Comment, or Vote, but not both
My friend Jon Rauch wants to take back the internet from idiots who comment on the internet. This is tongue in cheek, but I too have been moved to write letters to the Washington Post and to the Guardian asking that the reader comment section be policed better by their editors. When journalism was mostly print, an editorial staff could decline to publish "Angry in underpants in my parent's basement"'s volleys of spleen venting. I worry that the comment section on websites is a shockingly poor substitute for an editorial hand.
You agree? Join at http://www.commentorvote.com/ HERE
posted by gooner71 @ 6:45 PM
1 Comments:
I appreciate the effort and rarely scroll down to the comments section on news aggregator sites such as HuffPo. However, my concerns for American democracy run in a different direction. To my mind, the "Angry in Underpants" phenomenon that you mention arises from the reality of a citizenry that is profoundly disenfranchised by the narrowness of the political discourse.
Consider the upcoming Presidential election: we're very likely to go into next fall's final campaigning cycle with two candidates (Obama and middle of the road Repub.) who largely have a neo-liberal, corporatist consensus on the big issues (e.g, war, economy, health care, energy policy, social welfare) and spend their (and our) precious campaign time whinging on about trivialities. Of course there will be one or two Don Quixotes from left and right who will toss their hats into the ring as well and as usual they'll be prohibited from participating in debates and will end up with roughly 2 or 3% of the vote.
A poll this week showed that fully 64% of Americans now think that the occupation of Afghanistan by U.S. troops is a colossal waste; yet, we'll continue to throw $2 billion this week, and next week, and the week after, down the toilet. And all the while, education, infrastructure, welfare programs and arts programs are asked to tighten our belts. If that doesn't make you want to bat out an angry comment (in underpants or otherwise), then I don't know what will!
~My two cents.
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