Rick: You say: [1]
Decloaking Beauchamp will not bring us closer to “victory” in Iraq – if such a thing existed outside of the fevered imaginations of an ever dwindling number of conservatives. It will not make up for Abu Ghraib – another story whose perceived importance far, far outweighed any relationship to the reality of what actually happened. It will not induce the American people to change their minds and embrace the war effort. Nor will it shut the left up which, while something devoutly to be desired, is alas an effort doomed to failure.
This medium, we have to keep reminding ourselves, is still fairly new. And as more and more people enter the blog universe – many looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – it is inevitable that they too, wish to get in on the fun of scalp hunting. One way to climb up the winding stairs to the top of the ziggurat is to outshout your competitors while attaching more importance to a story than it deserves. This will get you traffic, links, and the admiration of your fellow bloggers.
I understand the game. I’ve played it for three years, shamelessly piling on and then shooting off emails to big bloggers hoping they would find my insightful, pithy comments about the swarm du jour good enough to link. There’s nothing inherently dishonest in this method of self-promotion – unless what you write isn’t what you truly feel in which case you won’t last long anyway. But I truly believe now that blogs have to move beyond this phase. To what end, I have no idea. I couldn’t have foreseen where blogs are now 3 years ago when I started so my powers of prognostication when it comes to blogging and internet media are practically nil.
I only know a growing sense of unease elicited by the notion that by overhyping stories like the Beauchamp caper, the credibility of the medium suffers. For that reason alone, it may be time to put down the blood stained hatchets and begin to seriously examine just what we should be doing that will increase our influence rather than make us look like a bunch of one dimensional attack dogs.
With all respect, Rick, blogs are by definition reactionary. We react to what is out there. The bottom line here is that all this “piling on” that you’re talking about, that occurred in the Beauchamp case, was a large number of people reacting correctly to being lied to. It’s the kind of thing that lease the editorial boards of newspapers, if not the news staff, used to do. Alas, they don’t do it much anymore. Which, in turn, is precisely why this new medium exists.
I don’t know how others play this particular game, Rick, but I will tell you the truth about BitsBlog; it’s very seldom indeed, then I have tried to promote one of my posts by emailing other bloggers. perhaps this explains why my hit rates are not nearly what I think they should be. The reason I haven’t done it, is it has always struck me as seeking approval from people you’re competing with.
For my part, I speak my mind, and let it go at that. I am active on other people’s Blogs for the same reason. If somebody else is going my way, that’s just fine. If not, see ya. But I notice a certain talk show host who shall remain nameless, within the studios of WSB has taken note of your efforts. That’s not a bad thing. What that notice suggests is, people are starting to take this medium seriously.
But perhaps you need to study a little more closely why it is they do so… And perhaps the best way to do that, is to examine what would happen without our being here. Believe me when I tell you, there are those in government who are hitting the prayer mats every night for just such an occurrence.
Imagine with me, the results of taking Beauchamp at his word with no resistance. what kind of image would be sent into the minds of the average American? What kind of image would be sent into the minds of our military in the rest of the world? Trust me what I tell you that’s precisely why the article was written and printed. Make no mistake; these people are working for the other side.
It is precisely because of the incidents like this Beauchamp affair that we in Blogdom are being taken seriously. Far from such Blog Swarms being a BAD thing, I will guarantee you that going forward for at least a little while the media will take fact checking very seriously indeed. TNR got caught with their pants down on this one. Again. To the extent that my adding on my little voice to that particular pig pile help that process along, I consider it a good thing. Certainly, it is better than the absence of that kind of pressure.
Glenn would call it an Army of Davids.