Did you ever stop to think that the best anti-bigotry TV show had Archie Bunker? That show must have cleaned up a lot of language, and perhaps led to political correctness, which became correct to the point of being down and dirty political.
As we are being caught up with Edwards' blogger flap, I think we are in for a lot more heat and little light. It's too complicated for me to post what's on my mind to an appropriate forum, relating your take on Republicans/Montanans/AngryMen to what bloggers are doing. But I think the Jan 30 article in Salon has a lot to ponder. Here's the opening paragraph:
Jan. 30, 2007 | You, gentle and not-so-gentle readers, have been on my mind lately. You vast and invisible online throng, slouched in front of thousands of computer monitors, have done something revolutionary. You have forever altered the relationship between writer and audience. The Internet has turned what was once primarily a one-way communication into a dialogue -- or maybe a melee. From a cultural perspective, the new democracy of voices online is a wonderful thing. But writers have an odd and ambiguous relationship with their readers, and the reader revolution is having massive consequences we can't even foresee. Writers are being pulled, or lured, down from their solitary perches and into the madding throng. This has opened useful debate and made writers accountable. But it has also thrown open the gate to creeps, narcissists and wannabe Byrons who threaten to damage the fragile, half-permeable membrane writers use to keep the world from being too much with them.