters are those who fit with her best, the others having been weeded out over the years. So it’s no wonder you don’t care to mix among them.
Ben
Ben:
I wasn’t reading Pandagon in the days of Jesse and Ezra, so I didn’t have a comparison.
After reading the comments on the site you linked, I found it most striking how closely they resemble the current atmosphere at Pandagon — and that post is three years old.
So, apparently, are some people. Sigh.
Thanks for the validation.