But, beyond the blogofascist aside, I had made an argument that I waited futilely for someone to address. I had questioned the effectiveness of blogospheric rage and suggested that blogger fanaticism had a lot to do with the inability of bloggers to apply themselves to serious reflection. All the bite-sized thoughts, rapid disses, and inanely meandering threads make it hard to concentrate on anything for very long. Linking is no substitute for thinking. So people scream because they can't focus. You have the impression of bloggers who are so pacified by shouting their rage--and so appeased by smugly shared sentiments--that they turn off their computers at night and go to sleep feeling empowered and relaxed. No wonder, several years after the blogosphere allegedly became a people powerhouse, the country is mired even deeper in Iraq and successfully distracted by one false public alarm after another. Catharsis is for art, not politics.
Blogofascism and Internet discourse
Friday July 28, 2006
Lee Siegel, who blogs at The New Republic Online, writes about how blogging and comboxes have a way of bringing out the most obnoxious people, and the obnoxious sides of lots of non-obnoxious people. I have no idea what he could be talking about, but here's an excerpt:
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Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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No,no, Franklin.
A string walks into a bar and orders a beer. The bartender says, "We don't serve strings here!"
So the string goes outside and rolls around in the dirt and gravel. He walks back into the bar, again, and orders a beer.
"Aren't you a string?" demands the bartender.
"I'm a frayed knot".>
Anonymous, whoever you are: standing ovation, comrade. 8)>
That's comrade-ette, thank you.>
You're welcome, m'lady... but it's hard to tell, ya know? ;)>
Hey, Jennifer (from way up above): Why don't you ask the board owner who "essentially destroyed" the board in question?
You might try asking the moderators, too.
Do I know something you don't know? Darn tootin'.
And I can say with complete confidence that YOU DO NOT HAVE CLUE ONE WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
And BTW---I kept the evidence (e-mails from the board owner, etc.). Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!
If you and your pal Caedmon keep lobbing that vicious falsehood at me, I WILL indeed deploy the information I have to set the record straight (with the board owner's prior permission).
In the immortal words of Aunt Dahlia from the Jeeves & Bertie books, "Good old blackmail! You can't beat it."
Yep. :)
Now, please go harass someone else. Thank you.
Diane>
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