A Citizen’s Guide to Internet Law
(Posted by Mona)
Kevin Drum proposes an eponymous piece of cyber-legislation:
“Kevin’s Law” has a certain ring to it, doesn’t it? It would go something like this: “If you’re forced to rely on random blog commenters to make a point about the prevalence of some form or another of disagreeable behavior, you’ve pretty much made exactly the opposite point.”
Apparently, Drum’s edict is prompted by such events as a big boy in the right-o-sphere who has been trawling left-of-center blogs for deranged or intemperate commenters, who are then held up as the true face of liberalism. (Intemperate, vile comments never are posted in the pro-Bush blogosphere.) Tim F. at Balloon Juice thinks it should be cited as “Drum’s Law,” but otherwise likes the idea.
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Hmmm…I’m not so sure; pretty intolerant of Drum, who sounds like a Nazi to me.
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Comment by J. —
August 10, 2006 @ 8:55 pm
Your Balloon Juice link ought to be “http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=7214″ but I absolutely agree. Drum’s Law it is.
Comment by Mona —
August 10, 2006 @ 9:12 pm
J – thanx. It’s fixed. Jesus, getting that short post formatted properly was like giving birth.
Comment by Nell —
August 10, 2006 @ 10:01 pm
Definitely ‘Drum’s Law’. ‘Kevin’s Law’ is a) not in sync with the original it’s echoing; b) too much like that mawkish new custom of legislation being called things like ‘Amber’s Law’.
The use of first names in situations that should be formal doesn’t need encouraging.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector —
August 11, 2006 @ 8:36 am
If not the true face, then those commenters are certainly unsightly pimples on the true face of liberalism. Unless they’re undercover RW trolls, of course.
Comment by Gary Farber —
August 11, 2006 @ 4:35 pm
As I mentioned in Kevin’s comments, I wrote about the War On Straw® in 2003.