TTAG reader HS writes:
Robert and Crew,
I have read your site nearly every day for a year or so and enjoy most of the articles. Frankly, most of our worldviews line up so it’s not unpleasant reading the editorials and opinion pieces posted by the TTAG staff. Affirmations and all of that. My question to you and yours is this- What is your opinion of the comments section and how do those comments drive site content? I try to avoid reading the comments in the articles because there is no debate or thoughtful commentary . . .
Instead, an opposing or questionable viewpoint is shouted down- loudly and immediately. Shoot the messenger. Dismiss the source. Blame it on the liberal agenda. This is interesting to me because the process of dismissal is repeated over and over. Critical thinking is removed and replaced with rhetoric. It’s a formula. Zimmerman is and always will be innocent. He’ll also always be a good person. The media wants to set him up. The NYT is anti-gun. A neutral or pro-gun article is a trap. Rinse and repeat.
This process is not unfamiliar to me. I heard it for a few years in college from a buddy’s younger brother who was a white supremacist. His friends were white supremacists. Pat’s younger brother was eighteen years old, the child of Irish immigrants, introverted, and deep into the punk scene. In many ways, he was recruited by older guys who were also part of the punk scene.
So, Andrew shaved his head, bought some red shoelaces, and became a neo-nazi. We’d throw parties and the neo nazi crew would come around and party with us, but they generally kept to themselves and did whatever they did. Mostly listen to music and bitch about the Jewish controlled media. It was a complaint as old as religion.
The Jews controlled the media, so the Jews controlled your mind. Hollywood produces? Jews. Jewish agenda. Major networks? Jews. Jewish controlled television shows. News networks? GIANT NETWORK OF JEWS! YOU HAVE NO IDEA! The thing is, it was all rhetoric. There wasn’t any content. Just a couple of talking points and widespread dismissal of anything that they didn’t agree with.
Let me be clear- my commentary is not meant to imply that the vocal folks on the site are racists. However, the methodology is shockingly similar to what I heard from my friends younger brother. Just replace Liberal with jew and you’re 99% of the way there.
Anyway, thanks for a great site.
HS
My reply:
I get your point.
Like-minded people attract like-minded people. At some point, a website – any website – is in danger of becoming an echo chamber. Which sucks on a number of different levels.
TTAG avoids this problem, at least somewhat, by banning flamers and flaming. If you read the comments section, you’ll see that there are significant differences of opinions, albeit 98 percent of them are on the pro-gun side (e.g., pro and anti-open carry demos and videos).
That said, there’s not a lot of anti-gun sentiment expressed. Virtually none. I’m OK with that. The antis have their own websites and Facebook pages and Twitter feeds and suchlike. Not to mention most of the mainstream media.
Yes there is that. TTAG is a [relatively small] counterweight to the MSM’s anti-gun bias. And that’s good enough for me. You?
RF