Once up on a time there were lots of centrist and independent weblogs. Changes in the blogosphere, the Internet, the popularity of Facebook, Google’s changing some formulas on ranking posts, the rise of social media and cellphones and how that impacts how posts are shared, and political burnout as American has become more polarized have reduced the number of these blogs and thoughtful people willing to write regularly on weblots.
If anything, America’s political center now seems under more attack than ever as people on the right and left diss moderates and centrists, painting them as wussees (wrong) who have no convictions (wrong — they just don’t share all the convictions of people on the right and/or left).
Like most small to medium blogs and even some big websites that lose money but have big financial backers, TMV has suffered reduced advertising revenues (we get a few donations throughout the year which are not enough to make up the shortfall). So sites such as Centrist Forum or other websites that help promote our mix of features and views are VERY helpful. (TMV has also had an emergency situation that will lead us to launch a limited fixed-rate fundraiser in a month or so to reimburse our modest bank account).
Take a Peek at Centrist Forum, which hopes to help generate more discussion and bolster the center. It’s just starting up and TMV has agreed to have it listed on it to help with the discussion. Take a Peek at Centrist Forum and we’ll sure you’ll regularly want to Take a Peek.
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.