Waldo Jaquith: On the decline of Virginia political blogging.
Dead on:These days most Virginia political blogs make virtually no effort to persuade anybody to change their minds. A blogger will state his opinion, make no attempt to explain it, and insult those who disagree with them. Telling me I’m stupid does nothing to endear me to your cause. It is not persuasive, so it can have no impact on the political process. It reveals nothing about the blogger — at least, nothing flattering. No attempt is made to educate, so no new facts are gathered by the reader. If anything useful results from this process, I cannot understand what it is.
The result of this is that people take to reading only those blogs that espouse opinions that they already hold, because reading others is such an unpleasant experience. Such bloggers set the tone for the discussions, too, such that rational discourse is impossible. And thus begins the ghettoization of ideological positions and with it the end of the enormous value that once made Virginia political blogs so noteworthy.
I’m grateful that Norm has not bent to these particular winds of change, and continues to write interesting and persuasive blog entries, especially those that challenge my own beliefs, such as today’s piece. He’s one of very few. I worry about this as well... the blogosphere almost seemed to bring back the days of old where Democrats and Republicans could sit at the Commonwealth Club and discuss issues rather than wage war in the press.
Personally, I think we're closer to that day than before. Still, there are a handful that would tabloid themselves into popularity...
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Shaun Kenney 
7 Comments:
That's what's missing.
The other half is Cass Sunstein's "The Daily Me" that she writes about in Republic.com (the book). I'll only read the blogs I agree with, the news I agree with, watch the cable TV I agree with, etc.
I don't mind the first half so much. I seriously mind the second half.
I also read more Democratic blogs than I read conservative ones, peppered with libertarian-leaning ones like QandO and OMT.
Just got done reading Obama's new book too.
The good news is that events such as the Sorenson Institute's Blog Summit do a lot to bring folks together. It's much easier to attack another person when all they amount to is a webpage and a handful of words. Harder to attack a husband, wife, dad, mom, drinking buddy, etc.
As a liberal, I also read and appreciate conservative bloggers. Without them I probably would have far less to write about because, after a while, it's got to get boring even for the writer to just post "me too, me too."
Much more fun to have a spirited but hopefully civil disagreement with a worthy opponent than to simply mirror others with your own point of view.
And you're all also right that it's disappointing to read an opinion with no fact-based reason behind it to persuade rather than pontificate.
Thanks again for the spot on post.
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