tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231099519591992868.post5432389174138903440..comments2023-11-11T21:02:46.520-05:00Comments on marshamercer.com : Stopping the online venom -- Jan. 7, 2010 columnMarsha Mercerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08581920296605648970noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231099519591992868.post-49765725951337968552010-01-12T13:14:39.193-05:002010-01-12T13:14:39.193-05:00I'm sorry for the untimely loss of your collea...I'm sorry for the untimely loss of your colleague. I visited New Zealand on the trip of a lifetime some years ago, and feel that keenly.<br /><br />RE: VIOLENCE<br />Good column about what I think this is perhaps the single most important issue in American politics today. <br /><br />I usually don't read such WaPo story comments because the tone and substance are so low.<br /><br />Last fall a liberal acquaintance forwarded to a list that included me a joke with a punch line about how it was too bad Glenn Beck hadn't died in an some illness or accident. I grumped up the list with a response that no American should condone, tolerate or incite extra-judicial violence, illness or death for another American because of political views. He and others downplayed it as "joke".<br /><br />Despite the above example, my blog reading has revealed far more violent speech on the right than on the left. Of course, it's not just bloggers. The final weeks of the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign were chilling, with the two candidates tardy and half-hearted in telling their supporters not to yell, "Kill him!" about their opponent.<br /><br />Unfortunately, in the name of objectivity, the national news media in my experience (at least during the Bush years) tended to portray left and right as roughly equivalent here, and to downplay it as high spirits rather than dangerous, even when it was directed at the media itself (e.g., a joke about blowing up the NYT building). Tom Tomorrow has a good cartoon on this that he blogged about in 2006 -- http://www.thismodernworld.com/3007 --<br />but the link from "this cartoon" is broken. <br /><br />None of us should condone, tolerate or incite extra-judicial violence, illness or death for another American because of political views.Rafael DeGennarohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04901718470837115538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231099519591992868.post-43917252974055629352010-01-10T11:35:19.626-05:002010-01-10T11:35:19.626-05:00While I did not know Deborah Howell, I agree that...While I did not know Deborah Howell, I agree that the negative comments about her are deplorable. Also deplorable is the state of affairs where attack and destroy seems to be the path to success. We can do better.caryberkcamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06452726406381052743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6231099519591992868.post-91492489433429871622010-01-07T20:55:54.042-05:002010-01-07T20:55:54.042-05:00While I disagreed with Deborah Howell's extrem...While I disagreed with Deborah Howell's extreme stance on online comments, I admired her resolve and was saddened to hear of her death. I worked at the Washington Post in the mid-1990s, though I never met her.<br /><br />I was intrigued by your comment about how "being reasonable tends not to be a smart career move online." The internet seems to reward such childish behavior even more unreservedly than cable television; no surprise that nutters like Ann Coulter and Michelle Mathios have found their niche online.<br /><br />It saddens me that true investigative journalism and thought-provoking discussions seem more and more relegated to nonprofit arenas such as PBS television (e.g. "NewsHour"), the Knight Foundation, and so on. These days, if you can't make a quick buck or a snide remark, most seem to think quality journalism simply isn't worth doing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com