In good company

Kevin Maney of USA Today tells us to “Chill, blogophiles; you're not the first to do what you're doing

Thomas Paine was basically a blogger — in 1776. Martin Luther's version of blogs totally ticked off the Holy Roman Emperor, who issued the Edict of Worms banning Luther's writings.
George Orwell was a blogger. So was Brian Lamb, the guy who started C-Span.

Blogs are really an Internet phenomenon of just the past couple of years. But the essence — the je ne sais quoi— of blogs is that an emerging technology makes it possible for individuals outside the mainstream media to reach an audience. Blogs can be subversive, giving rise to ideas or arguments that would otherwise stay buried.

These days, Internet blogs are all the rage. Blog-related companies such as Technorati and Six Apart have people in technology hyperventilating like its 1999. Blogs are ripping down mainstream media and the ruling class! Blogs give power to the people! Everything is blogolicious!

Jeez. Take a pill, all you blogomaniacs. Blogs are fun. Blogs add a fascinating new element to public discourse. But blogs are another turn of history's wheel, not a radical departure.

I don’t know if the comparison to our historical ancestors is accurate, but to deny that blogs and more importantly the bloggers behind them have made a radical change is ridiculous.

Bloggers whether left, right or to the center never desired to be just another news source, and it’s disingenuous for the MSM to try and paint us that way. We have enough of those “news organizations” spewing out headlines followed with articles written to steer you to a preordained conclusion. Through our own personal desire to understand and to learn, bloggers have opened up debate in a way never before seen. Today we can argue issues or find common ground with people a world away in real time.

But perhaps the most radical and threatening thing that blogs offer is the inability to hide what was once hidden.

There is always the obvious examples such as Powerline and the memogate story, or Arthur Chrenkoff and his "good news" posts. But let's look at something a bit smaller.

Take the assault on Christmas as an example. This was nothing new yet it never seemed as major as it did this year. We all knew of times when a nativity scene was removed or a pageant was cancelled due to someone complaining. Taken separately it didn’t seem like a big deal but as bloggers around America started writing about the different instances a larger picture began to form. Soon bloggers or commenters in Italy, Australia, and Great Britain began telling of similar instances and it became apparent just how large and organized the drive towards secularism is.

The MSM didn’t deem this important however the people did.

Like our historical counterparts listed in Mr. Maney’s article, bloggers are not yes men. Instead we are more WTFer’s who are not content with what we are spoon fed. Whether we are left, right or in the center we may well chew up the information given but we are as likely to spit it back at you as to swallow it.

Bloggers are the ones talking about the issues that really matter to people and it is bloggers that are the driving force towards opening the eyes and hearts of the common folk. Maybe we don't always get it right but at least we are trying and if that ain't considered radical I can't imagine what is.

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