Libertarian Librarian

So, my political inclinations have drifted to the right over the last few years, and it seems to me that G.B. Trudeau's (creator of Doonesbury) have drifted to the left, which means we don't have a lot of common ground these days. Despite that, I still read Doonesbury and often find it quite funny. I often find it quite ridiculous as well. But regardless with whether I agree with his perspective or not, Trudeau has always had a relatively deft hand when poking fun at those he disagrees with, or finds amusing. Of late, he seems to be losing that touch.

His current over-the-top caricature? Bloggers. In case you missed it, he manages to squeeze every stereotype of bloggers into last Sunday's strip. Well, not every stereotype. His prototypical blogger is not wearing pajamas-- which might have indicated a bit of tongue in cheek irreverence, something which is totally absent from the actual strip. Otherwise, he pretty much nails all the cheap and easy, and for the most part completely inaccurate, mainstream media templates of what a blogger is: crackpot, geeky, angry, untalented, semi-employed loser, and, the piece de resistance, the conclusion that we all eat cat food.

Nice.

But disregard of the "blogosphere" by the mainstream media is not new, as Ed Driscoll notes, and I think its just an indication of how out of touch many in that media are. Trudeau would like '05 to be "the tail end of the media's fascination with blogging," and, I suspect, most of the old school medias would like that, too. The problem they face is that blogging is not driven by said "fascination" of the media, but rather in spite of it. Blogging is an outlet for folks who are tired of the mainstream media monopoly on news distribution, on both sides of the political spectrum, and all across thousands of topics that the mainstream media touches on briefly if at all.

Which is why I think this medium is so remarkable and so freeing. It allows regular people with important, amusing, or thoughtful ideas to present them to others all across the country and all across the world. Amazing stuff, truly.