I adore it when a publication commits a heinous irony while attempting to condescend to its ideological opposition in a long and tortuously drawn out essay. Behold, The Atlantic presents you with this comedic headline, comedic, considering the subhead that follows: How can Americans talk to one another—let alone engage in political debate—when the Web allows every side to invent its own facts?

THIS PAST AUGUST, the left-leaning San Francisco–based Web site AlterNet posted a remarkable scoop: members of a group calling itself the Digg Patriots were banding together to promote conservative-leaning online stories and to drive down the rankings of stories that the group felt showed a liberal bias.

[...]

Further, the AlterNet story alleged, Digg Patriots were creating ghost accounts whereby they could muster “bury brigades” with far more influence than their actual numbers permitted. “One bury brigade in particular,” the article said, became “so organized and influential that they are able to bury over 90% of the articles by certain users and websites submitted within 1-3 hours.” The effect of this burying was to prevent other Digg users from finding those articles and rendering their own opinions on them, effectively coming as close to censorship as is possible in the social-media sphere. After the AlterNet article was posted, the Digg Patriots user group was taken down, and Digg eliminated the “bury” option on its site; Digg also began an internal investigation into AlterNet’s claims.

And? The Atlantic bases their shock on the presupposition that the left would never do anything of the sort.

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Last year blogger 24thstate did some excellent reporting about the structure of a little-known blog heavily linked to the Democratically dynastic Carnahan family of Missouri. The blog is a clearinghouse of all things anti-anti-Carnahan, with special attention on Roy Blunt (challenger to daughter Robin Carnahan, most recently of voter fraud fame) and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, whose health care lawsuit appeals too much to all the independents and Democrats who overwhelmingly voted for Prop C, a.k.a. the Health Care Freedom Act during the primaries.

One of the things I’ve noticed about the left is their inability to recognize balanced journalism and mistake (a term I’m not sure of as it implies innocent motive) objectivity for bias. As was clearly proven with study after study on leftist media bias (hence the public’s distrust of media), they’ve benefitted greatly from the uneven playing field for some time. However, facing fewer subscriptions, ratings drops, et al., media is catching on: people don’t want endless editorializing. They want the facts, Jack. If you’re going to be op/ed, at least be up front about it.

Having enjoyed media preference for so long, the folks at the Carnahan-linked blog were shocked and dismayed when they discovered that the honeymoon may be over.

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Really, GQ?  Using cheap shots at politicians to sell your magazine?

#FAILANDGOAWAY

I am not sure what I was going to get my husband for Father’s Day, but I can assure you, if the product graces the pages of GQ Magazine, it will not grace our Father’s Day!

The Junior High bathroom wall mentality on Twitter and other Social Media outlets is reaching…and I will not sit idly by while they use my child to do so. (more…)