Quotable Quotes
Two weeks ago, a Duke Chronicle reporter interviewed me about my coverage of the Duke “sexual offense” case. Though we talked for close to an hour and I said many things about the power of blogs to cover and report what the mainstream media ignore, this is what appeared in the article:
Regardless of which side they take, for many bloggers on the lacrosse case, it’s a labor of love, rather than a means for profit, because they say accepting advertisements would risk their independence.
But LaShawn Barber is different from most of the online commentators, and not only because her site is ringed by advertisements. As a black, female, Christian conservative, Barber naturally attracts attention in a case dominated by issues of race.
She has made a profession out of blogging, spending up to four hours per day on her own site-which receives 4,000 hits per day-and offering her consulting services to others.
“I’m not a feminist, and I don’t shout racism at the drop of a hat,” Barber says. “I’m very open about my faith and my politics, and that tends to make a lot of people mad-it makes a lot of black readers angry.”
With her picture and contact information directly available on the site, Barber stands in contrast to blogs written anonymously, such as John-in-Carolina, who will only identify himself as a Duke alumnus.
I’d hoped to see my blog-as-new-media quotes included, but as someone who’s interviewed people and had to leave out quotes that didn’t align with my story’s angle, I know that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Allow me to clarify one thing. My “independence” is not at “risk” because of advertisements on this site. Pajamas Media asked me to join knowing full well how edgy and controversial I can get. If I thought for one second that I’d have to be careful about what I blogged because of advertisers, I never would have signed up.
Rape in Durham
Have you heard the latest news about this rape case? Neither have I. 
Duke Bloggers
The other “Duke bloggers” are running circles around me. Hey, I can’t keep up, so I concede the in-depth analysis about liberal academia and news round-up skills to them. With the exception of John in Carolina, those blogs focus exclusively on the Duke case:
- The Johnsville News, with the most comprehensive Duke news round-up posts;
- Durham-in-Wonderland, by history professor KC Johnson, currently co-writing a book about the lacrosse case with journalist Stuart Taylor. I’d advise certain “Group of 88” members to steer clear of KC in any public discussions about this case.
- LieStoppers, which has one of the most popular Duke case discussion boards on the web;
- Crystal Mess, by lawyer Mike McCusker, who’s feeling the pressure to blog frequently
; - John in Carolina, by a Duke grad; investigating a possible conflict of interest between CrimeStoppers, Duke faculty, and the Durham Police Department
In this competitive world, you’ve got to play to your strengths. I’ll focus on an aspect of the case I’m intimately familiar with and probably more qualified to write about: the emotional factors motivating some black liberals (including certain Duke professors and journalists) to cast the white lacrosse players, proxies for all “privileged” white men, past and present, in the worst light possible, whether or not they committed sexual offenses on the night/morning of March 14, 2006. Somebody has got to write about it in a non-liberal way. And since the liberal angle is well covered, once again, I volunteer to provide an alternative viewpoint.
I wrote “probably more qualified” because I’ve felt some of those same emotions. I’m human, after all. The difference is that I resist the urge to publicly display those emotions and allow them to master me. I master them. And I have no desire to mask the emotions behind pseudo-intellectual arguments, making myself look more unintelligent in the process.
By the way, Wednesday marks the first anniversary of the “Duke rape case.” Questions:
1) What was your impression/reaction when you first heard about the so-called gang-rape committed by Duke lacrosse players? (Here’s mine, but don’t let that prejudice you.)
2) What has this case taught you about race relations in America, if anything?
You may discuss the latest in the Duke lacrosse case in this thread.
