“There’s these people — I think they’re called ‘bloggers.’ They dig up dirt on people, and make it sound just plausible enough … they like to bring down famous people, like in the media … they live to score points that way.”
13 thoughts on “Overheard at Denny’s: A Cautionary Tale”
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So…stay away from Dennys?
There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous food?
;>
Sounds like Denny’s food is even worse than McD. It disables your brain rather than making you fat.
That remark sounds like what the Dems accused Mike Royko of doing, except he did it with books instead of blogs.
Come to think of it, Royko growing up today probably would be a fantastic blogger.
“…they live to score points that way.”
You bet we do!
Now if I could only get paid for all of this blogging that I do.
James
It’s possible to get paid. Just think of blogging as a constant series of advertisements for your writing ability.
In the long run, I think blogging tools will bifurcate between the two sets of functionality that are needed to do original predictive research and opposition research. Point scoring has different technology support requirements than predictions.
Dangerous food, indeed. It will surprise no one here that the person I overheard later mentioned listening to NPR.
The actual point of my post, however, is to remind us all that the real world is not very much like the blogosphere. If you imagine that more than a tiny percentage of your fellow citizens think well of blogging, you’re deluding yourself.
What I hope for, at least, is that approximately equal numbers of Democratic and Republican scalps will be taken by bloggers, so that the medium does not end up with the reputation of, say, talk radio.
Far better, of course, would be a truly constructive relationship.
That’s right!
In fact, my next target is my local weatherman, Topper Schutt. He must be stopped:
All that experience, and his forecasts are still wildly inaccurate.
I say, bring him down hard! I need more points!
:)
“It’s possible to get paid. Just think of blogging as a constant series of advertisements for your writing ability.”
So how do you get paid for doing this, TM? And, of course, how do you get started.
James
It’s a legitimate point but I would say that the real point isn’t what people think of bloggers but rather how many people still aren’t involved with the Net. I seem to recall a figure to the effect that only 10% of Americans go online on a regular basis? That was a couple of years back but I’m not sure the figure has improved much since. ^_^;
– S.P.M.
“approximately equal numbers of Democratic and Republican scalps will be taken by bloggers”
Won’t happen for a while. The MSM is (1) in the hands of Ds and their allies, and (2) it lies. If Fox or Rush Limbaugh had tried anything as foolish as Dan Rather’s fraudulent document scheme in coordination with the Democrat presidential campaign, well, the Lefty bloggers would have discovered it. But, our people don’t do that stuff. Is it because of moral superiority? I think only in a small degree. It is more that the people on the right lack the arrogance of power that allows something like the Rathergate or Jayson Blair episodes to fester. These people have no internal brakes, they live in a world of group think, and they still believe that they control the media and that their asses will be covered. Those days are over, baby.
The biggest danger now may be our own happiness, sense of entitlement, smugness. Of course, as far as I can see, we are showing our willingness to remain civil in the humoring of Mr. Green. Do you think he has been sent to whisper in our ears during this celebratory time that we, too, will err and we, too, will lose? And we, too, may find the tinfoil hats all too appealing.
No need to whisper. I’ll say it out loud. The GOP will lose a presidential election one of these days. Maybe ’08, maybe ’12. The Ds will not stay hysterical forever. They’ll calm down. They’ll regroup. Unexpected events will occur. Wars and rumors of wars will agitate. Maybe (likely) the GOP coalition will splinter. And the Ds will win one.
They will gloat when they do, too. And we won’t like it one bit. That’s life in the big city.
I have no problem with a Democratic president as long as he has the right values. The last one didn’t. I suspect the next one will be better.