Why It Matters
In the comments sections on some conservative sites where the proprietors have denounced Luskin’s attempt to intimidate Atrios, some of the man’s fellow travelers have airily avowed that this story is of no interest “beyond the few thousand people who read blogs.” Well okay, sure. To that I would say, if you’re reading this, or commenting on someone else’s site, you’re one of those few thousand people, so why pretend it doesn’t interest you? Second, people who aren’t interested (non-blog readers) probably should be. Anytime one American tries to shut another American up under color of law, it matters, especially when the “coloring” is so obviously outside the lines.
Until Wednesday, Atrios and Luskin were two citizens participating in the American tradition of over-the-top political expression. I never read enough Luskin to know or care if he was the creep his critics painted him as or the sentinel of truth his partisans celebrated. I read enough Atrios to respect his energy and intelligence but find his unwavering devotion to, my god, the Democratic Party of all things almost incomprehensibly foreign to my sensibilities. But as of Wednesday, one of them is a bully and a coward and the other is not; and one of them is at least an ideological if not personal hypocrite. (Conservatives hate promiscuous litigation, remember?) And personal hypocrite doesn’t look like such a bad call.
It matters because character studies matter - new lessons in human weakness and strength merit attention. It matters because free expression matters. It is not just Atrios’ rights we’re dealing with here. Were Luskin’s legal claim to prevail it would establish radically burden sole-proprietor internet opinion sites - blogs, bulletin boards, any site with a discussion forum. It would fence off an exhilaratingly free range.
