Obsessive-Compulsive Blogs, Redux

I wrote a post on this blog back when I was just getting started, called "Obsessive Compulsive Blogs." In it, I highlighted two very strange (and strangely, related) blogs. One is called Johnny Dollar's Place, and the other is called Olbermann Watch. I stumbled upon the former earlier today when I was writing the previous post (What Will FOX "News" Do if Democrats Win?).

Since I wrote my original post seven months ago, and have been blogging a bit longer now, I thought it might be time to revisit this topic. My initial assessment is still valid, that some blogs and sites are so tightly focused, so strangely devoted to their topics, they fit the definition of obsessive-compulsive. Fortunately for these types of blogs, having such a tight focus ensures readership from the like-minded. My blog, for instance, has a very diffused focus and hasn't found its niche as much as I'd like--probably because it doesn't have a niche. It's too scattered.

But if the writers of the above mentioned blogs are this devoted to (a) slavish adoration of a cable broadcast channel, and (b) intense hatred for a media figure on a rival cable broadcast channel, you can bet there are readers who share that devotion. I just don't think I'll ever understand these people.

Johnny Dollar's Place is a strange place indeed, though it has become prettier recently. He still focuses obsessively on any and everything FOX "News," but has branched out enough to take swipes at FOX's rivals, and favorite targets. MSNBC and CNN fan sites may exist (though I've never found such a thing), but Johnny Dollar's Place comes off as more of a FOX "News" apologist site. Johnny plays much the same role as a creationist who simultaneously evangelizes his cause while assailing all evolutionists. One has to wonder why FOX "News" needs so much defending, and why anyone would feel so moved as to take up such a cause.

Olbermann Watch is sort of the flip-side (but surely not opposite) of JDP. Affiliated with the previously named site (or possibly run in tandem), OW's mission is to tear down and insult Keith Olbermann, his show and his guests, generally with ad hominem attacks. It uses a lot of in-joke phrases, nicknames and shorthand, to the point of being difficult to follow without reading the comments section. I actually got involved in the OW comments, albeit briefly. What started out as dispassionate commentary devolved into a pissing contest, and I lost interest (but not before being offered a guest commentary by the editor, which was admittedly pretty cool of him).

It's a very black-or-white world at OW (as well as at JDP). You love or you hate FOX or Olbermann, and you defend and agree with all that they do, or you despise and condemn it all. All or nothing.

In this world, you cannot be a Countdown with Keith Olbermann fan unless you're willing to defend and support everything he ever said or did. You are not allowed to disagree with anything on FOX "News," even if you use video and a transcript in your dissent. It's a very George W. Bush "with us or against us" mentality, and I find it quite sad. But it seems to be working--both sites eclipse Greenlee Gazette's site meter hits by wide margins*. Oh well, FOX "News" is the highest rated "news" channel on cable. It doesn't mean it's better.

Previously:

Obsessive-Compulsive Blogs

*Or rather, they did eclipse me. JDP is still doing quite well, but I cannot locate Olbermann Watch. Perhaps their server is down, or they may have just quit the game. I'll update if I find out.

UPDATE: OlbermannWatch is still there. The site must have just been down for a while.