Agreeing with ourselves

"What most surprised us is that the average blogger does his thing only once a week . . . and that half are adolescents. Neither of which facts dampens the prospect that the blogosphere will exert evermore transformative influence in political and cultural life," writes Milt Rosenberg of Milt's File, citing Gregory M. Lamb's Christian Science Monitor article "Blogs: Here to stay - with changes":

David Winer says weblogs are going to play a huge role in politics. But all the buzz about politicians using them is overblown. The blog of Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean was just a "gimmick," says Mr. Winer, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and a pioneer blogger. And any blogs produced this year by President Bush or John Kerry will be "basically run by the ad agencies" - not the kind of honest, even intimate conversations that blogs can represent.

We're wondering what the bloggers at the spanking new Harvard Republican Blog: Dispatches from the Kremlin on the Charles would have to say about this. Travis Kavulla, for example, who also writes for the Harvard Crimson, speaks of "a rather pernicious problem: the disconnect in political discourse between Harvard and the rest of America, whether conservative or liberal."

We took an instant liking to the young fellow when we read the title of his post, "Agreeing with ourselves." How many times have we found ourselves doing the very thing?

But our point is that Mr. Winer in his comfy seat at the Berkman Center may be missing the forest for the trees. He wants "honest, even intimate conversations that blogs can represent." Can you say Blogs for Bush, Mr. W.?

Comments

[rick]

Golly and gosh, maybe even a gee-whiz is deserved here.

I get all - well, almost ALL - of my news, commentary, insight, etc, etc, from blogs these days. Of course, I follow the links, and read the established media's take on a given subject, and then, well....I make up my own mind.

I currently have no TV, and of course, I pick and choose my content - but I feel so much more well informed than my colleagues and friends and associates.

I have learned more being without TV and newspapers in the last few months, than in all of the time I spent over the last few years feeding on the teat of "established" media.

So, to all you "adolescent" bloggers out there, who I read on a regular basis, thank you for the un-slanted version of the real world you've been bringing to my desktop! Thanks for the news behind the news, thanks for pointing out the self-serving pap that industry "insiders" want to deliver to me every day, thank you all for telling the truth, being the "corrections" page that most papers will not take seriously, thanks for being the sentinel in the war against disinformation.

Well. That feels better!

Thank you, and goodnight!

[Fausta]

The average blogger does his thing only once a week . . . and that half are adolescents

I just started my own blog and post something every day but have been reading blogs for several months, and all the ones I repeatedly visit are written by well-educated adults.

Maybe Rosenberg and Lamb believe that blogging=adolescence, therefore "you are young only once but can remain immature forever"?

[Sissy Willis]

Hey, Rick. At first I thought you were just a happy-go-lucky airhead. Upon rereading, however, I detected a lame attempt at humor and realized the happy-go-lucky part was wrong.

[Sissy Willis]

Interesting point, Fausta. What I have found about the bloggers I like to read is a youthful inquisitiveness about the world.