Blogosphere norms 1, legal wrangling 0
In the conclusion to the Atrios-Donald Luskin dust-up from last week, both Atrios and Donald Luskin have posted a joint statement on their blogs. The key thing is that Luskin has “retracting his demand letter.” Good for both of them. It’s refreshing to see that informal norms of civility can surmount the urge to legalize ...
In the conclusion to the Atrios-Donald Luskin dust-up from last week, both Atrios and Donald Luskin have posted a joint statement on their blogs. The key thing is that Luskin has "retracting his demand letter." Good for both of them. It's refreshing to see that informal norms of civility can surmount the urge to legalize disputes. I only wish that Luskin had come to this conclusion earlier. In his puursuit of Krugman at all costs, he contributes to a situation that Eric Alterman's arguments in the Nation acquire a whiff of plausibility:
In the conclusion to the Atrios-Donald Luskin dust-up from last week, both Atrios and Donald Luskin have posted a joint statement on their blogs. The key thing is that Luskin has “retracting his demand letter.” Good for both of them. It’s refreshing to see that informal norms of civility can surmount the urge to legalize disputes. I only wish that Luskin had come to this conclusion earlier. In his puursuit of Krugman at all costs, he contributes to a situation that Eric Alterman’s arguments in the Nation acquire a whiff of plausibility:
Conservatives, and some not so conservatives, are testing out a new thesis in their effort to shut out ideas that make them uncomfortable: Any attempt to analyze the origins of a distasteful phenomenon is tantamount to endorsing it. Whether the problem is global terrorism or anti-Semitism, the message is the same. “It’s bad. It must be condemned. That’s all we need to know.”
Now, Alterman conveniently omits the following facts:
However, because Alterman could point to Luskin as evidence for his broad swipe, he could safely ignore the more substantive critiques. Alterman link via Andrew Sullivan, who points out at least one absurdity in the article.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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