the tyranny of Washington DC

Brad Delong was kind enough to link to my post about social and professional capture in blogging. I would just say that the point is less about who gets linked to and who doesn't and more about the pressures that professional or professionalizing bloggers feel to adopt certain mainstream positions, or to kowtow to certain prominent figures within the blogosphere. This problem is much less acute for someone like Dr. Delong, who has a day job and operates outside of the DC bubble.

On the subject of the DC bubble, and to defend myself against the typical claims that I'm just making all of this up, I would point you towards a great piece by Conor Friedersdorf called "The Tyranny of Washington DC." Friedersdorf comes from an entirely different ideological background than I do, is much more familiar with the DC bubble than I am, and comes to many of the same conclusions that I do. I'm not just making this stuff up.

In a situation where a close personal friend genuinely considered some action to be a personal betrayal, I'd try to avoid taking it even if I disagreed with his assessment. Washington, D.C. is a city where taking that approach can preclude whole classes of criticism directed at one's "own side," so stringent are the demands for a loyalty that is too broadly construed. Or else one can transgress, and be shunned by folks who were much friendlier when you agreed with them. 

Read the whole thing.