More of our linkfest offering idea-hungry readers a virtual buffet of links to weblogs of many different viewpoints. Viewpoints expressed do not necessarily reflect those of The Moderate Voice or its contributors.
Will The “Real” GTL Please Stand Up? The Gun Toting Liberal (one of our favorite writers on one of our favorite weblog sites) has a MUST READ about the evolution bloggers go through when they start a teeny weblob, write things anyway they want or possibly not what they really mean…and then wake up one day to find they have READERSHIP and that they are taken seriously. A small part 4 U:
So why the change, and when the change? I cannot put my finger upon an exact date, I can just put it this way: somewhere along the line it hit me that I had built something a lot bigger than I had even known. I’m not a “geek�, I didn’t realize TONS of traffic was coming to read my writings over here on a daily basis… for REAL. One day, I contacted the tech support for my webhost for something, and I was taught how to access my webstats, and back then, I think it was something like 650 readers per day or so, which shocked me; I hadn’t known because my Sitemeter had always shown much lower numbers; more like 150 a day or so at the time.
After that phone call, I did some serious thinking. I had wrestled with everything from destroying my archives completely, to adding disclaimers, to just scrapping The Gun Toting Liberal entirely, to start over from the beginning with something more represenatave of the “real me�, along with everything in between — because I realized at that point, it was time to become MUCH more RESPONSIBLE on this blog. Instead of thinking I had some sort of “shock and awe� toy over here, I realized I had my hands on a VERY serious instrument to effect changes in our Government and our communities. The time had come to take off the mask, take off the gloves, and let only the “REAL GTL� type on this site.
Read it all. And, indeed, our posts were a bit different. When TMV started bloggers complained that yours truly only reported and never took a position. We don’t hear that anymore (unless somone disagrees with our position.) In evolving you invariably gain some readership, lose some and then there are some who disagree with you hate you personally because you don’t share their ideas. The key question is whether weblogs MUST be unabashedly left or unabashedly right to gain substantial readership. Can people regularly visit sites with which they don’t totally agree?
The Importance Of Pork? The Boonville Blog notes that it has now changed its mind.
From Limbaugh And Back: You’d think that the near miraculous return of ABC’s war-injured Bob Woodruff would be a joyous occasion for all THINKING Americans of ALL or NO parties. But nooooooooooo. And guess where the foaming-at-the-mouth partisan hatred erupted? Details here in the All Spin Zone.
“How Could We Not Be For Rudy?” Conservatives are lining up behind Giuliani…even as John McCain asks for (or, rather begs for) their votes.
Controversial Terror Suspect Jose Padilla: Is he “Hoisted by His Own Padilla”?
The Age Of Gotcha: What’s the vital topic on talk radio (and cable) shows these days? I mean, BESIDES Anna Nicole Smith. It’s Al Gore’s energy usage. The Anonymous Liberal puts the controversy under the microscope:
The right-wing noise machine really is a remarkable thing to behold. Al Gore wins an Oscar, gets some well-deserved recognition for his efforts, and within hours the Republican noise machine is already in full smear mode, trying to undercut Gore’s message by attacking him personally.
Let’s put aside specifics at this point. The bottom line is that the political style in the 21st century is that if you don’t like someone’s ideas and you view them as a threat, you try and neutralize them by discrediting him. This was predictable. And it’s not to take away Gore’s fans. It’s aimed at making sure the people on the middle or the other side think he’s a liar.
People on both sides of the Is Al Gore A Hypcrite Issue firmly believe this issue is vital. And people can (and do) defend and blast Gore. But the underlying fact is that discrediting people who strongly present ideas is all part of how politics is played in modern day America. Where would talk shows (and blogs) be without angry declarations of outrage that involve going after a person (right or left)?
He’s Controversial, He’s Admired, He’s Reviled and he is NOT TMV. He’s Seymour Hersh the focus of a fascinating post on Open Source. A tiny taste 4 U:
Reading Sy Hersh always feels like making the rounds of the A-list of deep-throated and richly pollinated gossips, with the quickest of the giant hummingbirds in journalism. We are engaging him for an hour tonight on his latest in a long series of New Yorker reports anticipating a Bush attack on Iran.
Clearly, Hersh has good sources, but when you read his work you get the impression his sources are from the CIA. Bob Woodward’s book State of Denial had widely publicized tidbits that seemed to come from Bush 41 administration sources (including Colin Powell). Hersh’s style can be so sensationalistic that it has undermined his credibility among many on the right and even in the center, although he remains a hero to the left. But those who don’t like what he writes should take note: he DOES have sources so his work — and the Open Source link — are worth reading carefully. (Also: remember that sources often have political or policy making motives when they cooperate with “friendly” reporters).
Newt Gingrich Is Making Some GOPer’s Hearts Throb...but is this part of a new political version of Back To The Future?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.