— This statement by Nick Denton, and his search for Gentle Soul Blogs silenced by ruffians of the right has The Sarges hoppin’ mad:
People like Doc Searls and Meg Hourihan are to the weblog as Oppenheimer and von Neumann were to the A-bomb. Gentle souls whose creation will be used by others more ruthless.
And it should. Not only does Denton display a massive arrogance about the delicacy of left wingers that flies in the face of your garden-variety WTO protest, he also displays an equally massive ignorance of the history of Web Logging. The first weblogs were run by people who didn’t have a political axe to grind, like Tim Berhners-Lee, and the first with political content were started by people like yours truly who are right-of-center, small-l libertarians. People like Searls and Hourihan didn’t stumble across web logging until it was already an advanced art, and in Hourihan’s case their contributions have been greatly exaggerated.
And as far as the hate-mail from “fundamentalists” goes, I have some from feminists that would curl Denton’s hair, but even that’s not as scary as the drive-by shootings they’ve done to people like Erin Pizzey who undermine left-feminist orthodoxy. Some people just can’t help being silly.
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”
That’s what comes to mind when I hear the “I’m afraid to post because the meanies will say stuff, wah, wah, wah.”
I’ve recieved to date 24 death threats, 56 “Beat shit out of you” threats, and 18 “Come to Saudi Arabia, pig” invitations. (Although I’ve done extensive time in Saudi. My opinions of the shithole are from experience).
Yet I manage to blog on. Surely others can make due taking shit from other people.