What is credibility and what does it mean to the blogosphere? Via the American Heritage Dictionary and Dictionary.com:
cred·i·bil·i·ty (krěd’ə-bĭl’ĭ-tē) n.
- The quality, capability, or power to elicit belief: “America’s credibility must not be squandered, especially by its leaders” (Henry A. Kissinger).
- A capacity for belief: a story that strained our credibility.
And let’s not forget ethics:
eth·ic (ěth’ĭk) n.
- A set of principles of right conduct.
- A theory or a system of moral values: “An ethic of service is at war with a craving for gain” (Gregg Easterbrook).
- ethics (used with a sing. verb) The study of the general nature of morals and of the specific moral choices to be made by a person; moral philosophy.
- ethics (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or the members of a profession: medical ethics.
What does this mean to the Virginia blogosphere?
Jason Kenney of J’s Notes targets Ben Tribbett in particular on credibility. F.T. Rea of SLANTBlog says in his comments “Why any thoughtful Democrat who believes in fair play and doing the right thing continues to act as if NLS is good for the party, or the blogosphere, is a mystery to me” and, in his post on credibility, points out that there’s a larger issue at hand:
[I]t’s also a story about whether credibility, ethics or just common decency in the political blogosphere are concepts that will ever really matter.
When such lofty thinking is openly sneered at by some of its most important players, can the Virginia political blogosphere police itself?
Vivian Page doesn’t have an answer for Mr. Rea, but:
what I do know is that each group is defined by its most vocal minority. The real question is whether the Virginia Political blogosphere will allow itself to be defined by the few who push the boundaries of decency and ethics or the many who try to just do the right thing.
I can only hope that it is the latter.
You and me both, Ms. Paige.
In my first post, Brian L. commented that:
The Old Dominion has long been known for the cordiality of its citizens, even when they disagree. I think we’re for the most part kind with each other, but am always eager to do my part to improve the decorum of our Commonwealth’s blogosphere.
He’s absolutely right about the Old Dominion. Virginia blogging has been well known for its tone and civility across the lines. In the past. But as of late partisan sniping and even intra-party spats have made blogging less and less civil and more juvenile.
But how do we, as responsible and reasonable bloggers, endeavour to fix these problems?
We can do it with our own blogging, providing content that engages in debate and conversations on an adult level. By providing links to blogs, no matter their political slant, that engage us in this same way.
But also by not linking to those who strive to harm what Virginia blogging is best known for and by directly calling out those who seek to lower our discourse.
As Ms. Paige points out, blogging is defined by its most vocal minority. The majority of Virginia’s bloggers are good, upstanding people who do right by themselves and by others. By keeping yourself and others honest we show that we can be credible and ethical sources not just for one another but for all our readership and those we seek to impress, whether it be the media, the public, our families or ourselves.
