I sympathize with David Sirota’s realization that blogstalkers can be mildly frightening. Actually, they’re more creepy than anything else. And I’m glad he is taking it in stride and enjoying the bonus in traffic. It’s true, some of his stalkers are the same people that have stalked me in the past. They’re slightly insane and seriously stupid. However, Sirota is taking increasing criticism from a broad swath of the progressive movement, and not just from loonies.
The criticisms vary and some of them are quite personal. The most valid criticism is that he is a demagogue. And I mean that in both senses of the term.
1 : a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power 2 : a leader championing the cause of the common people in ancient times
I don’t really see Sirota as seeking ‘power’ so much as fame and readership. And there is nothing wrong with that, in itself. The problem arises when you use popular prejudices and false claims in the name of championing the cause of the common people. It doesn’t help that he heaps scorn on his critics, calling them names and insulting their intelligence and character rather than attempting to rebut their claims. But that’s all part of playing the part of a demagogue.
I wouldn’t waste my time discussing David Sirota under normal circumstances. But as he will remind you in virtually every post, he is a syndicated columnist who has recently appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and Bill Moyers. He appears on these shows as a voice of progressives and of the blogosphere. Because of this, I do not consider him just a blogger I happen to disagree with. He’s becoming a major voice, and face, of the movement I’ve been working in for the last four years. And I don’t want him serving as an ambassador to this movement.
More than my disagreements, I am concerned about his temperament and his intellectual honesty. Nothing good will come from his high profile and when he flames out he is going to create some collateral damage. It should be clear now, at the outset, that significant voices in the blogosphere do not want to be associated with Sirota, don’t subscribe to his faux populism, do not trust him, and take no responsibility for his actions going forward.
He claims to be a leader within the progressive movement, and he has his followers. But his cause is not my cause and his movement is not something I recognize as representative of what the blogosphere is all about.
I just want that on the record. And, having it put it in the record, I am going to drop the subject of David Sirota for the time being.
