I had to laugh that Ellen Goodman is still engaging in the same o’, same o’ mainstream media bash of the blogosphere we have been seeing for several years now. This time the cause célèbre is supposed blogospheric disappointment at the release of journo Jill Carroll by her Islamofascist kidnappers. Goodman cites two examples out of thirty-three million for this, but never mind. Those are just ‘Damn Statistics’. No doubt she’s right – in the sense of the famous Pirandello title Right You Are If You Think You Are.
Of course some of us have a different view. As a honcho at Pajamas Media, it is my job (which I often fail at miserably) to keep an eye on what bloggers are saying and I didn’t notice one person with this kind of ugly attitude toward Carroll until I read Goodman’s article. It’s the columnist’s privilege, even responsibility, to go after the authors of these humanity-challenged blogs, if that’s what they were, but tarring the other thirty-two plus million of us with the same brush is a tad propagandistic, wouldn’t you say? So what’s Goodman after here? Is this just more of the old ideological gotcha game? Goodman hasn’t changed her views on much of anything since the mid-Sixties, though I can’t say I’ve been paying enough attention to know for sure. But still, I think this is much more about money than it is about ideology. Since Goodman and I share a vaguely marxist youth, let’s put it in those terms. It’s a question of “class privilege.” And from this class privilege flows ideology, rather than the other way around. Goodman’s class has a lot of money invested in being left/liberal. Why else be so threatened by blogs as a form? It’s only writing, after all. Just like a newspaper. Praise what you like and debate what you don’t, like everything else.
(via Confederate Yankee)
Join the conversation as a VIP Member