kos and free inquiry
I haven't been following the so-called "Kosola" scandal that's been quietly brewing in the blogosphere, mostly because I tend to get confused by complicated explinations of supposed nefarious dealings in backrooms (or, in this case, on email lists) and generally have a hard time extricating meaning out of the inevitably complicated, difficult to understand workings of the scandals. As such, when countless blogs I read everyday began linking to posts about the subject and attempting to pin some sort of payola charges on Kos, I ignored if, for the most part.
Today, however, Kos wrote this post, in which he claims that the liberal magazine The New Republic has defected to the right. Which is a suprising charge, to say the least. The post is in reaction to this article at TNR in which the magazine criticizes Kos for his attempts to silence discussion on the issue by instructing what are, by any definition of the word, his minions from discussing the issue.
This is troubling for multiple reasons. Firstly, because Kos claims that he has nothing to hide. "I have stated the sources of my income", says Kos in his post. If so, why does Kos want the liberal blogosphere to play down the matter? Couldn't he suggest that the liberal blogosphere point toward evidence that Kos is transparent about his financials?
Secondly, I think that the "Townhouse" email list, which as far as I can tell comprises the elites of liberal bloggers, shows a real mechanism for groupthink- one that Kos is able to initiate with a simple email. The silence amongst liberal blogs shows that the system works- Kos was able to effectively play down something that has the potential to be an explosive scandal. Whether or not the charges are true is at this point secondary- Kos has silence free inquiry on the matter- free inquiry that most likely would have been overwhelmingly in support of his cause!
Thirdly, Kos' "excommunication" of TNR simply because they published contents of the email and criticized him for such an obvious attempt to hide something shows that Kos continues to attempt to silence inquiry into the matter, and on a more basic level clearly has problems accepting any criticism at all. If he has nothing to hide, why does he continue to marginalize or otherwise silence investigations by other bloggers into the matter?
There isn't a better example of Kos' immature desire to marginalize those making the charges than his criticism of Glenn Reynolds, who has continued to play down the charges. But simply because Reynolds linked to the story Kos somehow makes him a target of his wrath. Again, lets be clear on this- Kos spews invective against Reynolds for linking to posts about the charges even though Reynolds says he thinks the charges aren't that big of a deal.
At this point it doesn't really matter if the charges are true or not, becuase Kos has already put quite a bit of effort not into addressing the charges and defending himself, but rather in attempting to sweep the charges under the rug without challenging them in any serious way. This sort of behavior goes completely against what the blogosphere (and the internet) are about.
I don't know if Kos was involved in a payola scheme, and I have to admit that I don't really understand the charges some have made against him. But I do understand that he has show nothing but arrogance in reponse to the matter, and has revealed himself as a somewhat childish individual who throws temper tantrums when things don't go his way. On a more nefarious level, he's shown that he only supports free inquiry when it doesn't have the potential for damaging his reputation or status as a powerful political advisor and blogger. Its a dishonest and extremely immature stance to take, and it has no place in the blogosphere- liberal or otherwise.
