Requiem
Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 620
Yesterday, a right-wing Iowa blog called Krusty Konservative put up its last post announcing it was ceasing publication, the result, it said, of "blackmail and extortion" directed against the blog's anonymous author.
Since Krusty didn't give any details about the "blackmail and extortion" that prompted him to withdraw his blog, no one can verify the real story here. Certainly, many of my fellow bloggers on the blue side of the political divide will be glad to bid Krusty adieu, regardless. But if threats made against him and others were the reason Krusty closed up shop, bloggers on both the left and right should be alarmed and should stand together in protest against it.
I disagree with everything Krusty's blog espoused. But he has every right to voice his opinions, just as those of us who disagreed with him have the right to raise our voices in opposition. It is a sad, dispiriting day when a blog - especially a political blog - is forced to cease operation due to "blackmail and extortion." Because the threat isn't limited to one blogger that I happen to despise; the threat is to free expression itself.
I make no apology for saying this: this is America, and no one - NO ONE - should be compelled out of fear to abandon their right of free political expression. I oppose this happening to Krusty Konservative this time because I don't want it to happen to Iowa True Blue, or Common Iowan, or John Deeth, or Essential Estrogen, or Bleeding Heartland, or, dare I say it, iPol, the next time. We all have a stake in this, and if it is true that "blackmail and extortion" forced a political blog into silence, then we are all a little less free today.
Since Krusty didn't give any details about the "blackmail and extortion" that prompted him to withdraw his blog, no one can verify the real story here. Certainly, many of my fellow bloggers on the blue side of the political divide will be glad to bid Krusty adieu, regardless. But if threats made against him and others were the reason Krusty closed up shop, bloggers on both the left and right should be alarmed and should stand together in protest against it.
I disagree with everything Krusty's blog espoused. But he has every right to voice his opinions, just as those of us who disagreed with him have the right to raise our voices in opposition. It is a sad, dispiriting day when a blog - especially a political blog - is forced to cease operation due to "blackmail and extortion." Because the threat isn't limited to one blogger that I happen to despise; the threat is to free expression itself.
I make no apology for saying this: this is America, and no one - NO ONE - should be compelled out of fear to abandon their right of free political expression. I oppose this happening to Krusty Konservative this time because I don't want it to happen to Iowa True Blue, or Common Iowan, or John Deeth, or Essential Estrogen, or Bleeding Heartland, or, dare I say it, iPol, the next time. We all have a stake in this, and if it is true that "blackmail and extortion" forced a political blog into silence, then we are all a little less free today.
