Into ‘the peace and safety of a new dark age,’ no doubt.
Let me note, by the way, that I’ve never actually been to Right Online – nothing against it; I just haven’t been able to justify that and the RS Gathering and CPAC (and the GOP convention next year) – and so I have no idea how downright awful it was for Netroots Nation folks to be faced with real, live conservatives who are Oh my god there’s one RIGHT THERE and I called him a nasty name last week and my nametag says who I am and everything and he’s going to know me and I can’t get to the elevator in time and thank god he didn’t make eye contact and that’s good because I would have laid into him and Oh my god there’s one RIGHT THERE…
Ahem.
Anyway, I suspect that there’s some mental trauma going on, there. Which is their privilege, of course: far be it from me to criticize somebody else’s neuroses, if only because my own are quite stellar, really. But still, I have to say that this:
…in an effort to prevent similar blogger battles next year when Netroots heads to Providence, R.I., next June, event organizers are trying to ban other gatherings from using the city’s convention center and two of its hotels during Netroots weekend. It is insisting on a noncompete clause in every contract at the Rhode Island Convention Center as well as the Westin Providence and Providence Biltmore hotels, Raven Brooks, Netroots executive director, told Washington Wire. A convention center official said he was not immediately aware of the arrangement.
…is not exactly pushing back against the stereotype that the Left’s bloggers are a bunch of whiny, perpetually put-upon grievance artists who can’t take a fraction of what they routinely try to give out on their opponents. I mean, seriously? What’s next, hiding in a white room and screaming LALALA to keep the conservative shoggoths at bay*?
And they wonder why their own side’s politicians don’t take them seriously.
Via @kevinbinversie; see Legal Insurrection for background.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: If you didn’t go, you wanted to go to the RedState Gathering anyway. If you did go, you still want to go to the RedState Gathering. It’s going to have Rick Perry!
*What? It’s Providence! You cannot expect me to write about Providence, RI, and not reference HP Lovecraft somehow.
Moe! Why did you give it away in your last line?
‘Shoggoth’ was enough of a hint, man!
Seriously? Non-compete clauses?
I do believe the real solution is for them to hire the entire venue.
What exactly is “the competition” aspect? I mean, who would go to Nutroots and feel that they were in “competition” with the Right Online conference. They’re not exactly in competition for the same people.
I believe that it’s really a euphemism for their real desire, which is to have a left-wing conference in peace and quiet without any icky right-wingers around to harsh their mellow.
Which I would be sympathetic to, if only they weren’t simultaneously cheering on people trying to actually disrupt our conferences (not just be in the same building, mind you).
That last comment — by “disrupt” you mean “assault the speakers at”, right?