The Kos

Dean Barnett, writer extraordinaire, at Townhall has some notable insights into a segment of the blogging world. (It was Dean's "Soxblog" that inspired me to start blogging myself). Today he chastises those that use blogging not as a forum but as a hammer to justify their ends with little regard for the consquences. Most notably he talks about what he frequently refers to as the "Kos Kids".
As I wrote earlier, the tone of some of the stuff that comes out blogs like DailyKos is often crass and asinine. A short time ago I gained some insight into self-proclaimed king of the liberal blogging world, Markos Moulitsas, in a remark that he posted about at the tragic death of TV's Croc Hunter, Steve Irwin. He stated that he couldn't figure out why a person would put himself in such a dangerous position when he had children that were now fatherless. (This was also echoed by a couple of my professors at Tall Corn College).
Author Sherwood Anderson writes in his classic "Winesburg, Ohio", that if you want to be a writer instead of a run of the mill hack, you have to dream, you have to live, you have to have passion. You have to have the ability to understand a person and thier passions.
I have no doubt that Mr. Moulitas is a genuinely smart guy. According to his bio he has sheepskins stacked up like cordwood and he lists his occuption as writer, but without the ability to "dream" he will never fathom why a person would swim with sharks, climb a moutain, fly a plane, or any of the pastimes and professions that don't offer the comfort or safety of blogging and because of that it leaves the rest of his analysis and opinions looking hollow.