{"id":2735,"date":"2002-12-19T08:00:25","date_gmt":"2002-12-19T08:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.armedliberal.com\/?p=492"},"modified":"2002-12-19T08:00:25","modified_gmt":"2002-12-19T08:00:25","slug":"not-bad-writing-just-bad-philosophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/?p=2735","title":{"rendered":"NOT BAD WRITING, JUST BAD PHILOSOPHY"},"content":{"rendered":"

In today’s L.A. Times, Norah Vincent’s current column, Putting the Brakes on Blowhard ‘Bloggers’<\/a>, (intrusive registration required, just use ‘laexaminer’\/’laexaminer’) gives an object lesson in what’s wrong with the media class today (an extension of the point I made below<\/a>).<\/p>\n

If the Internet is a frontier, then the online self-publishing phenomenon called Web logging, or “blogging,” is the virtual Wild West where any old varmint with a Web site can shoot his mouth off. A recent decision by the High Court of Australia, however, could civilize the Internet, perhaps to the detriment of the 1st Amendment.
\n…
\nThis wouldn’t matter so much if it meant simply that major media outlets would have to spend more time fending off complaints. After all, they can afford to, although all such costs eventually trickle down to consumers.
\nBut what about pipsqueak bloggers who can’t afford to protect themselves from the umbrageous hordes at home, let alone abroad? The Australian precedent could burden them immeasurably and thus raises the question: Is policing speech in the blogosphere a good and necessary thing or just another way to mum the common man?
\nActually, it’s both, which is why there is cause to be heartened and concerned.
\nWe should be concerned because, until recently, the blogosphere has been a haven of free expression.
\nThough libel law has always applied to Web content, most bloggers have flown beneath the radar, making it possible to disseminate their sometimes injudicious remarks with virtual impunity. And most of the time that has been a good thing because, unlike in the gated confines of print newspapers and magazines whose hand-picked and bowdlerized letters sections abrogate reader feedback, anybody can participate in public debate on the Net. One-man bands such as Instapundit, Kausfiles, andrewsullivan.com and a hundred smaller operations are spicing the debate, keeping the media powers honest and putting our free press through its paces.
\nBut there’s a flip side to this. As much as the blogosphere is full of brave and vital input, it’s also full of the careless, mad and sometimes vengeful ravings of half-wits who will say anything, especially about established journalists and writers<\/b>, just to attract more attention to their sites. This can get ugly when content is unregulated.
\n…
\n(emphasis added)<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So ranting about average citizens, politicians, or the bad car repairman on the corner is excusable. But if you dare<\/b> say a word about your betters…watch out.
\nOverall, I’m frustrated, because she does raise interesting issues about the maturation of blogging, and the increased responsibility that bloggers are struggling toward (as opposed, say, to the typical Usenet political thread participant). As folks who have dealt with me here and in real life know, I’m also a serious believer in ‘civil’ discourse, and in the futility of commentary that consists only of snarky slams.
\nBut if you want to know what’s wrong with Big Media today, you have to look into the eyes of its practitioners and see the insularity. Norah Vincent has given us just such a look, and I want to thank her for it…
\n(edited for tone)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In today’s L.A. Times, Norah Vincent’s current column, Putting the Brakes on Blowhard ‘Bloggers’, (intrusive registration required, just use ‘laexaminer’\/’laexaminer’) gives an object lesson in what’s wrong with the media class today (an extension of the point I made below). If the Internet is a frontier, then the online self-publishing phenomenon called Web logging, or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2735"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/marcdanziger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}