A difficult announcement for me to make . .... 12:15 A.M.

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Reihan Salam writes , of the secretive liberal JournoList:

 I only wish right-of-center types could form something equally fun and stimulating and influential ...

I think the Right is ... well, here's what I think . ... Esprit d'escalier: A point I should have made in my debate with Bob Wright , who argues that there have always been private salon-style discussions. True. But the Web can take things that were once benign and render them problematic (and vice versa, I guess). For example, Wright himself frequently argues that the internet has made it easier for angry people with a common, minority grievance to find each other and form groups that can turn to terrorism. There have been angry people for a long time, and there have been angry people who have turned to violence, but the technology of the Web makes a qualitative difference, just as advances in fertility technology can make the qualitative difference between a woman with a long-sought child and Octomom. It's true that there have been "tongs" and salons and other off-the-record discussions for a long time, but the Web might enable an increase in scale so that they become something less benign that actually inhibits productive public debate. Or not!  But it's not enough to say "well, this is just an Internet version of something that existed pre-Web." ...  12:10 A.M.

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