So apparently my previous posting wasn't as funny as I was trying to make it, but I was trying to prove a point. In the blogosphere we spend way too much time repeating things. The reason why memes work so well on blogs is because people are constantly repeating ideas on blogs regardless of how idiotic they are.
The truth about political debate on blogs is that there isn't any. People read blogs to reassure themselves that their point of view is correct and don't bother adding anything to the debate. If they are against something that a blog has posted, they will only say nasty things and ignore other peoples comments An excellent example is a comment written by someone named Raven:
"WHERE'S CINDY SHEEHAN? Go to this link and click "listen to broadcase" to hear her pathetic "speech" to an empty room filled with TWO foreign journalists. This is utterly pathetic. Now I know why you Democrats dumped this moron."
This comment does not further any debate. It is a nasty, self righteous comment that is only meant to derail any serious debate. Blogs are filled with these kinds of nasty comments, it's the reason why many bloggers refuse comments.
The truth is, when we feel as if we are anonymous, we get nasty and our base instincts come out in full force. We say all those nasty and stupid things that we normally filter out of conversation. The bloc world is an anonymous entity filled with comments by people who are writing out of furious anger and emotion, rather than logic.
In an essay I wrote last year for rhetoric class, I argued that logic has no argument without emotion. Blogging has now convinced me that they rely on each other, and without a logical component, an emotional argument will fall flat. Most comments on blogs are emotional and lack any logical component.
However, given that point, I will concede that certain blogs rearrange information to seem fresh. Firedoglake does an excellent job of taking news stories and adding their own commentary. But there is nothing added and nothing new to what they are saying. They are merely commenting on the comments. And now, I am commenting on the comments of the comments. How pathetic is that?
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5 comments:
Hmmmmm. RedHedd on Firedoglake is herself a prosecutor. Her explanations of what Fitzgerald was doing were unique to the blogosphere. This was NOT an example of (certainly very common) repackaging of common knowledge or talking points.
While most blogs are regurgitating un-original stuff, some expert blogs
are providing unique and useful information and perspective.
Let me add my comment to your comment and that of the general comment, which is the consensus among the blogging class comments on our respective blogs, that when it comes to political stuff, no one is adding anything new to the commentary.
Perhaps there is nothing new to add.
How does one define "new"? Events happen, are reported, are seen through ideological lenses, are analysed, and further actions are suggested. Adding something "new" would mean....what? Causing a new event to happen? Inventing news out of whole cloth? All of THAT also happens on blogs, too...LOL.
But what you are suggesting isn't "new" but merely analyzing the same story through a different filter. RedHedd had a hook that people were interested. Is the blogging world just veritable dryer that we tumble our dirty old news stories.
Hmmmm. Well, Libby is the story of the day (or longer) so this story garners the most interest. Also, unlike white missing women, this story has a broad and deep impact on all Americans so the interest is warranted. It would be irresponsible for a person with relevant expertise to NOT write about it.
Also, a bunch of bloggers use their blogs (via links and tags) not to add novel information but to overwhelm the search engines ("blog swarms") in order to put pressure on MSM to cover a certain story, or even to cover it a certain WAY. I don't like to do this myself, but I have done it a few times when I thought that the cause was right and the effort useful.
On the other hand, there is a huge Long Tail out there, full of bloggers writing about all sorts of other things, either commenting on other news, or reporting what is happenning in their towns, neighborhood and homes. It is up to the readers to use search engines, or even random blog-hopping, to find whet THEY are interested in.
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