“Was it realistic to expect blogs to do more?”
Not as you outline your expectations, no. But it’s not for the reasons you put forth. You seem to be expecting the majority of bloggers to think and write at the level of (good) professional journalists. That is unrealistic. Most bloggers are not professional writers, political analysts, or even particularly good fact finders. As both cause and consequence, objectivity is the first thing to go.
All human ability ranges over a bell curve and there is no reason to expect blogging to be any different, especially in a country and an age when the educational system (and philosophy in general) has eroded to its present level.
Given that, it’s actually surprising how many good blogs there are, both popular and lesser-known. In that respect, there is reason to be optimistic about the future.
Just as with early cable TV, when every amateur Joe Blow in a city could be on the air, blogging is in the process of winnowing out the amateurs. In a few years, there will be a large number of know-nothing yakkers and a few high-quality blogs, a process we already see at work.
