The Journal Times Online - Racine, Wisconsin

I’m not surprised Cory Mason shut off the comment feature on his blog from the Democratic National Convention. This is his right, after all.

He is not obliged to engage in a back-and-forth with the folks here. Again, this is his right.

His argument for shutting off the comments — the level of political discourse on the blogs is seldom, if ever, civil.

In fact, it can be downright nasty.

Exhibit A — the blogs that followed Mason’s, the ones announcing his exclusion and ridiculing his choice to shut off the comment feature on his blog, in addition to the ones bearing a touched-up version of Mason’s mug shot.

Welcome to the age of sarcasm.

Don’t get me wrong. I love to read some of the comments on the blogs, especially the sardonic ones, even the ones that border on wicked. Once in awhile they’re quite clever. Often, they miss the mark.

So, Cory Mason doesn’t want to engage the people who make those kinds of comments. This is his right. Does that mean he’s scared? I don’t know. I think Mason is a big boy. He can probably handle himself in a debate.

So he chooses not to while he shares his experiences from the Democratic National Convention. Oh well. 

In the real world, there is no rule or law that someone must allow you to speak to them. In the blog world there is no rule or law that someone must post your comments.

The notion that somehow people have a right to comment on someone’s blog is a distortion of the principle enshrined in the First Amendment. For some reason, that is what people on the blogs often turn to in decrying their inability to comment, or when they’re comments get erased.

You don’t have a right to say or write whatever you want, wherever you want, whenever you want. Government just can’t pass any laws that prevent you from saying or writing things.

The blogs should be seen as a street corner where people can talk, not a sewer, as some have compared them to. Sometimes people will agree. When they disagree, they should do so without being disagreeable.

If they can’t, they can walk away, or shut off the comments.

That’s their right.