1 Boring Old Man

I think there are a few points that should be clarified by everyone at yearlyKos, and everyone who is not at yearlyKos but knows what it is, and is a self-declared member of that community. I don’t know if they are general points. I certainly hope so. But here’s my version:

Not Democrats:

I have almost exclusively voted for Democratic candidates in my 43 years of voting [and regret the few times I haven’t]. I expect that is true of most people in the "netroots" community. But I do not see what’s called the blogsphere as part of, or even affiliated with, the Democratic Party.

Not The Press:

Jane Hamsher and Marcy Wheeler [emptywheel] made a similar point. The blogsphere is not part of, or affiliated with, the Press.  In some cases, it’s the replacement for the lost investigative reporting once done by the press [reddhedd at FireDogLake and eriposte at the left coaster come to mind] and in other cases it’s what the the editorial page once was. Marcy Wheeler mentioned yet another point, it adds the narrative to the news and explores the character of the newsmakers. And, of course, it’s a place for ranting, much like Hyde Park corner in London.

Not Talk Radio:

Talk Radio, the forum of the Right has a set of fixed beliefs. If that’s what the blogsphere is, I quit. But it’s not. There’s no moderator whose opinions direct the dialogue like Talk Radio. It is liberal by definition because it includes diverse opinions, whether it wants to or not. That’s what liberal really means in spite of the attempts to redefine it.

As Markos said:

The Public Think Tank:

I might have said something a little bit different from what the pundits said, but it’s in the ball park. I think of it as a the place to read current history. We think of history as the meaning applied to past events. But right now, we need to think about these meanings as things happen, because no one else is doing it – not the government, not either political party, not the Press. It is supposed to happen in Congress and on the Editorial pages of the Press, but it’s not occurring there anymore.

Diarists and personal bloggers are trying to understand their own stories by "journaling." The political bloggers are trying to understand our collective story in the same way. So what the blogsphere is doing is, by definition, impossible. On the other hand, it’s vital to our future. History is "his story," the story of human social and political development. If we can’t look at it as it happens, we are the slaves of history directed by people whose motives and wisdom are in question. The blogsphere is a public "think tank" that is currently evaluating what’s happening, and will sooner or later have an impact on what happens.

At least, that’s what I think…