The social bookmarking sites tilting as far Left as they have – and I really don’t want to use the word “Left,” b/c people act like animals on those sites – is the big issue. As the web grows more and more, search engines become dependent on filtering mechanisms like social bookmarking.

I don’t think my friends on the Right or my more liberal friends that aren’t quite convinced by DailyKos see how dangerous this is. On StumbleUpon, the number of liberals to conservatives, judging by groups, is at least 5:1.

That’s insane – that’s precondition for a hive mind with straw men opposition around. And SU is a good place for bookmarking. At Digg and Reddit, the opposition is gone, esp. at the latter.

I think a lot of traction can be gained by a thoughtful/not-thoughtful distinction, and we just need to link to each other and promote each other’s work.

while i’m one of those lefties, i agree with you.

(all my life, i’ve far preferred hanging out with thoughtful, kind and reasonable people of all stripes rather than people who happen to vote for the same party as i)

i am most amazed by how many blogs out there have quite the readership and they don’t really say anything. and the comments don’t say anything. it’s just letters tracing shapes across the monitor like so many banana slugs.

of course this mirrors what’s happening elsewhere. how many people watch american idol, how many listen to CBC radio?

not only that, people who like to think and reflect don’t tend to be sheeple and joiners, so they won’t be as fan-atically loyal to sites as the general populace.

of course the REAL cause of this could also be that ann coulter has a secret horde of hackers at her beck and call who infiltrate each and every north american computer and therefore mind, thus forcing us all to dumb downer and downer :)

(oh, and thanks for bringing socrates into the blogosphere)