Reaching the two-millionth hit this year prompts some thoughts about the usefulness of blogging and of this blog in particular. As a disabled blogger, I ask whether the physical price of writing four thousand words a week is worth it.
Right now the Web features several types of blogs, each with a slightly different purpose and emphasis. First there are the folks I term the “Big Dogs” or the High School Crowd, because of their similarity to the people in high school who seemed to think the world revolved around them. These blogs are primarily businesses first and whatever else second. The size of many of them entices some readers to sign up for “diaries” (even the term is so high school) in the vague hope they might some day become a “front pager” and maybe attract their one minute of fame.
The scam for the money-makers, whom I differentiate from true blog communities, is the “diarists” provide free content; the owner gets the bucks. As a member of the Writers Union, I wish my own union would be more aggressive in protecting these writers and going after these blogs, but they do not. That many of these glorified Ponzi schemes dominate the left does not speak well of the left or the intelligence of left wing readers or writers.
The second type of political blog is a genuine community organized around an issue, a candidate or merely or group of like-minded people. These blogs represent what Skippy the Bush Kangaroo calls “Blogtopia,” in that in their communities lies potential candidates, interest groups and lots of healthy (and sometimes feisty) discussion and new ideas. The most outstanding of these efforts is the AfroSpear, which has put together a genuine online community that has attained some well-deserved political clout. To me it still stands as the shining star of what Blogtopia could become.
The third type of blog is mainly an Internet op ed column. Denied a voice by the mainstream media, some even banned by the Big Dogs, these bloggers are also a voice of hope. Among them lurk many young writers with no other outlet to learn their craft. I suspect a quarter century from now many of them will be opinion leaders in this country. I hope this area of Blogtopia also continues to thrive because their voices enliven the American political and intellectual landscape.
This blog falls into yet another category, which is blogs that also try to provide information. We represent online magazines and journals featuring longer pieces with primary sources and analysis. Our future is questionable as the Big Media move into blogging and the time it takes to write and research such pieces takes its toll.
Even in the Big Media, journals such as the Atlantic and Harpers are having a tough time. People want their information in soundbites. I say this not as a rant, but as a fact. My own son even admits he does not take in information the same way his father does. So we may well be like the last of the dinosaurs, big, sometimes even plodding creatures unable to cope with a new environment.
Despite this gloomy prospect there have been a few successes over the last two years. I am especially gratified to have been able to help bring more attention to the issue of suicide among Iraq War vets and keep this issue before the public. If one life has been saved or a family helped then the effort has been worth it. This blog also was among the first news sources to uncover the facts behind the Minneapolis bridge collapse and hopefully put an end to any possibility the governor who refused to repair that bridge will become a Vice President.
Series on educational apartheid, what the rich are doing with their tax cuts, follow the money, and the Supreme Court and voter IDs attracted some attention and I hope educated some readers. In some small way, I hope the different articles of Bill Clinton’s role in the mortgage crisis, other aspects of his administration and the Democratic Leadership Council will help inspire a reassessment of the wrong direction he took this country.
However the series I am most proud of is the historical series on what I term “real Democrats” such a Bryan, Wilson, FDR, and Truman which you can find in a sidebar to the right of this essay.
Yet, I ask myself did any of this make a difference? Many years ago I gave up a promising writing career because I believed time spent writing words was better spent helping people. Disability brought me back to writing two years ago because then it did seem something I could do to advance the cause of justice.
Yet this blog has taken away from other writing–I am now way behind on two books. It also took away from family, from reading, took a huge toll on my body, and took a toll on just enjoying what life I have left. The thousands of words typed for this blog could have been spent on books.
So now this blog celebrates its most successful moment fresh on the heals of an expose of the Hillary Trojan movement (thanks Mike for the link) and I find myself asking whether it is worth continuing or continuing at this pace. I am seriously considering writing only once a week or maybe just shutting down (the DLC will welcome that).
My biggest disappointment has been that the major issue for which I have fought–the level playing field–has caught on nowhere, not even among my friends who blog. The playing field continues to tilt further driven by the cause I have opposed–the Counterrevolution, which also is not recognized for what it is. I truly wish someone else with a louder and better voice had picked up these items or received this vision, because I consider my own attempts a miserable failure. The left has been silent.
So the time has come for some serious reflection. You readers who have been here for some time are invited to help me make this decision. Certainly the small dent this blog has made is due to you who have spread the word on your own blogs, mentioned this blog in comments on other blogs and told your friends about it. I thank you deeply for your support and encouragement. You have made it all worthwhile.
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