Pandagon Watch: Althouse Bashing

Leave it to idiots like Jesse Taylor to bash Ann Althouse for having the temerity to defend herself against leftwing slanders.

The tempest in a nutshell: Ezra Klein not-so-subtely accused Althouse commenters (and, by extension Ann herself) of anti-semitism because approximately commenter on her blog said something that could be interpreted as anti-semitic (my first reaction was that the commenter was being snarky, but perhaps I'm not *sensitive* enough). Althouse jumped on him with both feet, and that brought in sleezeballs like Jesse Taylor to Klein's defense.

I would never argue that the sort of blog you write tends to attract certain like-minded people. But the larger your audience, the greater the diversity of your readership. Pick a blog like Instapundit or Patterico and you will find as many differing opinions as there are commenters (of course, Pandagon long ago abandoned the idea that diverse opinions make for better informed readers by banning anyone not a mind-numbed robot and by requiring registration--and probably a blood sample and thumbprint--to comment there). The point of having comments on a blog is to stir debate and give viewpoints a chance to stand or fail on their own merits.

Nonetheless, a blog owner doesn't endorse every comment made any more than a political candidate endorses the views of every person who votes for him or her. That's why I tend to distinguish between posters and commenters when I discuss other people's blogs. And, to be fair, Klein didn't say that Althouse was an anti-semite. But by stating that "a lot" of her commenters were anti-semites, you get the impression that she must be saying something they agree with and that she approves of their comments.

That's not the case, as Legal Insurrection notes. And let's face it. We all get crank commenters and different blogs deal with those cases differently. Personally, I don't care if someone disagrees with me; just don't lie about my opinions, particularly when I've spent post after post articulating them.

But of course, it would require intellectual honesty on Jesse Taylor's part to actually note that commenters' opinions don't belong to the blog owner, and that sunlight is the best disinfectant. But intellectual honesty is something in very short supply at Pandagon.