I often worry that my blog is too scatter-shot, and disjointed. I'm a little self-critical by nature, so I worry,
"should this piece about torture be right between a review of "Celebrity Mud Wrestling" and a YouTube video of a piano-playing cat?" OK, I've never posted those particular things, but you catch my drift.
So, if you were reviewing my site, you could be critical in several areas:
• It's wildly inconsistent, and lacks focus
• It can't decide if it's wants to be personal, political or entertaining
• It's
left-leaning (hey wait, those italics are
right-leaning!)
All valid, and I no longer care. You know why? Because I have happened upon two
very narrowly focused sites, that have showed me what can happen if your site gets too obsessive about it's target. It also showed me that however left-leaning my POV might be, it is nowhere, not even close to as tilted as these sites. In fact, my site comes off as downright "fair and balanced" by comparison!
First up:
OlbermannWatch.com. This a site that focuses on the minutiae of
Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and anything Olbermann does. Now, it is no secret that I'm a fan of the show. But don't assume that being a "lefty" is the reason I watch. I didn't even know Olbermann's political leanings when I first became a fan (I'm not sure they've been evident until recently). No, I like the show because it presents stories (in its first 45 minutes) that are glossed over or ignored on other news/commentary programs. Is it slanted? Yes, I'd say it is. But it is alone in the wilderness, even on MSNBC.
Anyway, OlbermannWatch picks apart every detail of every episode, down to eyebrow-raising and camera angles. It does so with insults ("Fat Ass," and the like), and a deeply partisan bent--more than Olbermann displays by my estimation. The site also takes great delight with
Countdown's ratings vs.
The O'Reilly Factor, as well as the sales volume of Olbermann's vs. O'Reilly's books. Yes sir, popularity is the deciding factor between gold and dreck, didn't you know? The author of this site is obsessed with Olbermann, to the point of inanity, and it shows in this site. If you don't believe me check it out:
OlbermannWatch.com
SIDEBAR: I'd like to point out that I was recently an unwilling guest at the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament collector's club banquet (I went as a favor to a friend). I was alarmed that anybody could be so devoted to a corporate entity, whatever product they produced. These people were obsessed with Hallmark. This was before I came across. . .
The second site that made me stop worrying about mine is
Johnny Dollar's Place. This site is even more obsessive than the last one. Johnny Dollar is a FOX "News"
über-fan. His logo is "J$P" in the classic FOX searchlight logo. He fawns over every talking head on the network, features their picture in rotating positions on his site, and also gloats over ratings. Johnny goes one step further, and takes on "FOX haters,"
Newshounds.us in particular.
His favorite FOX "News" personality would seem to be John Gibson, which should frighten
anybody. He even calls him "Gibby" and appropriates his slurs (calling Olbermann
"Bathtub Boy," whatever that means, so that he doesn't have to type his name--the horror!).
I point out these sites at the risk of giving them more traffic, because. . .well, I'm not sure why. Maybe to look good by comparison? Heh-heh. No, it's more like the traffic accident scenario. . .sometimes you can't help looking at unpleasant things:
Johnny Dollar's Place.
