They're still not getting it

More than enough has been written about the whole Marcotte-McEwan shitstorm in a right-wing spitcan, but I wanted to make one little point.

One thing this shows is that the political and media establishments still don't understand blogs.

I read Marcotte's blog, Pandagon, and I read McEwan's blog, Shakespeare's Sister. Both are excellent blogs, if guaranteed to make right-wingers' heads explode on sight. But anyone who has spent any time reading those two blogs would have little doubt that both Marcotte and McEwan have strongly held beliefs that they are quite capable and willing to express strongly. Aside from periodically blogging in anger, both bloggers have been known to use satire, sarcasm, mockery and derision to get their points across. They are very, very good at that. They also are very, very good at engaging in dialog with their readers. They always know what they are talking about. And both are skilled at forming airtight arguments for their points of view.

The combination is why their readers love them.

Which is what the establishment types just can't grasp. The unrestrained nature of blogs is part of why blog readers read blogs.

The mainstream media bemoan the incivility of bloggers. But if blogs were "civil" they'd simply be the mainstream media in journal form. Politicians hire bloggers, but then want them to produce campaign blogs that are basically direct mail pieces in journal form. In doing so, they give up the very thing that makes blogs worth reading, the fact that they represent unrestrained, direct communication.

The media just couldn't believe the "awful" things Marcotte and McEwan wrote on their blogs. Edwards wants them to just be good and pass on his statements, positions etc. to the netroots. Both are okay stances to take, but still miss the point.

If politicians want to engage the netroots they are going to have to learn to speak the language and offer more than pre-canned campaign pablum on their blogs. They're going to have to learn to loosen up, get a little intemperate and engage their audiences with real energy. Marcotte and McEwan could have helped Edwards do that, but now, well I'm afraid he might well muzzle them out of fear of being criticized for intemperance.

Intemperance can be a very bad thing, but it's part of the nature of political blogs. Blogs are more than sources of information, they're communities and communities get raucous. Besides intemperance isn't all bad. It gets people fired up. It produces communication. It can even, if skillfully directed, produce lasting commitment and real-world results. Bloggers can help politicians make use of blogs, intemperance and all, but only if the politicians resist the urge to muzzle their bloggers everytime somebody complains about a post they found offensive.

And the media? Well, the media need to pinch their blue noses, wave their blue stockings, faint if they're going to and get over it.