Ry rolls his eyes

About five years ago, as my time in the navy was drawing to a close, I spent a lot of time surfing the emerging liberal blogosphere. I started following liberal political blogs like those of Markos Moulitsas, Jane Hamsher, Duncan Black and Digby, and I remember being deeply moved by the power and eloquence of those guys and gals. More than that, I was impressed with how the sheer size of the blogosphere generated so many ideas and how good ones seemed to surface, almost inexplicably, amid the chaos. The combination of the fact-checking facility of Google and LexisNexis (and later, YouTube), the instant ability to cite sources through embedded links, and simple willingness to challenge the status quo that gave liberal bloggers an unparalleled ability to instantly hold elected leaders accountable for what they said by pointing out hypocrisy and putting forth new and better ideas. And as some bloggers gained prominence in the "traditional media", they were able to shape the newly-minted "progressive" movement not by suppressing dissent but by embracing it, showing it the facts and making a better argument. That shit was powerful, and I wanted to be a part of it.

Of course, if there was a good example of how not to do things in the blogosphere, it was places like Free Republic and the vitriol of people like Michelle Malkin. These were folks tended spend their time demonizing anyone they perceived as their political enemies (remember Michelle Malkin and the Graeme Frost incident) rather than engage in debate over the future of their own political movement and, in doing so, reach some broad form of consensus over what they wanted and how they wanted it. This was what places like Daily Kos were doing, but on the Right side they were content with screaming "terrorist!" and "traitor!" and reassuring themselves that everyone agreed with them. We on the Left sneered at them, sure, and frequented places like Sadly, No! that made great sport out of smacking down the loony Right. But I knew, deep down, that it couldn't last. As much as I might want it, I could never quite convince myself that there was something so inherently noble about leftist political bloggers that they would not stoop to that level. I predicted that once "we" finally won, our big internet names would indeed shift from earnest discussion and strategizing to full-on mudthrowing. And as political power has shifted these last few years, my dire prognostications have unfortunately come true.

Case in point: John Amato's take on Rick Perry's recent "secession" gaffe. He throws around words like "treasonous"- an adjective that has lost all meaning to me, thanks to bilious right-wing windbags like Ann Coulter and Malkin. Treason is a big word. So big, in fact, that we actually define it in the US Constitution:

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.

In other words, treason is a big deal. Rick Perry hasn't declared war on the United States, nor offered al Qaeda safe haven in the Astrodome to launch terror attacks. It's something that shouldn't be taken lightly, nor tossed around by our side the way Coulter and her buddies do. Simply implying that Texas might someday secede if the federal government becomes tyrannous is not treason, it's Rick Perry being a douchebag. And a bad politician to boot, since recent polls show that a vast majority of Texans have no interest at all in secession (and look, I was born and raised here: if you can get 75% of Texans to agree on anything that even smells of politics, that's a major achievement). I expect this kind of dumbass exaggeration from the wingnuts, not from our side. Still, it's inevitable that it will happen, and when it does it's incumbent on us to police our own.