Kevin Sullivan

Case in point…

Posted by Kevin Sullivan under Uncategorized

A couple of days ago, I wrote about what I view to be some of the problems with the so-called Netroots.  I believe this post by Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon pretty much summarizes it for me:

To all the people linking to this post, if you gave half as much a shit about the lives of our troops as about the fate of a hypothetical bumper sticker in a very silly joke, then this war would already be over.

How hard your life must be if the very idea of finding that someone has vandalized a bumper sticker that proclaims your asshole status would make you freak out. Having imagined a bumper sticker removal, perhaps you can imagine rebuying the “I’m An Asshole” bumper sticker………

Break something. Set something on fire. Tonight you can find a way to resist. That asshole with a Bush bumper sticker? It can be removed.

That’s right.  According to Amanda, the best way to deal with an "asshole" is to be a dick.  And to commit senseless acts of vandalism, don’t forget that. 

The Blogger Is The Message

Posted by Kevin Sullivan under Uncategorized

Today’s TIME Magazine piece by Joe Klein, in typical Kleinian fashion, certainly ruffled a whole bunch of blogo-feathers.  While the bulk of the article sounded a lot like a pity-party for the author, There was certainly a valuable point worth taking away from it all.

Searching for a historical parallel, Klein reached into his goody bag of idioms and anecdotes and threw this on the Progressive blogosphere: 

the left-liberals in the blogosphere are merely aping the odious, disdainful—and politically successful—tone that right-wing radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh pioneered. They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics.

Bingo.

Of course the reactions this particular comment garnered were ones of outrage and shock:

He’s never read Little Green Footballs, Free Republic, or Michelle Malkin, and Ann Coulter is just a little over expressive, huh? Has he read the accusations of treason that come tumbling out whenever someone dares to contradict their Dear Leader? Those nutballs play for keeps, Joe. We may be snarky, but they’re dangerous.

And extremism in the defense of liberty…

What the good folks over at Shakesville seem to miss is that culpability doesn’t take a day off for moral equivalence.  Left-Wing bloggers already have a dubious image that they need to work around, and beyond the common misconception that they are young, petulant, and angry, most Americans aren’t entirely familiar with the medium as of yet.  On the contrary, talk radio has always played a rather prominent role in fringe politics.  Since the days of Father Tom Coughlin, all the way up to present day heavy-hitters like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, radio as a medium has famously occupied the fringes of American politics.  But unlike radio, the blogosphere still has a choice.  Whether they like it or not, tone, demeanor, and vulgarity will help shape precisely the kind of outlet that blogging truly is.

A few weeks back, I wrote a piece over at the RCP Blog commenting on the future of the Progressive Netroots.  My primary point was that blogging isn’t going to serve as a viable organizing tool as long as it keeps residency on the fringes.  My own comparison was to direct mail, which as a fundraising tool allowed ordinary Americans, from a range of economic backgrounds, to participate in movement politics.  This, in my view, is the opposite of talk radio.  The latter is passive and hierarchical, whereas the former is participatory. 

Which will be the fate of the blogosphere?  Will modern bloggers, often prone to sensationalism, hyperbole and vulgarity, adapt and become a medium for the middle?  Another Klein had an interesting retort to Joe Klein’s argument.  Ezra Klein (who even scored a plug in Klein’s piece) basically draws the SAT logic question comparison in response to Klein’s condemnations:

In much the way that cover stories on back pain and, in this case, "the Science of Appetite," sustain the readership and subscription numbers necessary for Klein’s wonkier work and the magazine’s political and international reporting, the red meat provided by the sites Klein decries create the audience and infrastructure that sustains and, more to the point, publicizes, my health care writing, or Juan Cole’s Iraq reporting.

So basically, TIME Magazine is to the NY Post, as Ezra Klein is to the Daily Kos…?

If that’s the case, well the blogosphere might already be doomed.  If the medium is to remain relegated in a sea of mediocrity and sophism, with only the occasional glimmer of brilliance, than it will remain the vanguardist and elitist outlet that it is today.