According to Jason:
I'm asking people to think about what they are writing and why they are writing it. That's communications 101.
In other words, people should censor themselves, people shouldn’t articulate an honest opinion, because the primary consideration is appearances. Libloggers are really meant for propaganda, another tool to argue the pre-approved, easy on the eyes, talking points. If one were to criticize, this somehow harms the party, this is counter-productive. What UTTER RUBBISH.
Let’s keep it real for a minute, especially on this “communications 101” angle. For communication to be effective, it must be credible, the reader must have some respect for the words conveyed. If people are reduced to reciting lame talking points, because all they care about is required presentation, they aren’t taken seriously. Take yesterday for example, Jason tries to argue against going into an election, but is reduced to using Easter as a prime rationale for Liberal opposition- what person takes that crap seriously? Is Jason so arrogant he assumes his readership operates with the intellectual sophistication of a 10 year old? No, it’s just dismissed as partisan nonsense, it doesn’t help any cause, in fact it makes you look desperate.
I honestly believe that the Liberals are doing themselves irreparable harm by abstaining, delaying an election, conveying weakness. I have no personal agenda, I am not here to curry favor with the Liberal leadership, I have no ambitions, I don’t need to kiss ass (you do the math). I will continue to “moan and whine” as I see fit, but I also will offer support when warranted. In that way, people who bother to read this blog know that my views are my own, they aren’t a filtered calculation. Bloggers don’t harm anything by expressing themselves, in fact that is what the medium is supposed to be, it isn’t a commercial. If Jason thinks his approach is productive, he is frankly kidding himself, and I use the laughter some of his posts generate as proof. I think Liblogs should be a vehicle for the grassroots, not a forum for censored propaganda.
UPDATE
Scott says it better here.
19 comments:
C'mon. You're taking him purely at face value.
The good little soldier has just posted a blatant "get behind my man Stephane" appeal.
It's outright hilarious/disgusting how Cherniak is treated by the Liberals/Kinsella.
He is Dion's biggest apologist and seconds every word Warren posts. And neither, in spite of him being the faithful lap dog (and lawyer), is prepared to give him a break and hire him.
I laugh/cringe every time I think about it.
P.S. He will also soon expect all bloggers to edit/delete their comments like he edits/deletes the comments on his blog. I guess "freedom of speech" is limited to Jason's preferences.
I'm not suggesting that anybody mislead their readers. I'm suggesting that you write posts with a goal, and consider whether the post will acheive your goal. If your goal is to get an election and defeate Harper, then my view is that attacking Dion doesn't help. You are free to disagree, but I am free to express that view.
Steve... you know that Jason's post was out of line when I was even offended by it, and I'm a New Democrat. At the end of the day blogs are about discussion, forwarding a conversation from a certain view point. That means that there will be disagreements, arguments and sometimes that might look disorganized and nasty, but it's democratic. You and I have had our spats and alike, but at the end of the day we speak our minds in a respectful way, which is good for the public discourse.
As I said over at Jason's blog, people don't get involved politically to sit down, shut up and do as their told. They get involved to help and try to make a difference. If that desire informs or motivates their blogging, all the better. If Jason wants politically detached bodies to run a campaign, go and hire a bunch of temps or people without jobs who will treat working for you and treat it as the job that he expects everyone to treat it.
Also, to build on the point that you were making in your piece, most serious bloggers like yourself are aware of the effect their words can have, and I know you don't take that lightly. It's for that reason specifically when bloggers like yourself, Jeff, Scott, Darren and Miranda start writing about these problems, I know that it isn't done as an act of first resort. I take it much more seriously as a result, because I know that you guys didn't arrive at the decision to write those words lightly. I think that when any of us write those kinds of posts, we all have exhausted all of our options and take it seriously. Sadly Jason doesn't seem to think that's that case.
Either way, I think that Jason, given his position in the Liberal Party and his personal investment in Mr. Dion's leadership, can't step aside or away from what's happening.
"You are free to disagree, but I am free to express that view."
Yes you are.
Apparently Liberals should refrain from free thought or speech, That kind of attitude can only push more people off the boat
Did everyone notice that apply-liberaly.com found out Liblogs waste no time on disenters when they asked him to remove their logo just days after tearing up his card. Did they ask him to reconsider? Did he actually tear it up?
I don't know, but such heavy handedness and suggestions shows us Liberals are performing the circular firing squad usually only used by Conservatives.
Why do the expect good little soldiers when the Generals SUCK?
GAB,
I want to clear something up,
Did everyone notice that apply-liberaly.com found out Liblogs waste no time on disenters when they asked him to remove their logo just days after tearing up his card. Did they ask him to reconsider? Did he actually tear it up?
I was not asked to remove the logo. I asked to be removed from the site and removed the logo on my own. Jason did ask me to re-consider leaving Liblogs but that's not going to happen. As far as I'm concerned it's a site devoted to supporters of the Liberal Party. I'm no longer a supporter.
And yes, I actually tore the card up. I even took pics!
Cheers,
Darren
I think Cherniak illustrates the dichotomy among Liberal supporters. There are supporters of the greater notion of the Liberal Party and there are those invested in the party as it is today. The more tied one is to the party of today, the less welcome is the criticisms put forward by so many of us. We distinguish what we're seeing today from what ought to be. It's sort of like what a genuine Republican made of the spectacle of his party under Bush. They're both aberrations of what ought to be.
And, if the elites are embarrassed by what is being written on blogs, maybe they should ask themselves why people feel that way, why they aren't supportive. The days of being patted on the head, no questions asked are over, this party will become egalitarian, one way or another.
Y'know, it's a funny thing. After the Liberal by-election losses in Quebec, I wrote this post where I made a suggestion about how Jason could harness Liberal bloggers to help out in the next election. Essentially the idea was to encourage Liberal bloggers to talk up their candidates, in blogposts given prominent play on the Liblogs main page.
Jason responded by saying he'd think about it. When this latest round of by-elections was announced, and nothing appeared on Liblogs, I assumed he decided the idea was technically unfeasible.
Now, of course, by calling on Liberal bloggers and asking them what they can do for the Liberal Party, I have to wonder if he isn't being just a tad hypocritical here.
What I find ironic is how he thanks those who engage in good debate yet doesn't approve a comment I made on his blog about why I think it's a good thing Liberals are raising their voices.
Kind of hypocritical!
I think Jason should start taking cues from the Blogging Tories and should start kicking off bloggers who are part of Liblogs who are refusing to buy into a coherent and disciplined communicative strategy.
...just kidding. I'd start kicking off the ones who make their blogs into a forum for mean-spirited partisan attacks from the same old crowd of Connies, Dippers, and a few disgruntled Liberal hysterics. As I've always said, being a Liberal doesn't mean having to invite slaps in the face.
In any case, they've said everything I need to hear and at this point, are just repeating themselves.
"What I find ironic is how he thanks those who engage in good debate yet doesn't approve a comment I made on his blog about why I think it's a good thing Liberals are raising their voices."
I've had a few comments not make the cut. It's not good for the image you know.
I'm with Ti-guy on this, Jason needs to get in touch with Stephen Taylor and find out how he gets his blogroll members to always have the same answer to everything (even if it's the wrong answer).
"If people are reduced to reciting lame talking points, because all they care about is required presentation, they aren’t taken seriously."
AKA Blogging Tories
Jason needs to get in touch with Stephen Taylor and find out how he gets his blogroll members to always have the same answer to everything (even if it's the wrong answer).
Mass emails to cpcscum@cpc.ca!
Leave it to Jason to unite Lib bloggers in their discuss at another lame idea put forth...
How about Dion and company get a set of balls instead of acting like they are afraid of Harper? That would be a good start...
Dion has been rather weak as a leader of late...
Garth Turner has found a picture of a set of balls.
Not much, but it's a start ...
and you wonder why the conservatives are not attracting women voters or candidates?
I don't know what to make of Garth Turner and his picture. Perhaps he is trying to equalize the gender gap between parties.
I think the problem is that he wants to say something that he can't:
The problem with the liberal party has nothing to do with Stephane Dion, but the party luminaries that surround him... and that anybody who thinks that replacing Dion and/or calling an election will fix said problems is deluded.
He can't openly declare war against the infrastracture of his own party, but I do think he has a point. Pissing and moaning about Dion is not only missing the point on an epic scale, but shows just how fucking GOOD Harper was at softening you guys up last year with those "not a leader" ads.
I mean, blaming Dion for other people being so frightened of an election that he'd face a caucus revolt? Sweet Zombie Jesus, Harper's PR boys did their work spectacularly well.
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