Okay, for the first time in about 10 years, I watched Jim Lehrer on PBS last night. The show did a segment at all of the bloggers attending the Yearly Kos shindig. To me, I saw a sea of young people with their noses buried in their laptops, reading and posting all day but not really interacting in person with people right next to them (hmmm...sound familiar?). Any interview I saw with them made them come off as a self-important lot.

Now, my politics and DailyKos are not what I am debating here (they are pretty much in sync, BTW). I just think that the hype over political bloggers from either side of the aisle - especially political bloggers who obsess over national politics - is really overblown (I hold more hope for bloggers who opine on local issues, because traditional media has been retreating from that area for decades, but that's a rant for another day).

I worked in retail politics for almost 15 years, and to me, political bloggers are a bunch of bobos patting each other on the back and gossping like political insiders have done for decades offline. Will these people just sit back and lob a few virtual grenades from behind their computer monitors, or will they really get involved with democracy to foster some sort of lasting, positive change? I am a guest blogger on a statewide progressive blog, but to me, I look at it as a gathering of like-minded individuals akin to MRF posters who love to discuss why they love their Macs.

I made these feelings known on a friend's site who attended the Yearly Kos and was roundly flamed. Maybe I shouldn't have typed "I don't see much of a difference between political bloggers and fanboys who obsess over the latest hack to Grand Theft Auto or Star Wars rumor."

So you came here to brag?

I agree that political blogs are generally a bad thing. Too much importance is placed on them. They're not a substitute for good journalism and they've contributed greatly to the hopelessly polarized and toxic political "discussion" in this country.

Speaking of journalsm, The News Hour with Lehrer is the only really good news broadcast on television today.

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[picasaweb.google.com] [www.flickr.com]

Well, IMHO, any self-identifying expert is suspect...

dang. That includes me. Oh well.

Well DailyKos can brag because of the vast sums of money they raise for candidates all over the country. DailyKos is a community of bloggers devoted to the single purpose of electing Democrats outright or making every race competitive. They are feared by Republicans "and" wishy washy Dems. I would love to see the thread. I applaud you for letting your feelings be known.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2007 11:48PM by vision63.

I agree that an obsession with politics is unhealthy, but I wouldn't go as far as comparing it to a gamer-type obsession.

Let's remember that at least these people (on either side) CARE ABOUT THE DECISIONS THAT AFFECT OUR LIVES. Democracy is *supposed* to be quite messy, and getting more people involved in the process will probably do more good than harm.

I see a real move towards holding politicians more accountable for their actions (or inactions). Look at the FIRESTORM the Dems are taking (from THEIR BASE!!) for caving to the Prez on illegal wiretapping so that they don't lose any vacation time.

Daily Kos is a real breathe of fresh air that's full of people writing about a WIDE variety of topics, not some fake professor lecturing the sheep what to think (which is what TOO MANY of the righty blogs are modeled on). DK represents the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, which is under attack by BOTH the Republicans AND the mainstream Democrats. That DK is by a HUGE margin the most popular political blog in the country says something important about leaders not listening to the people.

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chas_m




[crawlingfromtheusa.blogspot.com] <-- Moving to Canada blog

Thanks to most of you for your thoughtful replies. I'm not here to brag, but to make a confession and hope get some clarification on why people agree or disagree with me.

I think too much emphasis is placed on bloggers who just give their opinions on political issues, but don't do much more to bring about political change. For example, in the many years, it has been very difficult to find volunteers to participate in some of the nitty-gritty requirements of any political campaign like handing out fliers, raising money, getting out the vote on Election Day, etc. I think the results for their preferred political candidates would fare much better if just 10% of the bloggers at Yearly Kos got out from behind their screens (the Jim Lehrer show segment had a lot of YK Bloggers typing away on Macs, BTW) and actually performed some manual labor for their cause.

I have been more hopeful for bloggers who cover local politics, because it is so ignored by the traditional media, especially following the waves of media consolidation over the past 30 years that has left hundreds of towns without a local newspaper, radio station or TV station. I always joke that since I live 15 miles from Manhattan, most of my neighbors think that our mayor is Mike Bloomberg.

You got that right the_poochies. Not enough people are willing to participate in the unglamorous nuts and bolts work on the street. My personal pet peeve is participating in a phone bank. So I make sure that I do just that because it's more effective than a taped message. Can't believe it's been that long since you've watched Jim Lehrer.

I think your classification of political bloggers as bobos is about right. Although there are some useful opinions that circulate amongst them, the whole political blogospher is a bit of a circle jerk.

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"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

The Daily Kos tends to post a lot of anti-semitic articles:

[www.dailykos.com]

[www.dailykos.com]

[www.dailykos.com]

[www.dailykos.com]

Apparently the far left likes conspiracy theories and the Jews have taken over the world! Can anyone say tinfoil hat?

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Bryan
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Grumpy. That took a lot of diggin' in such a massive site.