The line! Where did it go?!
Where is the line when disagreeing with the point of view of others? Is there even a line at all on the Internet?
As I am sure my avid blog readers have noticed on the blogosphere, there has been a bit of a riff between Markos from Daily Kos and Carol Darr, the Director of The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, aka my boss. He completely disagrees with her suggestions to the FEC and not only blogged about it but also sent someone here an email threat!
I think blogs are a great way to get your point of view out there and it’s perfectly okay to disagree with someone. But threatening… hmm… Not so Kosher… Not so professional… Not so respected.
As I am sure my avid blog readers have noticed on the blogosphere, there has been a bit of a riff between Markos from Daily Kos and Carol Darr, the Director of The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, aka my boss. He completely disagrees with her suggestions to the FEC and not only blogged about it but also sent someone here an email threat!
I think blogs are a great way to get your point of view out there and it’s perfectly okay to disagree with someone. But threatening… hmm… Not so Kosher… Not so professional… Not so respected.
posted by Kathie Legg at 1:19 PM
9 Comments:
I agree. It undermines freedom of expression to behave abusively to someone simply because you disagree with their views.
KOS should refute the message, if he so chooses, but certainly not attack the messenger. As someone who often reads Daily Kos, I was dismayed at the way he handled himself.
Remember, however, that while Kos owns the blog, he does not represent all views expressed on it. Not by any means.
Wow! Where did the civility go? Power (or the perception of power in this case) can do crazy things to people!
I think there are several factors to blame for the general lack of civility in the blog world:
1) As was so wonderfully discussed here earlier, it's tough to understand a person's meaning simply by reading their words on a screen. Saying something like, "I'm gonna get you for that" can have so many different meanings, depending on the body language we attach to it that we often forget the words truly can be abusive.
2) Anonymity. We've all read the argument a million times, but it's still a good one--the ability to hid behind a screen (even if you're using your real name) often empowers posters with the strength/stupidity to say things they would never, ever say were they face to face with someone or speaking to them on the phone (appearances on FoxNews notwithstanding).
3) People will never fail to forget that there's always a paper trail. Even in the ether of the Internet, Markos would have to be an idiot (note: that's not uncivil, it's just a turn of speech) not to realize that his comments would be shared with, well, everyone.
And seriously, that's the geekiest threat I've ever read (also not meant as a put-down; if you saw my face right now, you'd notice the little glint of humor that just doesn't come across with the words).
Spot on politiae! Spot on!
PS my first latin word was agricola, agricolae :)
PPS
Si hoc legere scis, nimium eruditionis habes
Kathie I'm so glad you let us all in on the "inside gossip" on this one... just one of the benefits with living in the beltway I suppose!
I agree with a lot of what "politiae" said in that I think you are both right - there is an informality to the internet (and therefore all communications via the www as far as blogs, emails, etc) that lends itself to problems far greater than traditional forms of communication, simply because we can not "read" people's body language, change in tone, and facial expressions.
Maybe the whole posting to you boss was really a tongue and cheek joke (poorly delivered as it was)... well perhaps, we can give him the benefit of the doubt.
My comment was going to be intirely too long. So, I have posted it on my blog at Hegemon (http://123hegemon321.blogspot.com/). Thanks for the inspiration Kathie.
WOW. Great post - and great link to the threatening e-mail.
How can the blogging community be taken seriously when you have the owner of one of the most popular blogs, DailyKos, send out a childish and unprofessional e-mail like that? Kuddos for your organization for publishing it.
I'm sure all the bloggers thought Kos was sticking up for them, and that it was "cool," but immature behavior like this is exactly the reason why the MSM largely ignores the "blogosphere."
And maybe Kos is taking such a hard line because he is worried regulation will cut into his bottom line moreso than anything else...
I completely agree that Kos' email was beyond immature (and Matt is such a nice guy!), but did Carol really have to send it to the FEC? Couldn't she just have posted a reply on the IPDI site?
The whole thing seems like it's gotten way out of control.
That's exactly what makes no sense -- why send it to the FEC, especially enclosed in a letter in which Carol acknowledged that this was beyond the FEC's jurisdiction? It served no legitimate purpose, and was just a crude effort to smear Kos rather than respond to his arguments.
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