Saturday, June 18, 2011

Day 4 of Netroots Nation - Breitbart and the right comes in

As if you can't tell,  I am having a LOT of fun at Netroots meeting high profile bloggers, progressives, and others who are in the fight for equality.

And yesterday it got interesting when Andrew Breitbart tried to burst his way in. I'm sure you have heard that the members of the right here with their noted talking heads, i.e. Breitbart, Michele Malkin, not very far from our conference.

That being the case, Breitbart took it upon himself to make a spectacle of everything by goading some Netroots folks into confronting him. It figures. That's what he does.

So I went to the right-wing conference - not to cause problems - but to see what it was all about . . . and count all of the black people there.

It was a strange experience. A bunch of elderly white folks conversing and talking when they weren't giving me strange looks as I walked through their exhibit hall with a big smile on my face, channeling Judy Holiday from Born Yesterday. But I did manage to count four black people, which I made a note of when I talked to one of the greeters on my way out:

"You all did an excellent job this year," I told him, "I counted four black people."

Seriously though, I have been attending various panel discussions and learning a lot. The one this morning dealt with what happens when someone attacks you publicly because of what's written on your blog.

I've been lucky in that regard. After four years, I've been attacked by other lgbts - I've called an "Uncle Tom" and an "Aunt Jemima" as recent as last night, but no one has ever come at me in a way which attempts to endanger my employment or life.

But still, I enjoyed knowing what to do should that situation come - and I am hoping that I put myself in a situation with what I post in the future where folks on the right - particularly the religious right - start taking a bit more notice.

Then the real fun begins.


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3 comments:

  1. This was a fun and amusing post to read. I've been following and enjoying all your posts from the Netroots Nation conference. I'm really glad you're there "representin" and that you're having a great time!

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  2. Mykelb8:34 PM

    Hey Alvin, I watched Pam and the other ladies on FreeSpeechTV during that panel discussion this weekend. It was really informative and I would recommend it to your fellow bloggers.

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  3. You... wait I.... but... Uncle Tom? Huh.... You? How could someone say.... I don't....

    *head implodes as she tries to comprehend the mind-numbing stupidity that would make anyone even THINK that of you, let alone say it*

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