The issue isn’t about taking vengeance as bloggers. It’s about protecting the cause from infighting that will discourage the masses who are hard to encourage to fight in the first place; and now finally having been turned on may subsequently be turned off by this.

Put your blogger pride aside for a second. If your pride as a blogger is the most important thing to you here then you’re just as wrong and as dangerous as Baisden and what he did.

And yes, responsible, intelligent people in a coalition like the AfroSpear talk to each other instead of just going off half-cocked like a bunch of wild banshees.

We don’t need internet gangsterism or teenage emotional retorting; we need thoughtful and caculating strategy to forward the movement.

http://www.BlackPerspective.net

On what credentials??

Do I respect him as an author? Yes. As a media “celebrity” and entertaining radio host? Yes. As a civil rights leader? Uhm … NO.

Baisden hemmed and hawed talking about how he had gotten with his “lawyers” and had held off on launching his slanderous attack for TWO WEEKS. He called one of the leaders of Color of Change “Shady.’

I have written a response to this foolishness over at What About Our Daughters?

Ridiculous. Was there EVER any debate as to whether or not Black bloggers should publicly confront this idiot Baisden? Toughen Up people!

I for one will not be satisfied with some half baked excuse that Baisden didn’t personally make the accusations. If you haven’t heard the radio clips, the leave absolutely no doubt that Baisden instigate4d and participated fully in the realease of this information, and further may have slandered Color of change organization and leadership with his “opinion” that they are “shady”.

“A talk show dosent make you a leader, GOD sends Leaders.Leaders dont appoint themseves.”

Very righteous sentiments og, but the reality that we are facing is that he who has the most face time in the m edia is presumed to be the leader. That presumption may be refuted at the street level, but that doens’t change the degree of influence that is being wielded by media personalities masquerading as leaders.

I think it’s important for everyone to recognize that what Baisden did had a motivation that is at it’s core, the antithesis of what we need from people who would wield influence supposedly on our behalf. There is more to this than just a pissing contest between the netroots and a popular radio host. He has been shown to be duplicitous and even the best reading of this situation leads one inexoarbly to the conclusion that Baisden is more self serving and public serving. The wonderful access to information that we have today makes us that much more capable of identifying people and organizations who pretend to be for us when they are really just for themselves. Right now, that’s the bigger picture charge that Michael Baisden needs to address.

Although I didn’t initially agree with going public against Baisden there may be some merit. I’m still concerned that there seems to be a set-up in how all this is coming about. this type of public discourse bothers me. I reluctantly posted about this situation on my blog. “Michael should put up or shut up,’ but at the same time, we should not be trying to go at him personally. two wrongs have never made a right. We should check ourselves, and not be ready to lynch two brothers because they appear to have made mistakes, calculated as they may appear to be. Hold them accountable but be forgiving. Anything less would be unfortunate and wrong.