Blogethics Schmethics: An Object Lesson for the Third Sector

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Via Mother Jones

K. Daniel Glover, editor of National Journal’s Technology Daily and the author of its Beltway Blogroll, was criticized by prominent citizens of the Blogosphere this past December after he wrote a New York Times op-ed describing the cozy relationship between some A-list bloggers and various presidential campaigns.  Some of these bloggers, he noted, disclosed their campaign connections only after being outed.  Mr. Glover was surprised at the bloggers’ “thin-skinned” reaction to his op-ed.

Jerome Armstrong, founder of MyDD, lays part of the blame for this strong response on journalists who insist—strangely—that the ethical standards of their profession should also apply to bloggers.  Armstrong was himself strongly criticized two years ago when he suggested that

the campus blogethicists don’t understand … that we are at war out here every day on the front lines as partisan Democratic activist bloggers against a Republican machine that uses whatever means it takes to win. So, if it’s not against the law, I don’t want to hear about it, because in the political arena, the first thing that matters in elections and campaigns is winning …

Is this an example of that “muscular liberalism” I’ve heard so much about?  If so, a-rrrrr.  Vigorous suspensions of the ethical get my jing-jang all wibbly-wobbly, especially when they invoke military metaphors.

Front-line-alicious!

It’s no doubt a burden for Mr. Armstrong to absolve himself—for all our sakes—of moral responsibility.  We need to honor his sacrifice by applying the same principles to the execution of the War on Terror.  Let’s defeat the enemy first, and later, at a more convenient time, as we dig up the mass graves and convene some Senate panels, we can indulge our feeling for ethics.

Hey, you chicken-hearted liberals: Not one more word about your moral scruples until Johnny comes marching home, dig?

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Image source: Right Wing News

Comments

[bUM fREE]

No worries, Stewart. Clergy Response Teams will be setting a good example until a more pressing need arises. (MSM is all over this story, as expected.)

[Ashley]

Hey, Stuart. I think I like you.

[Stuart]

Thanks, bf, I blogged the link. And thanks, Ashley. Any friend of Scruggs's is a friend of mine.