No links in this post. If you get into the thick of this post and have no idea what I'm talking about, click on a link in my blogroll or something. It will only get murkier if you keep hanging around.

One thing that gets to me is something that could be described as "sibling rivalry." I'm using that term to describe what appears to be a pretty popular activity lately, at least among several of the blogs I read regularly, where bloggers who tend to agree generally on most things, start taking potshots at each other, on their own sites and in the comments of other blogs.

For those of you who are familiar with what I'm talking about, I'll point out to you that one blog, actually one person at one blog, is always in the mix. What's the common thread here?

While I tend to disagree with this person on the substance of the two subjects that have recently generated a lot more heat than light, that's to be expected. We all come to our own opinions in our own ways, rather than have them dictated from on high by Karl Rove, so that we'll all agree all the time. No, what really gets my goat is that this person, whether I agree with him or not, makes it his standard (not common, not usual, but standard — meaning, all the time) response to anyone who disagrees with him an insult. Call them "idiot" or "moron," then make often-vacuous arguments that undermine his position more than supporting it. Of course, if you try to point out that his responses are counterproductive, you just get added as a target for his ad hominem attack.

I wish things weren't this way, but it's not my call. I wish the owner of the blog in question would realize that his guest's venom undermines the attractiveness of his blog. But it's his call. Just as it's the call of his readers whether or not they continue to read.

And I wish that those folks who have taken sides, either attacking this individual or supporting him, would just stop. I wish they would limit themselves to addressing the issues instead of attacking the "other side." But that's their call.

As for me? I'll just keep reading as long as I can continue to stand it, but steer clear of the childishness my friends are displaying.