Friday, November 18, 2005

Taking on the Heritage Foundation: Welcoming a New Blogger

There are a few items on my agenda for today’s morning update. First, I want to apologize to my regular readers for not updating as much as I usually do. Unfortunately, I do have to keep a steady job outside of blogging, and we’ve been in a big crunch to get documentation and reporting up to speed before we enter a Thanksgiving blackout period. This has meant that I’m actually working on more items than I have time for in a week (no lie, I mapped my time) and has meant that, not only am I basically unable to post at work, I am also too exhausted to follow up when I get home in the evening. On top of all this I’m pursuing a pretty aggressive plan of self-improvement, which leaves me with little to no spare time. I’ve been lax in replying to posts as a result, but I want to assure everyone that I do read my comments and appreciate every one of them. I am going to try to be better about it though.

Second item is that I want to thank all my “blogger buddies” – Jessica, James, Alice, Happy Feminist, all of you folks, for helping my maintain my sanity during a very trying period. You’re a really great bunch of folks, and I appreciate all of you.

Now, the main item is that I received a pretty cool email this morning from a new blogger who goes by the handle “Abben”. Abben recently started his own blog and decided to take on a fairly ambitious, but small piece, attacking some of the logical fallacies that have been used to minimize and deflect criticism from the outing of Valerie Plame on a random conservative blog. I think this is pretty good for a new blogger; I think my first political piece was mostly me ranting and raving about the 2004 elections, all emotion and spite.

Of course it turned out to be more than just a criticism of some random blogger. Here’s what he had to say:

”Little did I realize that the blog I was taking on was actually the personal blog Mark Tapscott, Director of the Center for Media and Public Policy at the Heritage Foundation, writer for Fox News, Washington Post, etc . I bring out quite an indictment against his ability to accurately represent a situation, a man whose career is in the media, and I can't wait to see if he responds.”

I’ll let you read his blog for the good stuff, but here’s the real stinger for me:

The easy excuse is that the poster never intended to imply these things. If true, the poster still has the responsibility of being remotely conscious of the directions in which they pull the tilt of the story, which they failed to fufill. If this is too much to ask, then so is coherent and insightful analysis into the Plame affair (or any other politcal matter).

This post, insofar as it is to be considered a piece of information, is damaging and useless. It has no value for anyone who is objectively concerned with engaging in critical thought, and is damaging to one's efforts to critically think. For any accusations that this level of criticism is overly pedantic, I would answer that it is exactly the level necessary, if we care about making any progress in political discussions.


And, like he said, this is addressed to someone who, while working for the odious Heritage Foundation, has a career based in media. It pulls the curtain on some of the stupid tricks that some media figures use to sway their readers and viewers. I recommend you check it out; Abben’s blog will always be linked at this site, as well.

Posted by crimnos @ 8:16 AM

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Aw, thanks Crimnos. Right back at you. I read your blog every day, though I don't always comment; sometimes what you report leaves me speechless! I hope your workload is soon lessened and that you can take a well-deserved rest with the Thanksgiving holiday. As much as I love my "junkheap fix," it can wait til you're through this. :)

Oh- and I will definitely check out Abben's blog.

Posted by Blogger Habituelle @ 2:55 PM #
 

Thanks for the nice words. I feel the same about you man. We're all in the same boat.

Hope things settle down soon. Know that I am with you and sending you support in all that you take on.

Posted by Blogger Handsome B. Wonderful @ 6:52 PM #
 
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