Maybe Malkin wants to be first lady. Nah! She lacks the integrity and class. Perhaps if it weren't for the sycophantic nature of some other large conservative bloggers, which finally convinced me to step apart from the crowd, by the way, maybe one day she'll realize her initials are MM and not me me me me me.
To briefly elaborate on that - there are very few really large right wing bloggers. And they spend a great deal of time passing traffic back and forth between them. That doesn't mean they aren't top notch bloggers, by the way. But over time a somewhat closed system has set in. When you hear about those right wing bloggers on the radio and TV, you really aren't hearing much of anything for certain beyond what at most a dozen people think. And even if a smaller blogger disagrees, they'll often couch that disagreement significantly because they can't envision being cut out of some potential traffic flow which, in reality, rarely if ever comes.
The irony is that once I stopped playing along and started offering different, more broadly popular content, including sensational stories which really do interest me, I admit, I grew to the size of a Captain's Quarters almost immediately and have managed to stay there.
Now, I probably can't get through the elite blogging door anymore. And some political bloggers, especially the larger ones, likely look down their nose at much of my content. But after I realized I'd rather be a part of something that touched just everyday people, with some politics thrown in, it stopped mattering to me.
Media is about people. And the more people the better. The Internet, I hope, can offer up some wonderful things for a democratic society. But once little groups and conveniently too similar thinking individuals, to the point of cronyism, start to emerge and control things, it's time to go another way.
But then I've always been an independently minded pain in the ass - just ask Michele. I'd rather have people who think like that reading my blog everyday, than those content to parrot the prevailing wisdom because it might make or keep you popular, somehow.
There's another factor here, and it concerns us more than a stressed-out blogger. It's the fact that Captain's Quarters, another highly-trafficked blog, is also sticking by the story despite the fact there's nothing there. Is this a case of two big bloggers just watching each others' back? Isn't this what they complain about in the media?
But after I realized I'd rather be a part of something that touched just everyday people, with some politics thrown in, it stopped mattering to me...
Tracked on Oct 12, 2005 2:15:58 AM
Dan, coming from a man who cared so deeply about his boyhood friend Frankie, this doesn't surprise me. I am certainly glad that we have people like you around. Thanks for caring.
Posted by: suzyqueue | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 02:38 AM
Dan for President ;-)
Posted by: allison | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 06:29 AM
Malkin needs to learn what my 4 older sisters taught me: Don't dish it out if you can't take it!
Posted by: don surber | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 08:33 AM
Yeah, MM is not one of my favorite people.
Posted by: splashtc | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 09:39 AM
Why are you throwing Michelle Malkin under the bus? She is a bright, articulate, and informed. I find myself turning UP the volume when I see her being interviewed! Many value her opinion. Why so mean?!
Posted by: micah | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 01:44 PM
Michelle will be just fine, Micah - she isn't a talking head on the TV from my perspective, she's just another blogger and I treat her like I would any other who has demonstrated extremely poor ethics on more than one occasion and won't take responsibility for it. If anything, her talking points focused so often on values, it only makes her a much bigger hypocrite than some others.
Anyway, it's just a little blogosphere roller derby, everyone goes home alive.
Posted by: Dan | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 03:43 PM
O.K., maybe I'm outta the loop... What did she say/do that made her hypocrite? What was the rub? Has she stolen ideas and then present them as her own, or what?
Posted by: micah | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 07:31 PM
http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2005/09/well_this_is_ri.html
Read the whole thing, though some of it does tend to lose significance if one doesnt run their own blog.
Posted by: Dan | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 10:47 PM
Well I'm new to blogging--so there was a whole world in my computer that I didn't know existed before now? I feel like I've entered Middle Earth! Nevertheless, I stand duly corrected. Maybe Malkin's a jerk and I didn't know it. SORRY ALL!
Posted by: micah | Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 11:00 PM
dan is just jealous
Posted by: hmmmmm | Thursday, October 13, 2005 at 12:37 AM