Letter to Matt Bai re: Can Bloggers Get Real
CLICK THIS TEXT TO VISIT THIS BLOG'S CURRENT SITE
I posted about Mr. Bai's NYT Sunday Magazine piece here on Brewed Fresh Daily. After several attempts at locating a specific email for him, I settled for letters AT nytimes DOT com.
In focusing on content that supports the conclusion that big box blogs "vanquish the party's insider establishment [and] simply take its place," Mr. Bai ignores the millions of bloggers who use blogs as a dialectical tool to learn about politics.
The real threat to making this "iteration of American politics" meaningful isn't the swapping out of insiders. The real threat comes from the possibility that whomever occupies the inside will ignore or runover the other millions - who are, in their individual way, trying to get out the vote. As a sometimes political blogger in Ohio, I've observed this threat first-hand since the Ohio Democratic Party leadership changed hands early last winter.
Mr. Bai should have focused more on how, just as the animals in "The March of the Penguins" must trade places with the outsiders on a regular basis in order to preserve the entire species against the harsh environment - as well as learn what it means to be from, to live on and to have to protect the fringe, so too should whomever next occupies "the party's inside" make sure it respects the contribution of every Democratic thinker who takes the time to blog his or her thoughts, no matter whether it's a blog linked to 11,000 other sites, or one.
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
blogging at www.writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com
In focusing on content that supports the conclusion that big box blogs "vanquish the party's insider establishment [and] simply take its place," Mr. Bai ignores the millions of bloggers who use blogs as a dialectical tool to learn about politics.
The real threat to making this "iteration of American politics" meaningful isn't the swapping out of insiders. The real threat comes from the possibility that whomever occupies the inside will ignore or runover the other millions - who are, in their individual way, trying to get out the vote. As a sometimes political blogger in Ohio, I've observed this threat first-hand since the Ohio Democratic Party leadership changed hands early last winter.
Mr. Bai should have focused more on how, just as the animals in "The March of the Penguins" must trade places with the outsiders on a regular basis in order to preserve the entire species against the harsh environment - as well as learn what it means to be from, to live on and to have to protect the fringe, so too should whomever next occupies "the party's inside" make sure it respects the contribution of every Democratic thinker who takes the time to blog his or her thoughts, no matter whether it's a blog linked to 11,000 other sites, or one.
Sincerely,
Jill Miller Zimon, JD, MSSA
blogging at www.writeslikeshetalks.blogspot.com
JBlog Me
5 Comments:
Actually I see his point, history shows us that those who set out to change the establishment usually become it.
One of my main concerns about the big blogs or groups of bloggers is they artifically make an issue or a candidate seem as if it is more important merely by traffic because the traffic does get the attention of the media now. The small individual voice gets drowned out by the larger "blog machines" where dissent is just as unwelcome as it is in the very establishment some of them rail against. The rush to call action, sometimes half cocked without accurate information hurts all of us in the end. The rush to post first seems at times more important than who was first to post it accurately.
These bigger blogs are becoming almost like special interest groups with their own PAC's, they raise funding, they arrange for advertising, they actively support candidates with an unfair balance of "air time" yet they don't really speak for all of us. They claim to not be media or journalists yet at the same time they boast about their impact and demand access. Eventually Kos will be replaced by the "new Kos" that rails against what the old Kos has become, the same will happen with most of the bigger blogs or blog organizations.
:-)
Hi Lisa Renee - I do see his point, I just guess, being naive again, with the audience he has and a pretty decent writing style and platform, why would he choose to reinforce a phenomenon that doesn't need to be reinforced because it's heading in that direction just fine anyway? I know he's speaking at YearlyKos - so what? There's not revolutionary about what he's saying and it's certainly not a very optimistic piece. Why, instead, did he choose to recognize how the blogosphere is allowing for people who've never engaged in political anything to learn and posit and question and analyze and then, we hope, vote with a solid conscience?
I know - I'm just crazy. :)
Mr. Bai should have focused more on how, just as the animals in "The March of the Penguins" must trade places with the outsiders on a regular basis in order to preserve the entire species against the harsh environment - as well as learn what it means to be from, to live on and to have to protect the fringe, so too should whomever next occupies "the party's inside" make sure it respects the contribution of every Democratic thinker who takes the time to blog his or her thoughts, no matter whether it's a blog linked to 11,000 other sites, or one.
That's a beautiful thought but I don't see it happening. I watch Kos and Aravosis, for instance, melt down over the slightest criticism from the great unwashed and I'm pretty sure that they won't remember the rights of the minority if they ever manage to get more power.
Aravosis is even ranting about the far left and the PC crowd who dog his every move.
Remembering the little people isn't in the nature of the powerful.
Sigh, I know, I know, but I do still dream. I figure, if I don't at least THINK it, well, then for sure it will never be.
Btw, I thought your AmStreet post about health care at the beginning of May was excellent. I followed a lot of the links and printed out a batch of stuff, though I still haven't gotten to posting about it more for the Ohio crowd on my blog. Still, thanks for posting what you did.
Jill, you're not crazy, just sometimes you are more idealistic than I am.
:-)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home