As regular readers know, I’ve been casting occasional glances at the battle between Anil Dash and the readers of the Little Green Footballs weblog. You also know that I have no respect for most of the bigoted drivel that finds its way onto the front page at LGF, and is pervasive in the comments section of that site. What I didn’t know is that a whole big drama unfolded between Anil and the weblogs feature at MSNBC. Anil has written a very long post that got me up to speed.

I just want to say that I admire Anil’s perserverence in confronting the readers of LGF head on. Not long after 9/11, I saw the direction that LGF was headed in and simply tuned out. When I’ve followed links to the site from other places, I see that things have only gotten worse. I reluctantly accept the fact that bigotry, hatred, and ignorance go unconfronted every day, and combatting those forces where I can is one of the many things I should be doing but am not. It’s a sad fact that most people aren’t interested in a lively exchange of ideas, or trying to see a problem from all sides, or trying to accept complexity for what it is.

Anil has a lot more patience than I do, and perhaps more hope as well, because the bottom line is that I simply write off his interlocutors rather than trying to educate them.