I understand that Lefty Blogs has delisted Howling Latina. And other supposedly Democratic blogs are dropping the site from their blogrolls. The reason? Howling Latina is a proud advocate of PUMA. She dares to be a dissenting voice.
I thought the Democratic Party was a big tent. Have we gotten so out of whack that we only want to hear from the people we agree with? Heck, if that were the case, I’d be removing a pile of blogs from my blogroll – and don’t assume that the list would only be Republican ones.
When we start down the path of censoring the voices within our party, there is little that separates us from the Republicans. If your sensibilities are offended by those with whom you disagree, there is a simple answer: don’t read them.
Individual blog operators have the right to do whatever they want with their blogrolls. But I disagree with the decision by Lefty Blogs to remove Howling Latina because to do so, is an attempt to silence someone. (And we’ve seen plenty of that over at Blogger.)
It’s just not right. And because it’s my blog, I’ll continue to keep Howling Latina listed.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
The cartoon reprinted I understand had a lot to do with the de-listing.
I have taken exception to her blog and writing many times recently, as other have. “Barky” is not respectful. Ascribing actions and motives to the Obama campaign that are not their doing, or would otherwise not turn a Democratic head, is a poor way to be ‘Left’.
Quoting sources like WorldNetDaily because they suit your needs is not progressive. Criticizing anyone who dares to see the reality of Obama as the nominee means that in some cases, posts will be deleted, which is not progressive. Using talking points straight out of the Republican playbook is not progressive.
Some may argue that taking her off an aggregator is a free speech issue, but she was and is not acting like a progressive, or a so-called ‘Lefty”. To the exclusion of almost every other subject, it’s all “Barky” all the time. She is not an advocate of anything other than her candidate getting to run for President/VP.
People who eventually de-listed her pleaded with her for months to do this in a different way. To no avail.
Bottom line? She is not progressive, therefore, if LeftyBlogs wants to remove her, that’s their business. She is not only no on the team, she is screaming in the parking lot.
I think you have confused freedom of speech with freedom of association.
Mimi is free to continue writing anything she wants. If some of us choose not to associate with her, that is our choice.
Mimi has the right to say anything she likes, but we are iin no way obligated to facilitate her bad behavior.
No one has “censored” anyone.
You start to get into dangerous territory when you treat blog-rolling like an endorsement if you’re a group like lefty-blogs. If you’re going to de-list one blog because you disagree with the content or tone of their blog, the tacit implication is that you do endorse and agree with the content of other blogs. And lets face it: we have a few good blogs out there, and a lot of decent blogs, but we have a handful of really crazy people blogging nowadays, too.
Who has stopped her from posting? She can do what she wants and apparently does. Others who choose not to be associated with Mimi have a right to do so. I’ll put a link on my site, not because I agree with her, but because I like watching the trainwreck and will continue to point out that she is dead wrong.
I’m with you here:
That said, I think Mark makes an argument that, at some point, becomes dispositive. At some point, our present actions outweigh our history and as much as we might try to claim our history, we’ve become something else (see, e.g., Mickey Kaus).
In HL’s case, I credit her past writing pretty heavily – I was quite the fan. That’s a large part of why I think LeftyBlog’s decision was a poor one – she’s still (to me) obviously part of the “progressive blogosphere” that they claim to list. I think she should still be there. But If she keeps on doing what’s she’s doing (whatever it is, it’s not progressive anything – it’s ugly, foul, and petty), I don’t think she’ll have much of a claim to be part of the “progressive blogosphere”. The difference between me and Mark, then, is that he thinks that she’s crossed that line and I don’t. But I see it approaching.
I plan to delist you, Silence Dogood, for making the understatement of the year. Freaking neocon.
BlogNetNews looks better every day
http://www.blognetnews.com/virginia/
Vivian, no one has silenced Howling Latina. It’s Leftyblogs decision, not hers. It’s at their discretion. Who are we to tell them what to do?
However, I’m not sure if you’ve seen her blog lately. I bring you this: http://howlinglatina.blogspot.com/2008/08/precious-one.html
A cartoon of Obama masturbating in front of a mirror.
Or this:
“This is a post-racist America and everything The Chosen One might’ve said and done is absolutely moot when he decides to change the jingle of his jive song and dance.”
I’m all for free speech, and I’m sure that LeftyBlogs is as well. However, that doesn’t mean they should HAVE to carry any and every blog that calls itself part of the progressive blogosphere. Because, from where I’m sitting, Howling Latina has firmly removed herself from that group. Instead, deciding to align herself with those that seek to defeat Obama.
Well, that’s stating the obvious, don’t you think? It’s also entirely beside the point, I think.
“We” are LeftyBlog’s audience and reason for existence. I think that’s a fair bit of standing.
Allright, you start the petition up. See how far that gets you.
So progressive=lock step?
(PS – MB, I fixed your comment @2:29)
Petition for what? LeftyBlogs (in my view) made a bad judgment call, a number people are expressing that opinion, and that’s that. You can try and demean those opinions out of relevancy, but it seems a little silly, no?
Progressive, Democratic, Liberal…I think we know what we mean when we say these things.
If you honestly think that her blog has some merit or something positive to say to advance the long term causes of progressives in this country, then by all means, link to her. But don’t expect everyone to have the same opinion as you.
One thing I know about the “progressive blogosphere” is that on any given day, no one agrees with anyone. But I go back to where I started: is the Democratic Party a big tent or not? It seems to me that quite often it is the latter and not the former.
As for the cartoon – I never noticed that it was supposed to be depicting masturbation. Kinda like some folks thought the McCain Moses ad was just funny and not about the anti-Christ. In other words, sometimes is it about our frame of reference.