Do Blogs REALLY Matter?
Bull Moose asks whether you can accurately judge opinions by reading or monitoring blogs:
Politicians should only pay attention to the bloggers with the understanding that they usually represent the most fevered and extreme elements of their base. Particularly Democratic politicians sould largely ignore them. Democrats need less preaching to the choir and more persuasion and conversion of those who have left the flock or belong to another congregation.To take a random example, the last thing in the world a Democratic leader should do is to attend a convention of blog readers (that would apply to an assembly of Mooseketeers, as well) – they should use their precious time speaking to VFW conventions, sermonizing at mega-churches and attending NASCAR races. Democrats are a minority party and they must evangelize and proselytize and not pander to the zealots among their flock.
Republicans became the majority party by preaching to non-traditional GOP groups. Democratic leaders should follow that example.
And don’t pay too much attention to those of us who pound on keyboards.
Indeed, we read (and occasionally write) posts that assume that a piece of writing posted on the Internet or a whole bunch of like-minded people going after a subject or stating the same opinion(and sometimes trying to discredit those who have differing ones) will substantially impact the country’s debate. Right…
To be fair, blog influence is definitely growing — particularly because opinion makers and opinion presenters (the news media, talk show hosts, politicos and top business people) are starting to read them with more frequency. Blogs are playing a political role, particularly the right and left blogs, because they can keep party militants together, helping maintain a partisan group think. The old “phone tree” has been replaced by the “URL link.”
But walk up to a guy in a bar who has his head down drinking Jack Daniels, look him right in the eye and say “BLOG” and you’ll probably be missing a few teeth.
“BLOG” is a horrible sounding word to many Americans. It sounds like a fatal disease (“I’m sorry, Mr. Gandelman, you have BLOG which means in 6 months your mind will be totally gone and you’ll start babbling about trolls…”) It’s meaningless to many Americans. But it serves not only an informational but a psychological need.
Once upon a time to feel important you had to go through journalism school, get hired, be allowed to publish OR you had to suffer to get a law degree so you could put it use in the profession for which it’s necessary (Congress), run for office, OR be married to Britney Spears OR win re-election because Jack Abramoff gave you some nice contributions and invited you to an exotic island (no strings attached, of course).
These days, all it takes is a keyboard and a computer and no shame.
Still, blogs are an exciting new infomedium and we’re basically now in the Fred Flintstone Era of what they could become, providing they don’t evolve into being nothing but mouthpieces for political parties and candidates and outlets for party talking points. Comments sections on blogs (including this one) are often the most critical to read. True, commenters are often the same ones. But you can see debates rage and real, authentic analytical thinking as it unfolds.
And Bull Moose? He has taken lot hits lately, and we don’t just mean readers. In case you don’t know who he REALLY is and want to find out more about him just read this.
Footnote: Bull Moose says he is a Republican follower of Teddy Roosevelt. TMV himself is not a Republican but he is a proud member of this group.
7 Responses to “Do Blogs REALLY Matter?”
Perhaps someone can explain to me why so many folks seem to have their panties in a twist over Harry Reid’s scheduled address at the YearlyKos convention, to which Mr. Whitman was clearly referring?
If I recall correctly, Republicans meet constantly with their most extreme supporters (corporate lobbyists and televangelists) quite regularly. Why begrudge Harry the chance to take a few minutes and talk to people who are likely to not only devote countless hours pounding keyboards, but also chip in some increasingly significant dollars towards Democratic causes?
If Harry was cancelling a VFW speech to speak to kossacks Whitman might have a point, but I’m fairly sure the Senator’s time isn’t quite that zero sum.
Like most “pundits” wittman doesn’t understand blogs or the net. The most important blogs are not political, they are more specific and they are tied to “communities” of individuals who are often leaders in their field.
This is quite simply a resource that didn’t exist.
Political blogs are simply a subset, but they are a subset which loosely link hundreds of bloggers, thousands of readers, provide ways of gathering sources, deepening arguments and developing to dialogue of real democracy.
The process is in a formative stage, but like many other technologies it does develop expotentially, a doubling of readership wevery few years is expected, more powerful tools and the like.
Wittman comes from a top down, main stream mass conception of media. He can’t even grasp that there is for example a radical leftism that does things like create EBay to open up markets to the masses, Craigslist to fully develop the power of the claasified and even experiments with structures of banks. Nor does he see that anarchist models of development have had brilliant success on the net and are increasingly and more effectively combined with markets as open source philosophy is developed.
Yes if you insist on ten million readers and think that quotes are the kind of politically influence that matters some gal with a few hundred readers is nothing, except she’s 20 times more influential than she used to be, her readership if inflamed has the most powerful printing press ever imagined offered to them free and can link her ideas to thousands who can…
To Wittman the increased power of an ordinary citizen is unimportant because he believes in rulers telling the masses what to do, he doesn’t even support comments on his blog.
He will be a “nothing” in a couple years because he plays the fashionable game, but the modest blogger putting out humble but good ideas will slowly grow.
Witmman is a man who finds nothing disturbing about machines possibly listening to evetry unencrypted phone call and email we make, scanning them for “evidence” and letting police examine all our communications on hunches and thinks anyone who is concerned is goping to be politically unpopular and thus wrong.
This attitude informs his opinions.
Teddy in 2008: He’s rested and ready (well, he’s dead, which means he’s unlikely to get into any scandals….)
Seriously, I’ve been wishing for a viable 3rd party in this country since Reagan was president. I don’t care if it’s a far-left party or a far-right one, because either way, Coke and Pepsi will be forced to actually differentiate themselves into two noticeably different entities again instead of just pretending they are different.
As to your point about the importance of blogs – don’t underestimate yourself, either. Blogs represent the most passionate people – who tend to be the most extreme, true. But they are also the most motivated to act for change.
Where these people fall down (and not just in blogs, but everywhere) is in their tendency to sneer at those who lack their passion. Instead of evangelizing the unwashed masses they prefer to condemn them to political hell – then wonder why they lost the election.
I think a couple of the earlier posters are missing a point — Wittmann is the Bull Moose. He started out as a radical leftist, became an ultraconservative rightist, then went to work for McCain and discovered the center. He’s the ultimate proof of Churchill’s maxim that you should start out life on the left and get more conservative as you grow older — except that he’s added in the third dimension with the addition of more years’ wisdom and experience.
And he clearly likes to write blog. He simply also sees the limitations of the medium: that the people most listened to tend to be the ones who scream the loudest. In poliblogs, that’s usually the party hacks and uncritical disciples — the blind leading the bland. (Alms for the bland, alms for the bland!) In my own opinion, despite the great images cooked up by the most rabid bloggers of our supplanting the MSM, we will probably be at the best an electronic form of Speaker’s Corner, open to all comers no matter how much they foam at the mouth, with the ability to reply as well as speak. We have our place, hopefully, in shaping thought — maybe even rallying the center to a return of political power and reasoned discourse for Good Government — but none of us have the resources to become a true alternative media form, except perhaps on a local basis. (I think Joe has bemoaned this in the past here in TMV. Bravo, Mr. G.!) Wittmann sees this, too; that’s why he cautions the Democrats to spend their time working on rebuilding the ranks from the migratories instead of preaching to the choir. With at least a little tongue in cheek, as I see it (grin). As for comments, that’s the choice of the writer; if things got too het up, I’d turn off comments at the Mews. I don’t know if that’s been the case with the Moose, but it’s his right.
It’s good to have a face to associate with the handle of the Bull Moose. Wittmann’s picture sort of reminds me of Ben Stein, as it works out. A centrist Ben Stein? Interesting concept….
People say I remind them of a centrist Brad Pitt (or is it Arm Pitt?)..
I’ve been reading the moose ever since Joe pointed him out, lately I haven’t agreed w/ him much, but I’ll continue reading. I do wish he had comments on, but maybe he doesn’t have the time to police them. What bothers me is he points out the mistake democrats make in speaking to their extreme, but doesn’t point out that our president has his little speeches in crowds that are completely groomed to his and Rove’s liking. That would make me see him as more “centrist” I agree that the dems need to get outside their comfort zone, speak to those who don’t agree w/ you, or you’ll never win them over.
That was the pits, Joe!