Come for the Politics, Stay for the Pathologies



Saturday, September 12, 2009

Why Blogging Matters

Paul Miller’s piece at American Thinker is a little shot in the arm for all of us hapless bloggers floating – untethered - out in the ether-net. Miller takes issue with Tom Friedman, who took to the airwaves (that would be the MSM airways) last Sunday to criticize the New Media as an  "open sewer of untreated, unfiltered information,"  going on,

"He continued to mock new media, suggesting that the American public is incapable of deciphering between facts, fiction and opinion,"

That, I assume, is because we are all stupid.  Which of course is where the mainstream media comes in.  Better that trained professionals  - our betters – tell us what to think about and how to think about it. New Media types are dangerous pajama-wearing morons that will mislead the weaker thinkers down the wrong path.

Miller demonstrates the advantage of having citizen journalists filling the role that MSM is unwilling to take.

(New Media’s) importance was revealed, just this past weekend, before which, very few Americans recognized the name Van Jones. The White House environmental adviser was one of thirty-two "Czars" appointed by the president who is accountable only to the president, immune to government oversight and senate confirmation.  The major networks and newspapers including Mr. Friedman's employer, the New York Times, failed to acknowledge his existence until after new media watchdog's revealed information that the mainstream press failed to uncover.

Van Jones would have been a nameless, faceless, dangerous man  in the Obama administration but for the blogosphere. Why? Because no one in the mainstream was the least bit interested or concerned about a self-avowed communist who made numerous racially incendiary remarks, had no qualms about calling the entire Republican party an “explicative deleted”, signed – under no duress – the “Truther” document claiming Bush and other government officials were behind the 9/11 attacks, and is a supporter of convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.

That such a man be appointed to a powerful job as an environmental czar,  answering to no one but the President is not only shocking, it’s close to malfeasance.  Such a man could not possibly have the best interests of this republic at heart, as he has clearly indicated he doesn’t believe in several of the republic’s underlying principals.

So, question to Mr. Friedman: what makes your open sewer of untreated, unfiltered information better than ours?