Things Fall Apart

The Anchoress quotes Yeats' The Second Coming:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre 
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

She takes the line fragment about the center not holding for her title. I took the other part for this post. Her post is about sockpuppetry and something darker, more sinister than that.

Too many people are beginning to fall into an “I have a blog and I’m not afraid to use it,” mentality, and that thought is morphing into an “I know where you live and where your children sleep” mentality.

The last thing we need is for the blogosphere to become a field of rampant bullies. Next thing you know, we’ll have to listen to Hillary droning on again about regulating bloggers and free speech.

So, I’m concerned, when I read stories that suggest intimidation tactics are being used by bloggers and “former intel people” against other bloggers, I’ve got to believe that some folks are simply losing their freaking minds. Or their humanity. Or both.

And while I am sorry to say this, because I know damn well that somewhere out there, there is a right-wing blogger capable of doing the same things, so far the strong-arm tactics and sock-puppetry have been largely perpetrated by “peace, love and tolerance folks”, in the “reality-based” left.

In fact, if anyone reading this knows of rampant sock-puppeting/life-threatening stuff originating from the rightwing blogs, please let me know, and I’ll highlight those, too. (Links removed)

It is scary when people begin to lose control. It is frightening when things begin to fall apart and the center yields. The last part of Yeats' poem is even scarier:

The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries 
of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Ah, Anchoress. Reading Yeats is not good for us right now.

Other Links to this Post

1. The Anchoress » Circle is not holding in the blogosphere — Wednesday, 26 July , 2006 @ 1:18 pm

2. justbarkingmad.com » Blog Archive » The Ugly Side of the Leftblogistan — Wednesday, 26 July , 2006 @ 5:22 pm