It's not about censorship, it's about responsibility

The indomitable Gina M. sent me this link today from the Wonkette. Far be it from me to argue with the punditry machine who seem to define the online left these days, but one passage in particular caught my eye:

and finally flying to the Gulf Coast — but not New Orleans, where it was so dangerous that volunteer rescue crews were dodging bullets fired by crazed flood survivors and looters — for a photo op

Here's the problem with that simple sentence. Administration faux paus and follies littered the mediascape after Katrina. From Michael Brown's ineptitude to the callous disregard for the situation that our nations highest elected leaders displayed, there is more than enough blame to go around. It's been two years, and there are STILL people who don't know just how badly the residents of New Orleans were represented by those in whom they had placed their trust. Why? Because the media machine that some very smart people on the right have developed know how to invalidate entire arguments by picking on nuggets of untruth in journalism, no matter how innocuous their inclusion may seem.

The crazed looters shooting at rescuers story has been debunked by news outlets on both sides of the divide. To continue to repeat it in an otherwise excellent story provides ammunition to critics who seek to push every leftist article, no matter how true, to the fringe. Now if I had written that here, or if it were on any number of other no-readership blogs, it would be irrelevant. But with the attention that Wonkette receives as a symbol of the new online left, half-truths can become straw men, which take up talking time from real issues.

If we're to cease being called moon bats, we're going to have to keep our arguments down to earth.