On Challenging vs Insulting

For me this raises a larger issue totally unrelated to religion and religious beliefs. This issue relates more to "when is a blog really a blog", and who the hell are these "bloggers" anyway?

By this I mean that a huge percentage of political web sites are not blogs in the original sense of the word, which was short for "web log". Most political advocacy web sites, such as Burnt Orange Report or BlogHouston, are really discussion forums with a point of view. A true web log is a personal journal of activities and events, seasoned by personal insight. However, one cannot make an entire meal from seasoning alone. It seems like most bloggers have no insights to offer, only opinions.

So-called bloggers around the country are pretty full of themselves because of their 15 minutes of fame. Their complete lack of perspective guarantees more and more occurrences like Amanda's, unless "bloggers" moderate themselves substantially. But would there be any point in continuing under those circumstances? Many might say no.

It's not my problem, but I would say that political campaigns will discover quickly how quirky and unreliable this new cohort of political advocates can be. It is not that different from the days I reported city council meetings for an underground newspaper, except that is cheaper and easier than ever to be irresponsible. There are many more Amandas waiting to happen, and religion is not the only territory that will turn into hot lava.