Thought Theater

Cables Cabal: The Blogosphere genre: Six Degrees of Speculation

Life is seemingly an exercise in moving forward. With this understanding, as we navigate the terrain we call life, much like with the act of walking, we often only focus on where to place our next footstep. However, sometimes in life it’s appropriate and necessary to stop and look back to view the footprints (the impact) we have left behind. This is especially true with what might be called trends…those surges of energy and enthusiasm that sweep us up and propel us forward with an ease seldom experienced. As a relatively new participant in this trend called blogging, it seems appropriate to stop and look back before getting lost in the prevailing winds to move forward.

As a person of endless curiosity, stepping back, as in attempting to snap a panoramic photo, allows the broadest purview. For some time now, I’ve found the prospect of blogging intriguing. In explaining my interest to others, in anticipation of completing the process of going live with my own site, I routinely remarked that I saw blogging as an opportunity to have a voice…an avenue that allowed mere individuals an opportunity to be heard. In my estimation, it offers the nearest approximation for an individual to have a newspaper or a magazine or a radio or television station without having to invest huge amounts of capital. That’s a pretty remarkable opportunity in this day and age.

With all opportunities, there is an associated, if not larger, degree of responsibility. When I speak of responsibility, I’m not simply referring to conventional measures that we’re all familiar with…not the typical laundry list of possible offenses such as libelous or slanderous statements or the misrepresentations of fact…but the responsibility to use what can only be described as the touchstone of the internet...blogging...to facilitate meaningful change and promote a greater good. If we allow blogging to succumb to that which it has long opposed…mainstream conventions and conclusions…then instead of being an agent for transformation, blogging will transform into that which it purports to revile.

At the risk of seemingly tossing water onto fire in the midst of happy campers singing Kumbaya, let me share some observations. Some may accuse me of being an alarmist…but my own review of history tells me today’s alarmists are on occasion tomorrows visionaries. Before concluding that remark is intended to be an attempt to muscle my way to the table of the prescient few, know that I offer my humble reflections with an unencumbered agenda…to shine the light of thought upon the highway down which this new communication construct is racing.

Blogging has much in common with the well known standard bearers of the news. At the same time, it is our differences that must be maintained. The fact that the cost of blogging doesn’t approximate the costs to run a television news channel or a talk radio station should guide bloggers to avoid the need to sell the daily dose of sensationalism that brings more voyeurs than visitors. Obviously bloggers need funds…but sacrificing substance and content for site visits in order to bolster advertising rates can soon deteriorate into the tail wagging the dog. When the race to break the story trumps the depth and analysis of that very story, the blogosphere becomes nothing more than the poor stepsister of the mainstream media. Bloggers must be mindful of the need to harness the instinct to pursue the next scoop at the expense of the blogospheres unique appeal.

Ideally, bloggers should dismantle, rather than break the news. The danger of moving towards the mainstream media model is in the potential to usurp the consensus view of the readership that the blogosphere offers something different and more importantly, something more. The backbone of the blogosphere is clearly supported by these serious and thoughtful readers who have been able to find the substance they crave in light of the vacuum that is the media establishment. If we simply become an extension of that establishment, not only will bloggers be devoured by huge news organizations, we will have forsaken our enablers.

There is an additional pitfall inherent in the decision to chase site hits. Computer communication, by its nature, has the potential to become the playground for the extreme fringes given the anonymity it affords. That is not to say bloggers must report from the middle. However, it isn’t difficult to envision a scenario where, given the make-up of any given commenting community, a blogger might succumb to competing motivations in determining the next posting or the next headline. The predisposition to retain these statistically significant allegiances at the expense of the blogospheres perceived integrity could easily spiral into nothing more than tabloid tirades. All too frequently comment threads are susceptible to becoming the rants of those emboldened by their ability to remain unidentified, yet relevant.

Ultimately, the blogosphere is an opportunity to participate in the exponential advancement of communications. Each day our world grows smaller as those connecting on the blogosphere grow closer. Keeping this new frontier chastened is a daunting task but the potential benefits make the effort essential. In the rush for a segment of the audience, we mustn’t pollute the soil from which this cabal of cable germinated…wherein…ever nourished by the pursuit of truth and its application to the events that impact each of us, we sit glaring into our computer screens…ever hopeful that those looking back are similarly motivated. Without question, the stakes are enormous.