I've begun blogging over at True/Slant because it's an interesting idea (a kind of steroidal version of both blogs and Web forums) and because it promises compensation. Yesterday's post was about the odd tendency to blame opinionated talking heads for society's ills:

"Hannity, Linbaugh, Beck, O’Reilly, and even Savage and Pittsburgh-based right-winger, Jim Quinn (not all necessarily members of the Fox News network, but all certainly in the same category) are political barkers rather than revolutionaries. They talk about relatively instigative issues (abortion, Freedom, suppression of gay rights, the Christian family ideal, their doubts about the legitimacy of global warming, etc.) and make insinuations about the evils of liberalism. But their secondary goal — behind viewership/listenership, of course, which is always first — isn’t some violent overthrow of the government. Instead, I’d argue they seek to agitate heated discussion and to jostle more Republican votes toward major elections."

Read the rest here.