Why Join the UPC? (or any other multi-partisan group blog)

Old Nana (this is apocryphal) says her home town had but one radio station. The terrible result- she had to listen to country, classical, and gospel, to hear her beloved Elvis. The wonderful result- she was exposed to country, classical, and gospel, in her quest to hear Hound Dog. If Nana was a kid today she could probably locate, on her satellite receiver, (radios? HAH!) a station that played Elvis songs 24/7.

Political blogs provide the equivalent variety and specificity of choice to Political Blog Readers (PBR). Nobody knows the ratio of PBR to political blogs. Are there 10,000 PBR for every would-be Daily Kos? Maybe the ratio is as low as 100-1. There may, in fact, be more political blogs than PBR available to read them. (Not encouraging, exactly, for those of us who like to write them.)

Given this plethora of choices, libertarian-leaning-conservative-sci-fi-and-gadget-fanantics who-figure-gays-should-be-allowed-to-marry-but-legislatures should-decide-that will end up at Instapundit, while libertarian-leaning-conservative-non-sci-fi-and-gadget-fanantics who-figure-gays should-maybe-be-allowed-to-marry-but-legislatures-should-decide-that will visit Powerline. (My apologies to the authors of those blogs if I misinterpreted their stances). Of course that is an extreme example of specificity, and those two blogs share PBR and in fact link to each other pretty regularly. However, Daily Kos PBR read Powerline about as often as Quakers participate in Hamas rallies, I imagine.

The point is that, given the MSM’s decreasing influence, more people will rely on bloggers, and they will choose bloggers who reinforce their views. Thus, fewer people will be exposed to opposing opinions. This will result in a more divided republic, and perhaps in what you could call a Kook Republic. I’ve little doubt that the left is controlled by the Far Left, or Loony Left, Moonbats, or Kook Left, and no doubt those Loony Lefties think the right is controlled by fascist, racist, Right Wing Ideologues, Hitler Dopplegangers, or other manifestations of the Kook Right. The fact that I’m sure, or, more importantly, that YOU are pretty sure, that the Right is right and the Left is wrong about this, or vice versa, is immaterial and at the same time of the utmost relevance. The internet allows us to surround ourselves with those who reinforce our own viewpoints. If you think the other side is run by kooks you are a kook, no matter what side you’re on. We are ALL Kooks.

For graphic evidence of this read this Washington Monthly article. Note the accompanying graphics!

Multi-partisan blogs like the UPC are a solution to this problem. We have representatives from all ends of the political spectrum. We are united only in that we are Greens in PSoTD's Tom Ridge-inspired color scale.

PSoTD’s Commentary Scale

Red - Has declared liberals are traitors or treasonous.
Orange - Has declared that they despise/dislike liberals, but no mention of the T word.
Green - Has denounced the "liberals are traitors or treasonous" meme.

Red - Has declared conservatives are evil.
Orange - Has declared that they despise/dislike conservatives, but no mention of the E word.
Green - Has denounced the "conservatives are evil" meme.

This scale provides a guideline for liberals and conservatives who want to exchange ideas with those who disagree with them. It helps people choose and maintain a civil tone. My liberal friend Cernig doesn’t have to say anything good about President Bush, nor avoid criticizing him, but he does have to try to avoid labeling conservatives in order to squelch debate. And I must do the same regarding liberals.

The story of the scale’s creation and evolution also provide an example of how interaction with ‘the other’ – no matter who ‘the other’ is to you, benefits all involved. It began with this post, by PSoTD. The relevant excerpts:

How often do you see blog posts along the lines of this?

They do not know it or accept it, but liberals are traitors to this nation.

Fighting to show liberals that their actions actually hurt the United States and enable our enemies to fight and hate us more.

Liberals like Ted Kennedy are absolute traitors...

…

we should be able to identify those who persist in such talk, who let this talk flourish, or who do not try to stop this talk in its tracks. I guess I'm suggesting a modified Tom Ridge Color Code for Conservative Commentators, which would work something like the following:

Red - Has declared liberals are traitors or treasonous.
Orange - Has declared that they despise/dislike liberals, but no mention of the T word.
Green - Has denounced the "liberals are traitors or treasonous" meme.

Cernig over at Newshog coupled that post with my related post, here, which doesn’t require an excerpt as it is tangential. (Worth reading in my humble, subjective opinion though, heh.) Having read PSoTD’s post I responded on my blog with this:

I think this is a fantastic idea. Let me be the first conservative to publicly declare... I RENOUNCE the "liberals are traitors or treasonous" meme. Ranking conservative bloggers with this system is only half the battle, though. In the comments section of the PSoTD's post I extended this challenge:

Conservatives, like me, often complain that while we say liberals are wrong, liberals say we are evil. I suppose this complaint is the flipside to that (complaint that conservatives say liberals are traitors). I hereby publicly declare that I denounce the "liberals are traitors or treasonous" meme. I will do so on my site as well... will you renounce the "conservatives are not just wrong, they are evil" meme?

And I think ALL bloggers, left and right, should employ PSoTD's system. Ths system for conservatives would remain as above. The system for liberal bloggers would be slightly different:

…

Red - Has declared conservatives are evil.
Orange - Has declared that they despise/dislike conservatives, but no mention of the E word.
Green - Has denounced the "conservatives are evil" meme.

Thus was a fully formed good idea born into the blogosphere. The UPC is an extension of the heart of this idea. Hopefully, more people will join multi-partisan blogs, dedicated to the principle that people should engage those with differing opinions. It is always better to search for the Platonic Truth, (even if you don’t believe in Platonic Truths) rather than preach to the choir, or sit in one. It can be uncomfortable, sometimes even painful, but in the end we are all stronger, smarter, and better if we do so.