It's the 10th Anniversary of the Blogosphere
By John Amato Saturday Jul 14, 2007 6:57pm...and the WSJ actually interviewed a few real bloggers to respond. To my delight, they asked Jane Hamsher to weigh in and she wrote a brilliant piece:
During the '90s, railing at the TV set was the isometric sport of the silent majority. Progressive political junkies watched in isolation as the Washington Post prominently printed one Whitewater story after another as if they originated on tablets of stone rather than the fax machines of Arkansas political operatives. Many people felt like they were the only ones who scratched their heads in wonder that it all made no sense, recoiling in horror as a slick PR operation rapidly escalated from the realm of lazy, spoon-fed journalism to the constitutional mockery of the Clinton impeachment.
That isolation ended with the advent of the progressive blogosphere, which acts as a virtual water cooler for those who not only want to rail at the TV set, they want the TV set to listen. Probably nothing better contrasts the pre- and postblogospheric worlds than the Whitewater and CIA leak stories...read on
Many thanks Jane for listing C&L as one of your favorite blogs. I'm honored to be mentioned with the wonderful Digby and the hysterical Tbogg...I'm sure the WSJ gang will get a kick out of reading C&L...
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YEAH DUDE!!!!!!!
The WSJ gag won't get a kick out of reading C&L. They'll be terrorized. The WSJ is a propaganda sheet (that's why I canceled my subscription to it). It's only gonna go further down the drain with Murdoch's poisonous touch. THE WSJ's never gonna "get it".
Happy Birthday Blogosphere! we owe a great deal of thanks to the Blogies (opposite of Bushies) for they cut thru the lying, evil, extremist right wing, neo-con Bullshit that is destroying Truth, Freedom and Fairness to America and the world.
if it wasint for blogger and those who made blogs etc the way of the future 10 yrs ago, then i wouldint be typing this and telling ya about my blog and NEW sunday eagle pics are up at it.
Blogs rule. its the folks that say otherwise are the ones of whom we should look at with a raised eyebrow.
If it wasn't for blogs many of us would feel alone. Not lonely, alone. For me, it has replaced the town square. Beats bowling alone.
never felt alone,, just that some chat rooms were dominated by morons and if you spoke out , boom you were kicked out.
at least here,, you can be yourself and express yourself, and if folks dont like it,, they move on and thats the end of it.
Blogs have made more ppl get out and vote then anyother time in the US history. have reached more ppl with the facts and not media owned whores version of the news/facts and have made say eruope meet asia and North america meet, the aussies.
Thats what counts,, getting the word out and keeping folks inlightend and no longer in the dark !!!
The blogosphere hopefully will inspire people to run local campaigns, to effect change from the smallest starting point and spread outward. Consider this a challenge.
Not to rain on anyone's parade, but just to be accurate, the "Blog" did not begin as a political thing, and the progressive blogosphere was not the original blog world.
Blogs began as an online version of a diary, by individuals who simply found a medium to share their personal thoughts and experiences with others, much of which as NOT political in nature.
The medium caught on and evolved into various forms of blogs, one of which is the political form which is really more of a forum than a blog -- by the original definition of "blog" -- and which for some reason, some people believe is the definition of a blog. It's not.
That being said, the "political" blogosphere has, without question, evolved into a powerful new form of media and news in our world. And thank goodness for that. It's made a huge impact already on our world, and I can only presume that it's going to become even more powerful as time goes by.
More appropriately would be a happy birthday to "political blogs", or even just the internet itself.
But "blogs" are not just political...they didn't start out exclusively that way...and this isn't just about politics.
Blogging evolved out of the online world, to serve a number of purposes, and politics was only one of them.
Cufford
Fresno, CA
Now we just need some special blog features. A behind the scene look at making this blog. Also include deleted posts and commments from the authors, web hosts and internet service providers. Blog Bloopers would be cool too. Maybe alternate post endings. Then package it up four different times in four different boxes as a director's cut, an anniversary edition, etc. That would just rock!
Just think if we were all still reliant upon the mainstream media....yikes!
Paul @ 2:
Then I guess this makes us terrorists. ;)
Nice article. Glad c&l was mentioned. Had to look up "vituperative" but I sort of knew in advance what it meant.
The Wall Street Journal seemed to choose fairly mainstream folks to comment on blogs which of course gave a middle of the road positioning. It would have been nice to see the "real" left in attendance like Alex Jones, Jeff Rense, Carnicom, or some mention of the tremendous effect that the 911 "truther" movement has had in bringing the truth to the people regarding our government's roll in the trajedy.
Happy birthday to John, Nicole, and all of you who work so hard to bring us the good stuff that you do. Without a TV I would never had known the brilliance of Olbermann, Stewart, Colbert, et. al had it not been for you. Howie's music stuff is a treat as well.
8 Cufford:
I might remind you that all politics is local and politics is people. People have personal stories and when they share them they discover common shared interests. People with shared views outraged by injustice often become a political force. Before blogs in our recent history there was no real sense for many people that their disagreements with certain politicians or with writers in the media were shared by other people. In short, the sharing of ideas leads to politics so i submit that the first "diary blog" on the net was indeed political by its very nature and existance.
All in all a good "celebration" and look at the state of bloggage at the trun of the decade. Along with Jane's, I was actually impressed with ol' Figleaf Newtie's commentary. Conversely, hate to say it, ex-wacko Tom Wolfe, but you have now outed yourself as an irrelevant, ready-to-die, old-fart a**hole. (I guess we all lose our curiosity about the unfolding of new twist 'n' turns of living eventually. I only hope that time for me will be at the moment I finally conk out for the last time on Earth!)
seems that c&l is also the fav blog of the queen of the airwaves....the fedora wearing drudge
he repeatedly mentioned this blog in regards to the vitter case....of course saying that what vitter did is no dif than clinton, then asking outloud if c&l would print names of dem congressmen tied into the wash madame case
drudge purposefully being obtuse, in that c&l cares little for the daliances of congressmen....just the hypocracy of the christian rightn and the repugs that write laws, just to break them
Congratulations! I've been "tuning in" for about a year, because this is the new as I had wanted to see, for years, but couldn't. And I can link to other souces, Google, and research further, and do. I barely watch, or believe, TV news coverage any longer.
uncle joe mccarthy @ 15:
Ditto that. I coukld care less about what sex politicians are having. Clinton just got cooler after the bj. I still laugh about it. And often say myself, "I did it because I could." (Good one Bill.)
But if you get up on a soapbox, and preach family values for politcal reasons, and hang out with Falwell-types that blame America's problems on gays, amongst a list of others, I have to hold you up for public scrutiny. Laws should apply.
[...] Jane Hamsher wrote this on the 10th anniversary of the blogosphere: “During the ’90s, railing at the TV set was the isometric sport of the silent majority. [...]
[...] Jane Hamsher wrote this on the 10th anniversary of the blogosphere: “During the ’90s, railing at the TV set was the isometric sport of the silent majority. [...]
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