I've long been fascinated by bloggers who scream and shout over every little perceived online grievance. Would these people behave the same way--biting and crying and moaning and complaining--if they interacted with people outside the one-way blind of the blogosphere?
In the case of one blogger, the answer is yes.
Lee Papa is famous for his blog The Rude Pundit, which proudly aims to lower the level of political discourse. Papa was recently interviewed by poet and critic Dan Schneider, who runs the website Cosmoetica. Now Dan's done interviews with a whole mess of top-notch people, including philosopher Mark Rowlands, novelists Charles Johnson and Daniel Wallace, poet James A. Emanuel, and many more. A quick run through of his interviews will show anyone that these aren't your typical fluff-filled media gabfests--these are in-depth explorations of what these deep thinkers believe. If you don't want to do one of these type interviews, then don't do it. But I guess that's not how the Rude Pundit works.
So Papa does the interview. Said interview is published. Then Papa goes berserk, calling Dan a "wannabe Harlan Ellison" and that Papa will now publicly proclaim that "...the interview is your raving fantasy based on a few words I sent you." To rebut Papa's statement, Dan posts their entire email correspondence online so people can judge the situation for themselves.
My take: The Rude Pundit doesn't like debating the big issues when he can't use his blog as a one-way megaphone for shouting. But go draw your own conclusions.
