Festering pig repels virtual onslaught, remains dead...

presenceofmind.net ^ | December 13, 2002 | Greg Swann

[Greg Swann]

Festering pig repels virtual onslaught, remains dead... by Greg Swann

Mail from Billy Beck this morning, referring back to me ranking on the 'blogosphere' for it's hubris over the hounding of Trent Lott: I note Sullivan's cite of "a reader", this morning: "I have been a fan of blogs for a while now, but I have not seen a story happen around the edges of the major media like this one has. Strangely, this could be a watershed moment for the world of blogging. Not because they have done everything in the story, but because they sustained the momentum when the major dailies could not, or would not." My reaction: Indeed, 'reader', the blogospheric pressure was so intense that Bush was compelled to act--just as soon as there ws an editorial in the New York Times. Billy contnues: Sullivan: "I think he's onto something." I read that and sat here thinking, "Where the hell were these guys in '96 when alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater was burning down the Ozark Long March?" And there I think I become heretical to all faiths. What Billy is talking about is an amazing display of net.virtuosity--research, rhetoric, polemic, debate, virtual-street-warfare--all of it continuous, much of it Billy's own work. I speak not as a dedicated observer, but more as a tourist: I was aware of it, but rarely was I in it. The grunts who fought that war are of another kind entirely. But: I am still a skeptic, both of Sullivan's empty hubris and Billy's well-earned pride. What I said to him this morning is simply this: The festering pig is the Lord of the Flies, Billy, but what are the flies to the pig? Here is my hope: A forum like alt.current-events.clinton.whitewater is actually ideal for this kind of work, except that its sheer volume (nearly 500,000 posts in 1996, which is a long time ago in net.years) makes it next to impossible for the cream to rise consistently to the top. Sullivan has his moments, but he'd still rather be fawned over at a cocktail party than hew to a principle, which makes him mainstream, net.presence or not. But what this medium--the weblog--permits, is a self-selecting auto-filtration--no trolls, no spam, no noise. Anyone can weblog. No one need read. To hang onto readers, the weblogger must do the whole job--news, insight and artistry. Done well, done right, done in earnest, we have the power of the book with the immediacy of the radio. The power not to change events--unlikely until the festering pig gets net.wise, and inconsequential even so. The power we have, or could have, if we earn it, is the power to change minds. And thus to change lives. And thus to change everything. Dive-bombing a dead pig is no fit work for a fly, much less a man. And the real job, the one that matters, is all but untouched...

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[gcruse]

I love Billy Beck. He's Fred Reed without the charisma. Too bad he isn't a Freeper.