Yeah, I didn’t think your grip on reality would be strong enough to be able to make such a concession, but it was worth a try. It’s funny that you are so blinded by your own rage and screaming that you don’t even realize how much of what you condemn others for applies greatly to you. In fact, very funny apparently because you’ve made yourself something of a Second Life attraction, famous for being the crazy old lady who everyone comes to marvel at what insane hate-filled conspiracy theory is sputtered out of your mouth today. Speaking of that “sky is blue” mentality of everyone agrees so it must be how it is, have you ever noticed that everyone tends to agree that you’re nuts? Of course not, they’re a part of some tekki-wikki w-hat socialist IRC conspiracy to defame and disrepresent you.

That makes much more sense.

Well, it would be one thing if they hired or invited as writers those who have the “Valleywagish cynical hypster doofus think”. That’s all good. But to also turn what is the equivalent of the Letters to the Editor section as also “Valleywagish cynical hypster doofus think” is unjustifiable. That’s why the new media will make us have more concentration and more funnelling than the old media. I don’t know if you saw the New York Press article on Amy Goodman and NPR and so on. I don’t find Amy Goodman to have anything in common with actual and real democracy or actual and real public broadcasting service the real diverse public. She’s an extremist who is willing to get into bed with Allende and other dubious types with blood on their hands just to poke a stick in the eye of “Amerika”. And if the Bushies maneuvered their pals on to CPC, don’t think the Obamies or whatever won’t do exactly the same thing and did in the past. What’s her solution, having her and her cronies on?

There is a war for the soul of public broadcasting and even concentrated commercial media. It’s really a widening gulf. And it’s no wonder that the political struggles have sharpened now that the dying dinosaurs are vying for the remaining scraps of advertising dollars and political influence. I just want to make sure that the Amy Goodman “democrats” don’t invade the entire structure of something like Second Life because somebody thinks that’s a “better world”. It’s no more of a better world than having Karl Rove or Clear Channel run everything.

If you control the philosophical values at the entry point, you don’t need to do any censoring or organize conspiracies to advance a point of view — the point of view will automatically dominate your publication.

We truly live in interesting times.

I’ve been thinking this over and wonder what you think, Uri. At one level, Valleywag *is* push media. It puts up a precious, precocious sort of college-newspaper humour take on the whole Silicon Valley scene, and it represents a group of people with that take on things — which is representative only of itself, though it might speak for a class of 20-somethings trying to get jobs in Silicon Valley or sitting in jobs they don’t like with a lot of animosity toward big IT firms or whatever.

And I’d put it in the push-media category because of this ridiculous SLOG-like policy of only taking contributors through the friendster system of friends recommending and confirming friends in a “trust circle” (I’m finding the idea of “trust cirlce” to be really insidious). So you might spend your days trying to impress the snarks at VW to take your copy your comment, but they’ll likely make you suffer.

On the other hand, at least for that chain of people who can get past the Friend Nazi checkgates, they are now ushered into the world of push/pull. Their content has been attracted by the original pushers, and now they can interactive and even get to post anonymously. This ensures the old “line” that the editorial boards used to maintain, and maintain assiduously through all kinds of cultural and institutional cues, whether through “the right schools” or “the right social set”. What used to be more complex and have more checks and balances on it — the old editorial board and its line — is now substituted by the code-as-law rough-and-ready concept of “allowed to register/not allowed to register” and “friend/not friend”.

Try, in debate or conversation, to talk to someone with an opposing viewpoint without automatically resorting to fallacious personal attacks, hasty generalizations, linking them to conspiracy theories you’ve developed on SL Shadow governments, or socialist entities. I know you can’t, but try instead using logic and reason with less emotion and instinct, and I think you might be surprised how people would be more willing to give a polite and reasonable debate, and would seem less like “the enemy” and more like another person with an idea.

What about when you tell someone in a debate that they’re pig headed or whatever other slew of insults you’ve used? I just point this out because a.) I seriously think you are mentally ill and need to see a therapist, that’s not an insult at all and b.) I know it gets to you and since meaningful debate with you is impossible because of said mental illness, It’s funnier just to poke you and see how you react, although I recognize it’s cruel to taunt the Special Ed people.