From the WaPo piece on bloggers Newmark and O’Brien I noted the following:
What’s blogging doing to the tone of American politics? Suppose that the heat of political rhetoric could be charted on a scale of spicy foods. What you hear and read most days in the mainstream media ranges from unseasoned oatmeal to Franco-American Spaghetti-Os in a can. Whereas the political blogs pick up somewhere around a Taco Bell burrito and range all the way to the vindaloo you might be served by a sadist chef in Bangalore.
I hate to tell WaPo reporter David Von Drehle, but this phenomenon did not originate with blogging. While blogging may allow especially “spicy” and focused rants on all things, especially the political, it was the MSM and cable news, along with talk radio, that first started the grand dichotomization of commentary. For that matter, there have always been alternative newspapers, magazines and newsletters that have featured extreme partisan vitriol.
Indeed, go back to the pamphleteers of the 18th century and get back to me.
The new thing here isn’t the extreme rhetoric, it is the ease by which it is delivered. An important analytical point, if you ask me.
Meanwhile, Ann Althouse has taken great glee at the reporter’s angst vis-a-vis the blogosphere.
I will say, however, that this constant need to dichotomize the blogosphere (not to mention American politics) in a crude and simplistic manner is really getting on my nerves:
They are, in other words, excellent representatives of the paired mental ecosystems that they call — in a rare moment of agreement — the “right blogosphere” and the “left blogo-sphere.”
I’m sorry, we don’t all so easily fit into those boxes. Whether one voted for Bush (or not) or supported the Iraq War (or not) does not represent enough data to adequately understand or classify a person’s political philosophy. (Although I will note that Barbara O’Brien does foster that view with great elan at MahaBlog–for example (and not to pick on Barbara, as I think she did a good job on her book, as I have noted, in terms of being fair, but her blog is rife with attacks on “Rightie”–something that I think that WaPo pieces highlights).
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Additionally, I think blogging is good to keep people informed, especially the people writing the blogs. Blogging is a great grass roots opportunity for everyone on all sides to have a say, and have someone respond to it. Blogging is far healthy for public discourse than the one way of TV, radio or newspapers, even with letters to the editors and call-ins. However, blogging and commenting on blogs should not take the place of writing to one’s representative. Blogging could be equated to a dinner party conversation without the hassles and expense of preparing dinner.
Comment by The Misanthrope — Sunday, July 17, 2024 @ 12:10 pm