Not So Unknown Anymore

The Unknown Blogger ^ | 11/11/2004 | The Unknown Blogger

[unknownblogger]

I sent the "Moving On From the MoveOn Era" post into the DA (www.da.wvu.edu) as a guest column shortly after I blogged it. Since all letters and guest columns are submitted without titles, they renamed it "Words of Wisdom to American Voters" and published it in the November 9 edition of the DA. I received calls and IMs from friends of mine saying how much they liked my column, and opinion editor Andy Barnes forwarded me a letter he received about it. The letter's author had many good things to say about my column, but what really got to me was what he said here:

"I plan to send this article to as many necessary persons as possible in the hopes that common sense will soon become what America is about and not the poorly informed and misguided adults comments (sic) whose only goal is to "mock" anything that they don't personally believe in."

Honestly, it's a sign of the times that all so many of us ever do anymore is mock people who don't agree with us. My last entry took a jab at Michael Moore, but not because of how liberal he is in comparison to me; instead, it was because of how he filters the truth on Iraq in order to tug the heartstrings. I was recently on his website and saw a picture he posted of an infant injured in the Fallujah raid, which is what prompted me to post the CNN link. I rarely ever post "quickie" links (unlike most bloggers), but if I feel I should, I will. Yes, innocents will be hurt by war, but if the war is just, then they'll be overshadowed by the removal of a threat (or threats) to world peace. This is really my only problem with Moore; in order to make a point, he simply leaves out information that doesn't support his side of an argument or edits it to add punch to his words. I will never do that. Chances are good that I'll eventually be writing for the DA, and I've never been content to sit behind my computer/pen and trade barbs with people that I don't agree with.

That's really one of the current problems with the DA right now: With a few exceptions, most of their columnists are willing to mock other viewpoints all day. Barnes himself has been guilty of this; in fact, the only politically inclined DA writer who hasn't done this to my knowledge is Michael Withrow (who I referenced in my "Bias at the DA" blog entry). One of the worst offenders is ultra-conservative Ben Helsley, who would be capable of balancing the rampant liberalism at the paper if he didn't sound like an ideologue. Even sportswriter Brian Welch got on the Bush-bashing bandwagon in the November 5 issue, drawing heated complaints from readers. Note to self: Never mix sports and politics, especially this year.

But getting back to my point...This letter is the closest thing to a fanmail I've ever had. I feel like I have a mandate to keep blogging now (not that I would have stopped, but it drives me to do more). I hope that you like what I've been doing so far. To bring everything full circle, I have a promise to make to you: I will never insult you for having an opinion that differs from mine. I said in my first post that I would never tell you what to think, and that hasn't changed.

A side note: Ex-CNN correspondent Peter Arnett (yes, that Peter Arnett) will be at WVU on November 17. I'll be there taking notes, and I'll blog it as soon as I get back that night. It's not being widely reported that he'll be here, so I might get an inside track that few others can.