skippy the bush kangaroo: how can bloggers be so empty and so full of themselves at the same time?

Friday, March 14, 2008

how can bloggers be so empty and so full of themselves at the same time?

richard blair at the all spin zone makes a good point:

there are more than a few blogmasters in both the left and right blogosphere who feel like their opinions are sacrosanct, and indeed, that their opinions and online activism actually makes a shitpot’s worth of difference in the big political picture. in terms of energizing a small base of readers to actually make phone calls or drop an email to their local congresscritter, perhaps. in terms of providing an echo chamber for like minded, wired in-duh-viduals to get together and express a collective rant (or rave), absolutely. in terms of actually influencing the vast majority of people in their day-to-day political decision making process, eh, no so much.

that’s one of the reasons i find the current online dem candidate wars to be absolutely specious. in the real world, most people flat out don’t give a shit. for those of you who are tuned into this blog (and presumably others of a similar political slant), this might a shocking realization - just kidding - but it’s reality.

the vast majority of the a-list bloggers have rewarded themselves with a sense of self importance that is way above and beyond the true worth of their impact. and now, there’s actually some polling to support my inherent wisdom on this topic:

a majority of americans do not read political blogs, the online commentaries that have proliferated in the race for the u.s. presidency, according to a poll released on monday.

only 22 percent of people responding to the poll said they read blogs regularly, meaning several times a month or more, according to the survey conducted by harris interactive…

…while blogs are largely considered the realm of young people who are most internet-savvy, only 19 percent of people ages 18 to 31, and 17 percent of those ages 32 to 43, regularly read a political blog, the poll said…

richard goes on to write a howard beale rant for blogs, so we suggest you read his whole post.

Labels: blogtopia

posted by skippy at 8:30 PM |

7 Comments:

Skippy, I'm right there with you holmes.

Save yourself, and stop trying to save the world with your Blog.

commented by

fairlane, 6:48 AM PDT

only 22 percent of people responding to the poll said they read blogs regularly

Dude, that's a lotta fucking people, and way more than enough to determine electoral outcomes. And for sure it's only gonna get bigger, not smaller.

Entrenched political and media power hates independent discourse like blogs. Of course, this doesn't mean that some big bloggers aren't pompous douchemonkeys.

commented by

PhysioProf, 8:33 AM PDT

It's not so much that people don't read political blogs but more the fact that the internet is a great place for background info on candidates and the real news. Most peole saw what was on MSM and compared it to what was being reported on the internet when Iraq war started. I think that is why MSMs' ratings are going down. And like physioprof said the numbers are only getting bigger.

commented by

Demeur, 10:11 AM PDT

i'm not saying blogtopia and yes, i coined that phrase, is not a legitimate distribution system for ideas, information and debate, i'm just saying don't let it go to your head.

commented by

skippy, 12:14 PM PDT

20% is more than I would have thought. I wonder if that's more than watches the Sunday morning talking head-fests.

I agree that blog-evangelism is annoying, though.

commented by

Thers, 1:00 PM PDT

i'm just saying don't let it go to your head

Dude, if you saw the stats at PhysioProf, you wouldn't worry about my head!

commented by

PhysioProf, 1:09 PM PDT

Actually, 22% is about 4 times larget than I thought it was, and comes out to over 60 million. So, ummm, while I don't plan on getting a swelled head, since they don't, er, read me, lol, I'm still thinking that this is a pretty decent number.

commented by

Ian Welsh, 1:22 AM PDT

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