Sunday, September 26, 2004
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The New York Times Magazine discovers that bloggers are geeks
The teaser for Matthew Klam's cover story on political bloggers:
That's a great question, but Klam doesn't answer it in the article -- in fact, I'm not even sure he addresses it. Instead, Klam has written a piece on how, regardless of ideology, topic of interest, or writing style, all bloggers share a common trait -- they're geeks. [Surely not Wonkette?--ed. Click here for her dirty little secret (link via Mark Blumenthal).] By geek, I mean that they have an unusually strong appetite for information that the rest of humanity might find.... a tad dry. Geeks are also acutely conscious of the pre-existing social hierarchy, and have a strong sense of unease about their place in that hierarchy. Klm's essay is essentially a profile of Josh Marshall, Ana Marie Cox, and Markos Moulitsas -- all of whom are successful bloggers, and all of whom aspire to be more than successful bloggers. So, while I learned little that would be useful for my research on blogs and politics, I did pick up the following tidbits of information:
Your humble blogger is very glad that he's sufficiently below the radar that Klam found it unnecessary to profile him. I susect this is how Klam's first psragraph would have gone:
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds collects blogosphere responses. I'm particularly amused that both the left and the right halves of the blogosphere are pissed off about Klam's essay. I have to think that Klam must be ticked off at the Times headline writers -- they badly mischaracterized the tenor of Klam's essay, which is far more anthropological than political in nature. posted by Dan on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PMComments: Now I am frightened. You are spinning out all the word product by using only two fingers? Don't those fingers ache just a little bit? You haven't busted a key on that Dell? (Maybe the W key, from pounding it in frustration each time you post on Iraq?) Professor! Do yourself a favor! Take a typing class! posted by: Appalled Moderate on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]bloggers covering the presidential race Not only did he not answer the question he posed, he also didn't write about the "bloggers covering the presidential race." Instead, he focused on a group of left-wing bloggers, including the loonosphere of DailyKos and Duncan B. Black. posted by: The Lonewacko Blog on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]It turns out it's really all about Matthew Klam himself -- a lefty gossip columnist who fancies himself a "journalist" -- starstruck at having managed to tag along with the blogosphere's golden girl -- "Ana Marie Cox has peachy cream skin and eyes of a very bright blue, strawberry blond hair and a filthy mind; she likes to analyze our nation's leaders in their most private, ah, parts" -- to the most glamorous parties surrounding the political conventions this summer: posted by: Sissy Willis on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]The right side of the Blogosphere that broke the story are a little miffed that art only included comments from the left. mments by blogger Charles Johnson of www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog He was interviewed for over 45 mins and nothing he had to say was included. LGF was one of the sites that shredded the docs as forgeries with conclusive proof that these docs were forgeries. The MSM is still saying "questioned docs et al." Go figure. Ron wright posted by: Ron Wright on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]Josh Marshall didn't sound like a Vulcan or Klingon in the Times article. He sounded like McGyver. I was disappointed that the piece petered out with the declaration that these bloggers want to be heard. Is that all, really? It sounded to me as if what they wanted was to make a living, have a good time, not be edited, and be heard, in roughly that order. I'm not saying that's wrong. I'm just saying. posted by: Zathras on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]Hey, isn't it about time again for a guest post/essay by Erika? posted by: C. Smith on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]Re Sissy's remark, it's worth pointing out that Matthew Klam is not primarily a journalist -- he's a fiction writer, whose collection _Sam the Cat_ is the decade's best book of stories so far. posted by: J. Ellenberg on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]I'm not sure your comment about both halves of the blogosphere being pissed off is accurate. Ezra Klein clearly was quite pleased at being portrayed as a chick magnet. And while the one diarist at Daily Kos that you mentioned was pissed, the post on the main page of Daily Kos wasn't at all negative -- http://tinyurl.com/687pe posted by: Frederick on 09.26.04 at 12:29 PM [permalink]Post a Comment: |
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