Vulgarity at Liberal Websites

July 22nd, 2007 11:53 AM

What's up with all the vulgarity at liberal websites?

The reason I'm asking is a poster named "Thers" at the liberal Whiskey Fire blog referred to yours truly this morning as a "Poor little f****r."

Why was I bestowed such a dishonor? Well, Thers was either displeased with the suggestion that Saturday's announcement of "24" going carbon neutral proves the show not to be conservative, or he disagrees with my view of anthropogenic global warming.

Either way, I'm not sure this qualifies a fellow American as a "Poor little f****r."

As I noticed vulgarity Friday from Markos Moulitsas, the proprietor of Daily Kos, I decided to search for other instances of obscenity from this ilk to see whether this is a random or frequent occurrence. What I discovered was clearly the latter:

  • According to the Daily Kos search function, there have been 88 "Diaries" (comments apparently excluded) in the past week which included the F-word, and 67 that used the S-word or versions thereof. Not bad for seven days.
  • Even more amazing, the DK search function identified 1,567 comments in the past seven days which included the F-word, and 1,310 with the S-word.
  • Over at Firedoglake, where there are far fewer submissions each day, the search function identified seven articles in July that contained the F-word, and seventeen with the S-word.
  • Wonkette's search function identified an astounding five F-bombs and two S-words just on Friday!

It certainly seems safe to assume that vulgarity is essential for these folks to make a point. Might it be due to the typically specious point being made?

Yes, that was a rhetorical question.

*****Update: The Whiskey Fire blogger's name in the original posting was incorrectly stated as "Wingnuttery." That has since been corrected.