Another One Bites His Tongue

From Instapundit:

In the past, I’ve relied on Charles’ assessments of other blogs and bloggers, and it’s now clear that was a mistake on my part.

Charles, I wish you well, but . . . well, I don’t really have much else I want to say right now.

Umm… if you can’t think of anything to say right now, I can offer a few talking points. For example, how about an apology for believing him without checking his “facts”? Hours were spent gathering research to refute his scurrilous charges but none of the bigs cared enough to perform due diligence.

Slings and Arrows, Oh My!Back in 2007 I learned that the upper reaches of the Blogosphere bumped right up against the MSM. Fact-checking is tedious work, isn’t it? Or is it that European politics are too complicated and boring to bother exploring? Or is it the American hubris that only what happens here or what we cause to happen elsewhere has any meaning?

How about when Charles threw reputable people like Oriana Fallaci under the bus? Didn’t that matter enough to elicit some concern?

Only Michelle Malkin didn’t stop linking to us. The rest of the major American bloggers just whistled past the graveyard. Fortunately for us, the large European blogs began linking so our traffic eventually recovered.

[By the way, a response to those who have said that blog traffic doesn’t matter: if you’re serious about your work and you believe in what you post on your blog, then your statement is pretense at best. People who write for the public, whether on blogs or elsewhere, are engaging in an effort to be heard. In some few cases, people write in blogs, but they only allow a few people to access their written material. That’s another matter. But a public blog? Traffic matters indeed.

In fact, de-linking another blogger is the height of passive-aggressive hostility, and Charles Johnson leads the pack in that regard.]

Glenn Reynolds continues:
– – – – – – – –

UPDATE: Reader Rollory writes:

The most amazing thing about Charles Johnson is how he did the same thing to multiple people, one after another, over the course of two years, and in every case, everybody who might have had some impact by speaking out about it and pointing out what a dishonest liar the man is, stayed quiet and either said nothing or empty platitudes like “I don’t know all the details” and deliberately ignored the repeated and clear pattern of behavior. Until, that is, he gets around to them, and all of a sudden they’re shocked and surprised that he could be such a dishonest liar.

It was worse than that, Reader Rollory, at least for us. Not only did these folks not say anything or spout platitudes, they pretended we didn’t exist anymore. Now I know what it means to be publicly shunned. It’s a powerful weapon.

Fortunately, after Charles’ depredations and the jejune conclusions of the so-called Sanity Squad, we’re immune to such behavior now. Ignore us? Delink us? It’s your problem, your karma. For that we have Chazzer to thank.

Oh, right, I almost forgot the kick in the gluteus maximus from Pajamas Media. But that turned out to be a wonderful opportunity for us. We were immunized then against the political correctness that is an opportunistic host on PJM just as it is on the MSM. Political correctness is so pervasive a virus that neither conglomerate can recognize any longer what subjects and words are verboten. Instead of cortical blindness, it’s verbal blinders.

Mr. Reynolds ends with this by-now shopworn rationalization:

What can I say, Ed? You’re right. I trusted him – even though I stopped reading or linking him much years ago because he seemed kinda extreme – and I was wrong to do so. As penance, I guess now it’s my turn for the Two-Minute Hate.

“…he seemed kinda extreme – …” That’s it?? That’s what you call his hatreds and his distortions and outright fabrications? The most you can work up is “kinda extreme”? Isn’t that kinda lame? Charles Johnson spent two years relentlessly attacking the integrity of many good people. So does, say, Dan Rather get the same break for his sin as you’re giving Charles here? Just asking.

I have a better idea. How about going back and apologizing to those people whose reputations were damaged by Charles Johnson? Sometimes life gives us the opportunity to make amends. We can take the easy way out and shrug with a “kinda extreme” or we can revisit the scene of our negligence and thereby make amends.

Penance is about making restitution, not about easy outs.

This isn’t to say that a public response is necessary, but how about this time you read the damn documentation about Chazzer’s villainy?

Now there’s real penitence for you, Mr. Reynolds.

9 thoughts on “Another One Bites His Tongue

  1. “kinda extreme”..hahaha
    I’ve been wating for this moment for 2 years 😀
    the CJ tumour becase so big that, finally!, the biggies are starting to notice it. I hope that they will soon start being tougher on themselves and promise that they wont repeat this mistake. Maybe in some time the damege done by CJ will be completely healed and GoV will become linked to again by all the big naive blogs. if not, it’s their loss, anyway.

  2. Save your energy for worthy targets, Dymphna. CJ is pretty much dead as a force in the blogosphere now and can safely be ignored. That being said, Mr. Reynolds is so smart that he should have recognized CJ’s bullying and poor judgment a long time ago. Yes, Mr. Reynolds, you were wrong. Now that he has admitted this let’s move on. We have better things to do.

  3. @Fj–

    The target in this post was NOT Chazzer. He’s a dead issue.

    The target was what it has been for quite a while: the lack of due diligence on the part of the big blogs to check out Chazzer’s smears.

    Remember all that carefully researched and documented material? The links are in the post.

    All of that was sent to Glen Reynolds and people like him, asking for a fair hearing…

    …radio silence. TOTAL.

    So it was good to vent on someone who shrugs and flips us off with his comment about Charles being “kinda extreme”…pardon me? He’s a character assassin.

    Just because Mr. Reynolds was too big to go after, and too big to suffer any harm if he was ever attacked by CJ doesn’t mean his casual dismissal –even now — of his failure to CHECK is any less wrong than it was back then.

    Please re-read the post. Charles is the adjective, he’s not the subject.

    Thanks

  4. This goes way beyond CJ, GR, or PJM. We have entered the realm of what I am referring to as the “Moral Inversion Media” or MIM. This is a cultural phenomenon and affects not only the lamestream media and politicians, but sadly bloggers, citizens, and numerous and sundry organization of all sorts. It is perhaps best exemplified by the Northland (Michigan) Family Planning video as seen at this link:

    NFP video

    or this tinyurl…

    http://tinyurl.com/yav2w7j

    In the video abortion is calmly and repeatedly referred to as “normal,” “loving,” “good,” and “sacred.”

    SACRED?

    This is an absolute complete 100% moral inversion. Bad is good, and good is bad. I am seeing this same moral inversion almost everywhere now.

    The challenge becomes – who can you trust? On what factual and moral foundation will you allow your world view to be shaped? How will you decide to act – or not act? To speak – or remain silent? To embrace – or revile?

    Choose wisely.

    I’ll take a page from Brit Hume and suggest building your world view on the morality and factuality of Jesus.

  5. Dymphna: I agree entirely that the major bloggers, including Glen Reynolds, Michelle Malkin, Power Line etc., totally failed in this case, and I have said so before.

  6. @Fjordman-

    Dymphna: I agree entirely that the major bloggers, including Glen Reynolds, Michelle Malkin, Power Line etc., totally failed in this case, and I have said so before.

    Agreed. But my post wasn’t about CJ, it was about the major bloggers’ ethical lapse. So telling me not to waste my energy on CJ, as you did in your first comment, seemed to miss the point.

    When one of the bigs posts about the subject with a so-what shrug (and someone sends me an email about it, since I quit reading them back then) I’m going to comment on their lack of moral gravitas.

    What is particularly disturbing is the apparent indifference re the harm CJ did to many people, both here and in Europe.

    The others haven’t posted on that debacle or their compliant silence so I’ve no opinion beyond the one I formed about them back in 2007.

    Michelle Malkin stood out, though, in that she didn’t shun us. She continued to link to posts and put our stuff up on her sidebar.

    What would make the bigs different from the MSM is if they actually apologized out loud. This wasn’t an apology, it was an “oh, well. Stuff happens”.

    When stuff happens it means someone was wrong and an apology is in order. That’s what people of integrity do. Grown-ups apologize, but big bloggers don’t, except among themselves.

    It’s an Olympian disorder.

    By the way, his former acolytes seem to be turning against him. I noticed a post by Jammiewearingfool in Memeorandum. Didn’t go there, but I presume, since it’s commenting on a recent article in the LA Times, that he’s busy back-pedaling from his former position.

    As I said, ain’t no integrity. That boy should’ve apologized. So you see, the virus spreads down further, also.

    M. Simon apologized, though, and I will remain forever admiring of his character for doing that.

  7. oops!

    I wasn’t referring to Roger Simon. He probably thiks PJM is well rid of us.

    I meant M. Simon, whose blog is Power and Control.

    A nice fellow and it saddened me that he found for CJ. As Chazzer began to unravel, Mr. Simon apologized.

    His blog:

    Power and Control

    The particular post I linked to is one you’d enjy reading, I think.

    When our internet satellite connection is working better I’m going to go back and look at his video material on “Crooks and Communists”.

  8. Ahh, that explains it. Yes, I was thinking of Roger L. Simon. Frankly, I would have been rather surprised if he apologized for anything.

Comments are closed.