Rhetoric in the blogosphere

In the wake of the Arizona shooting, Stephen Walt voices some concerns about heated rhetoric in the blogosphere: "Edginess is part of what makes the blogosphere entertaining, I guess, but is it also contributing to the coarsening of our political values and the erosion of any sense of shared identity, humility, and common humanity?"

Perhaps. Although in my case, when I do cross the line into incivility on occasion (and I try not to), I can comfort myself with the (true) thought that, given the size of this blog's readership, it doesn't much matter.