Conservatives are usually pretty easy on bloggers, as the most important and influential blog swarms tend to be generated by conservative bloggers trying to right the wrongs of the leftist mainstream media (MSM).
That’s why I was taken aback by Kathleen Parker’s latest column, Lord of the Blogs, where she likens some bloggers to the marooned little (murderous) souls in Lord of the Flies.
That was way harsh, Kathleen.
She must have been burned recently, I thought, though I’m sure I’d have remembered reading about it. Whenever anyone, no matter their political persuasion, criticizes bloggers, I get defensive. It’s a natural reaction. I love blogging. I make my living blogging and helping other people blog, so I’m just a tad sensitive when I perceive anti-blogger sentiment. Parker writes:
There’s something frankly creepy about the explosion we now call the Blogosphere – the big-bang “electroniverse” where recently wired squatters set up new camps each day. As I write, the number of “blogs” (Web logs) and “bloggers” (those who blog) is estimated in the tens of millions worldwide.
Although I’ve been a blog fan since the beginning, and have written favorably about the value added to journalism and public knowledge thanks to the new “citizen journalist,” I’m also wary of power untempered by restraint and accountability.
Dropping the self-centered defensive pose for a moment, I realize she has a point. Blogs are a powerful new medium, and I believe blogging is catching on so fast because the power and freedom of expression it provides are intoxicating. It is truly an alternative to the dominant media, and ordinary people — non-journalists — can cajole, criticize and chastise MSM.
Quick example: the Washington Post wrote a story about embeded journalists, and according to milblogger Bill Roggio, one of the subjects of the story, they got it wrong. Big surprise, right? Well, Bill has a national platform from which to respond. Lucianne Goldberg, proprietor of the popular and nationally-recognized conservative news filter, Lucianne.com, linked to Bill’s response. Thousands of people, probably more than actually read the Post story, will read Bill’s corrections. (Read the transcript of his interview with Hugh Hewitt)
Back in the day, he’d have been relegated to a Letters to the Editor section, maybe, or a phone call to the reporter, which may or may not have been returned. With a link from Lucianne, Bill’s side of the story will get a lot of play. That’s power.
But unrestrained power coupled with little to no accountability is a dangerous thing. As a blogger who’s been the subject of nasty and false statements made by bloggers and in comment sections by anonymous cowards, I know what people are capable of saying when they get caught up in online anonymity. When you’re not man or woman enough to stand behind your words using your own name, high ideals like accountability and responsibility are mere afterthoughts.
This passage made me certain that for Parker, it’s personal:
Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality, though most would have little to occupy their time were the mainstream media to disappear tomorrow. Some bloggers do their own reporting, but most rely on mainstream reporters to do the heavy lifting. Some bloggers also offer superb commentary, but most babble, buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents competing for the Ritalin generation’s inevitable senior superlative: Most Obsessive-Compulsive.
Yes, we bloggers bounce off MSM, criticizing stories and looking for bias. Some bloggers are better writers and thinkers than others, so their commentary may be considered “superb.” But Parker says most bloggers just babble and blurt. I don’t read a lot of bloggers these days, but the ones I do read aren’t babblers and blurters.
Even so, they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups. These effete and often clever baby “bloggies” are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision. Spoiled and undisciplined, they have grabbed the mike and seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi.
Ouch! Effete and clever baby bloggies? Who’s she talking about? She must be immersed in the blogosphere and quite familiar with a variety of blogs; otherwise, on what basis could she make such a statement unless she or someone she cares about was the focus of a vicious blog swarm? Curious.
The money quote:
Each time I wander into blogdom, I’m reminded of the savage children stranded on an island in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies.” Without adult supervision, they organize themselves into rival tribes, learn to hunt and kill, and eventually become murderous barbarians in the absence of a civilizing structure.
I confess my ignorance of such bloggers. Anonymous, effete cowards, I know plenty, but likening them to murderous barbarians would be a stretch. I figure these folks have empty and unfulfilling lives to spend so much time reading my blog and creating new ones simply for the purpose of blogging about what I blog about. I take pity on them, in a way, because most aren’t clever enough to do real damage or even entertain. I think of them as gnats buzzing around my head or moths attracted to the light.
Read the rest of Parker’s column. It’s quite fascinating. The subtext is much more interesting than the text, and it’s got me wondering what happened to her and whether I’ve been, on occasion, one of those bloggers “untempered by restraint and accountability.” I don’t want to be.
Am I having an attack of conscience? 
She concludes:
I mean no disrespect to the many brilliant people out there – professors, lawyers, doctors, philosophers, scientists and other journalists who also happen to blog. Again, they know who they are. But we should beware and resist the rest of the ego-gratifying rabble who contribute only snark, sass and destruction.
I am nowhere near brilliant, but I’ve been known to write a really good post now and then. I’ve been guilty of a little ego-gratifying rabble and snarkiness, but I’d never trash another blogger. I guess I have an unwritten code of ethics which strongly discourages unfair and unnecessary attacks on fellow bloggers and encourages me to focus on public figures such as politicians (who have the power to make laws curtailing my freedom and to raise my taxes), celebrities, and organization presidents, for example.
It’s too bad other bloggers don’t have similar ethics, and it’s too bad Parker had to write such a column. I don’t blame her; I blame the people who write whatever they want without regard for truth or civility.
Do you know the kind of bloggers Parker describes? Who are they?
Related: Captain’s Quarters…
(Image by Castle Rock Entertainment)
Update: During my presentation for a seminar called “Crash Course on Blogging,” I quoted a few stats from “Behaviors of the Blogosphere” by comScore Media. Download the PDF copy. A few highlights:
- 50 million U.S. Internet users visited blog sites in the first quarter of 2005, roughly 30 percent of all U.S. Internet users and 1 in 6 of the total U.S. population
- Five hosting services for blogs each had more than 5 million unique visitors in that period, and four individual blogs had more than 1 million visitors each
- Of 400 of the biggest blogs observed, segmented by seven (nonexclusive) categories, political blogs were the most popular, followed by “hipster” lifestyle blogs, tech blogs and blogs authored by women
- Compared to the average Internet user, blog readers are significantly more likely to live in wealthier households, be younger and connect to the Web on high-speed connections
- Blog readers also visit nearly twice as many web pages as the Internet average, and they are much more likely to shop
Update II (12/30): Reply from Kathleen Parker sent today and posted with her permission:
A friend directed me to your webpage and I found your comments just about right. It seems to me we agree. I figured mentioning “philosophers” left plenty of space for good bloggers like you, who would recognize themselves (You’ve had a place on my Faves list for a while, btw). Otherwise, the bad ones – those mean-spirited members of the mobocracy – would reveal themselves. As well they have. If I used too broad a brush, I’m sorry. It’s never my intent to be wrong, after all. But I get smeared with the MSM all the time. Hey, I’m the one who’s been complaining about media bias the past 20 years – mostly alone, I might add. It’s a wonder I’ve survived in my own industry. I figured as often as I have praised blogs and eaten my own, I had earned the right to point out flaws in the blogosphere. Here’s to peace and civility in the new year.
All best,
Kathleen
