RWN In The Irish Times

by John Hawkins | November 1, 2004 12:03 am

RWN Reader “Toejam” writes to say,

“Dear John,

Thought you might like to know your blog: “rightwingnews” and “instapundit” were mentioned in the Weekly business section [top, p-6] of “The Irish Times” Newspaper (Friday October 29, 2004). Unfortunately, the newspapers site (www.ireland.com[1]) is pay per view or I’d attach a copy.

As you might have guessed both sites were given as “rightwing” blogsites.

The article was written by Danny O’brien and was titled: “INTERNET NEIGHBOURS CAN MOVE TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT”

Of course, like any EURO publication the article is slanted to the port side of the political spectrum. He covers the usual junk like polarization in the U.S. Rich vs. poor, right vs. left, etc.

Anyway, I just thought you might like to know your fame is rapidly spreading around the world.

Best of luck and keep up the great work. I read your blog daily.

Regards,

Toejam”

If any of you happen to have a subscription to the Irish Times, how ’bout sending me a copy?

*** Update #1***: RWN reader Nicky Scarfo came through with the goods. Here are some key excerpts from “Internet neighbours can move too close for comfort” that’ll give you a feel for the column…

“Wired on Friday: This American presidential election promises to be one of the most tense and scrutinised in history, both inside and outside the United States. Much of the scrutiny, analysis and pure partisan screaming is found on the internet – far more than any previous election. But what effect is this having on the electorate, or for that matter, the world?

…But now, thanks to the net, the factions of American thought have a direct line to each other. Whether it’s the southern character, spoken proudly by many of the conservative writers on the net, or the New England and California progressive liberals, all voices are heard – and instantaneously. Everyone is a neighbour.

That’s not always a good thing. How many of us like the neighbours we already have? The dialogue between all these sides has become fast and hard, no longer tempered or filtered by the media. Left and right voices, untempered online, often reduce themselves to the absurd quickly, whether it is exclaiming that Bush is exactly like Hitler, or late night essays extolling a policy of cultural extermination against all Islamic Arabs.

…That the right battles the left in America – and the whole world is watching – is a story we’ve lived with for some years. We haven’t needed the net to tell us that. But now we can watch the American left’s grassroots talk first hand, with sites like www.democraticundergound.com[2] and atrios.blogspot.com[3]; and we can hear America’s right, too, with sites like www.instapundit.com[4] and www.rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com[5]. The fight has become too close for comfort.

And, perhaps most disturbing, they can hear us talking about them, and lean out of the news to talk back – as the Guardian recently found out.

…Within America, all this activism and scrutiny isn’t likely to end on November 2nd, whichever man is elected in this tight race. Left and right are already filing court cases, with websites dedicated to following and disseminating their progress. Voices on both extremes have already rejected any outcome that doesn’t match their desires.

…And as the internet spreads around the world and more and more obscure voices become a Google search away, that polarisation promises to go far past the American border.

…Well, like it or not, we all have our national bad teeth – controversies so burnt into our national psyche that we barely mention them in our own media for fear of shaming us all, or laying bare our own divisions. Thanks to the net, we’ll all soon have an international audience to point these things out.”

Endnotes:
  1. www.ireland.com: http://www.ireland.com
  2. www.democraticundergound.com: http://www.democraticundergound.com
  3. atrios.blogspot.com: http://www.atrios.blogspot.com
  4. www.instapundit.com: http://www.instapundit.com
  5. www.rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com

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