You, my legion of fans, come to The Spoonbender for pants-wettingly hilarious satire of the news. And at least 70% of the time, I deliver. From time to time, though, I feel compelled to comment on the goings-on in this stupid motherfucking community we so irritatingly refer to as "The Blogosphere." Now I realize that most of you wish I wouldn't, but the bottom line is that I don't do this for you. If you want to get pandered to, go to...

[perfect segue]

...Gawker. As some of you know, I've been critical of Gawker Media head Nick Denton in the past. I've also had some things to say about the site's content and editors, especially Jessica Coen, because she's the one they publicize. More recently, I've had some thoughts about Mark "Uncle Grambo" Graham. And perhaps most memorably, I've weighed in on the always-hot topic that is Sarah "Ultragrrrl" Lewitinn.

I disclose all this not only because I think it's important you read all of the linked posts again, especially the one about Ultragrrrl because it's really funny, but also because I want to save you all the trouble of accusing me in the comments of bitterness or grudges against those who will once again find themselves the subject of my ire here. I am bitter and I hold grudges. That shouldn't be tremendously surprising if you've ever read this site.

The specific issue I want to address is the recent outing of the author of the Some Blogs Are Better Than Others site. For those of you who've been lucky enough to remain unaware of the situation, on Wednesday Gawker broke the story that the site's previously anonymous authoress was someone called Kasey Doshier. The first post was very thinly-veiled as an objective discussion of the accusations and the evidence supporting them, but all feigned objectivity was blown Thursday when they admitted it was their investigation, likely conducted in concert with the high-wattage brainpower behind Ultragrrrl, and called the Some Blogs site "an anti-semitic [sic] little hate blog." Uncle Grambo, always quick to rim a friend, did twice.

Now I really don't give a shit about this Kasey chick, her roommate, or James Stanford. And while I appreciated the impetus behind Some Blogs, I always felt as though there was a certain artlessness to its attacks. My problem is that Gawker and the gaggle of trust-funded Sex in the City wannabes that run it intimate throughout the two posts that there's some kind of looming legal action against the site, perhaps involving the Anti-Defamation League or some libel lawyers. Now I doubt this assertion almost as much as I doubt the investigative abilities of the Gawker staff, but one never knows.

The bottom line here is that whoever wrote the Some Blogs thing committed one crime: Making fun of the blog clique we all know and loathe. These people don't care about anti-Semitism -- it wouldn't take long to find a litany of links to sites filled with far more racially charged content than on Some Blogs, mine included. And they certainly don't care about libelling anyone, that is beyond maintaining whatever "gossip reporting" facade on which Denton's lawyers insist.

I don't care that Ultragrrrl and Coen and whoever else tracked down the author of that site, and I don't care that they outed her. I don't care that they called her anti-Semitic, and I don't care that Grambo called her fat. What bothers me is that they're so willing to raise the spectre of lawsuits and chase somebody offline just because they don't like being called names, and that, when they succeed, they act as though they've really accomplished something.

I wonder what they'll say when Paris Hilton or Tina Brown or The New York Times threatens them with the same, and they have no choice but to cease publication because Denton's legal fund isn't quite as large as his head.

Analogcabin @ 10:11 AM
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