That Was Quick

Recall November (I wish we could have a "November recall"), when the word of the year was "blog." All the empty heads on TV could talk about was "blog this, blog that." Newspapers and radio gibbered unceasingly about the rising power of the blog, the new world order of the blog, the obersturmbloggenfuhrer, etc. etc.

Oh, little media seemed to have Big Media on the run. But what has happened? Are blogs primed to take over the world? Not even close. A minority of Americans even know what a blog is. But, there are so many blogs that, save for a few mega-blogs (who have a problem similar to the media that has singled them out for notice in that the big ones, like Atrios, Kos, and Powerline, have to mediate their content to the point that it is barely more stimulating than what you might find on CNN, the uber-whore of Big Media), nobody even reads the millions of little blogs out there. Look at this site's counter if you doubt it.

Truly, the giants of "journalism" (the field seems dead; perhaps better to call it "reporting" or "spokes-modeling" from now on?) have countered the blog threat masterfully. How do you parry an attack from an upstart? Well, easy: you make the upstart part of the establishment. Every major network scrambled to include blog coverage in its lineup prior to and following the election. It has risen to heights of absurdity such that anchors on MSNBC now read blogs on the air, to the viewers.

The result? Everyone is sick of blogs and just wants them to go away. The word, stupid-sounding to begin with, has become an irritant. Like any fad that supersaturates the market, blogs are losing their "cool" with every passing day. Furthermore, the character of them has been set by Big Media: little blogs even, ones that were originally meant to be humorous (like this one) are now merely outlets for political rantings--because that's what NBC and CBS and CNN told me they were supposed to be. Hence, any apolitical sorts out there will in all likelihood avoid blogs in the future.

The mainstream media put itself in charge of the marketing campaign for a new, threatening commodity, the exchange of ideas on the internet. Like any bad marketer--and done intentionally--the media overhyped and oversold blogs, knowing full well that the public's patience would be tried by all this carnival barking and phony self-examination ("Peter, Daily Kos writes today that your report on Iraq last night was disingenuous and just parroted the GOP talking points...what do you think? Could we have done a better job?"). Big Media fixed the outcome by choosing the forum of discussion of the role of blogs in our political landscape. ABC News introduces the guy from Eschaton, he smiles politely, the anchor-skank asks a whole bunch of earnest questions (albeit in a mocking tone) and then closes the segment by telling the viewer that he ought to decide for himself whether blogs are useful or not. Gee, I wonder what the answer will be...?

So much for the media revolution.