Explaining the silence of the left
Dan Rubin writes on why many liberal bloggers have been quiet about the ongoing warlike situation between Israel and Hezbollah (which, by default, implicates the Lebanese, though it’s nothing personal from what I hear). What I like most about his analysis is that he draws on professional experience to bring his insight to the table:
A newspaper friend calls it “The Third Rail.” Nothing I wrote in a quarter century generated the heated correspondence I attracted in two months of covering the Second Intifada from Jerusalem in 2002. All sides went after me with brickbats and honey, derision and praise – never losing focus of the need to draw my point of view closer to theirs.
No assignment I’ve encountered requires more strength and smarts – or tougher skin. …
Reading the whole post, I’m convinced that most bloggers, whatever their political stripe, don’t really have much valuable opinion to add. I don’t have much to add either, except you should read the rest of Dan’s thoughts.
