I'm a Leftist and I'm Afraid--UPDATE

Dr. Helen explains the Left's fear:

However, my guess is that it is fear that makes the angry leftists link to me or troll to try and shut people here up. Why such a threat from a few thousand people a day on my blog? Because two or three thousand readers could go out and talk to two or three thousand friends about libertarian or right leaning ideas and gasp! they might listen. Extreme leftists have a lot invested in keeping the right's views out of the media, schools and universities. That means making people on the right afraid or embarrassed about stating politically incorrect views. But everytime we stick up for a student Republican or professor, etc. the lefties' fear and discomfort become a little greater, their monopoly on these institutions is broken a little further and the threat causes them to act out in anger or make aggressive blog remarks. But hey, I am doing my part here because as long as they write about me, or waste their time posting on my blog, there is less chance they will be out in the real world pushing their agenda. So keep on coming by, boys. And thanks for the traffic!

It might also explain why the rhetoric finally matches the beliefs. For a long time, the Left could moderate their message for the general public (who would ever have believed that Walter Cronkite was a flaming partisan?) and hold their socialist and communist views near and dear. These discussions would take place behind closed doors at those mind-numbing dinner parties Gwyneth Paltrow sniffed about.

The Rightosphere smokes them out from under their belief rocks or is it rocked-headed beliefs? Not content to control Mass Media and Academy, they want to suppress dissent. It used to be so easy. Thus, Nixon's "silent majority". Well, I believe the majority still exists, it's just not so silent. Well, not completely silent anyway.

Here's what I'm not so sure about. Does the Rightosphere make a big enough difference? The Media still so completely controls the message, that America got elections like the last cycle. If a voter only watched the news or heard snippets on the radio, he still lives in Walter Cronkite's world. He is brain-washed and doesn't even know it.

The efforts in opinion pieces and outright Media scams like the AP (at war with Michelle Malkin) and Reuters (at war with Charles at LGF), go unchecked to this day by the Major Media. The common person says they distrust the media, but their actions tell the story that they believe what they read and see. And what do they see?

• Mickey Mouse on a heap in Lebanon
• Green Helmut Guy carrying dead bodies
• Screaming mothers
• Men carrying three-day dead naked babies
• Roadside bombs
• Snipers picking off American soldiers
• Mark Foley's face over and over and over, with one email blared
• Evangelical Pastor screwing a dude and scoring meth
• Poor Muslim Inmams being persecuted in the land of religious freedom for praying in an airport
• Leaked intelligence undermining the government and war
• Every "expert" disagreeing with the President
• Grave commentary about the systemic destruction of civil liberties

This list could go on and on and on. In my readership, I have lots of family and friends who give me feedback. "Melissa I really like your blog, but why all the political stuff? It's boring!" And yet, the "political stuff" is what is determining this country's future. Too many people, like those vapid broads at The View, have the luxury of opining about topics about which they are absolutely ignorant while maligning their own country and kvetching about civil liberties. These ladies, and most of the Left, seem completely unable to see the irony of this position.

Politicians make decisions about the War, about defense, about America's position in the world. This in turn determines the stability of our economy, our lifestyle--our very lives. So the Rightosphere is apoplectic about what they collectively view as an existential threat in Islamofascism and the Leftists churn out their bile and rubbish for the masses. Schools, colleges, and the media possess potent tools to put forth propaganda. Do you notice how in all cases only one side gets heard? What student will risk a teacher's wrath? What reader questions the pictures they view? Who would ever imagine that the media would doctor photos to aid the enemy?

The Rightosphere is not reaching the masses. Not yet. The Leftists want to make sure the Rightosphere never gets the chance.

UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds links to Rich Miller of the Chicago Sun-Times who says:

This phenomenon is not going away, no matter how much it is dismissed or chastised. The Internet has been seized on as a democratizing tool by millions of perpetually democracy-hungry Americans. Bloggers should definitely be open to criticism by the mainstream media. That's America. But lumping everyone together with the crackpots is neither fair nor honest. And the fact that so many reporters and pundits can't seem to get the story right just proves the bloggers' point that too many of them don't know what they're talking about on everything else.

The MSMs nose is pinched. Not only are these upstarts doing our work, they are criticizing our work. How DARE they? But it is more than that, the Blogworld has far more diverse opinions, they are more transparent about their biases (the MSM possesses no bias, don't you know), and they are less beholden to the power brokers for love. They are freer and more single minded. All this combines for frustration. It's fun when influence grows, it's miserable when it shrinks.