via memeorandum
Here’s a nice attack on what we do — both those of us who write for this space and those who read it. Granted, it’s not an attack on us specifically, but on this grand revolution of which we are a part.
I’m not entirely sure why the Web logs attack the MSM and vice versa. They each have their place and function, and some at least, have learned to appreciate and capitalize on our symbiosis.
For the rest, including the WSJ’s Mr. Rago, they would be well served to follow their own advice and avoid simplistic analysis and ill-informed dismissal.
In fact, Mr. Rago notes that “democracy does not work well, so to speak, without checks and balances.” I have yet to find a greater, more robust sphere of checks and balances than the blogosphere’s, a place where my own assumptions and beliefs have been (more than once) challenged and as a result (more than once) modified.
Point: If we listen to each other, we can learn from each other. If we don’t, if all we do is scream at every post and every other commenter beyond ourselves, then yes, we are guilty of what Mr. Rago fears, of being “written by fools to be read by imbeciles.”
I hope we all re-commit ourselves to proving Mr. Rago wrong.