 Congratulations to FSP contributor Bruce Godfrey on his successful blogswarm against harassment of and threats against women online, Take Back the Blog. Bruce is one of Maryland's longest-running bloggers, if I'm not mistaken, and it's great to see him hit the big time.
I had meant to submit a post to TBTB, but I moved to a new apartment this past weekend, so any non-essential tasks got thrown out the window. I was going to write about the netroots, feminism, and the uproar over Markos Moulitsas' comments about online harassment. The argument would have gone something like this:
- The netroots' rise to prominence was spurred in part by a rejection of the self-defeating tactics of liberal interest groups, particularly NARAL, who endorsed pro-choice Republicans even though the Republican Congress could not have been a more hostile arena for choice.
- The netroots' team mentality about the Democratic Party helped save it from permanent minority status, and contributed significantly to the Democrats' success in 2006.
- Now that Democrats have some power, though, it behooves us to pay more attention to its allied interest groups, so the pursuit of power does not become an end in itself. In this case, it means learning that rooting for Democrats doesn't mean much if you're not embodying a core principle of liberalism: respect for women's equality, in all areas of life. Many in the netroots get this, but some don't, and that's a problem.
As you can see, it would have been a rather convoluted essay, not to mention fairly abstract. But it would have been fun to write.
Again, congratulations, Bruce! |
