28 July 2010

Slice of Life: Why I Blog

Welcome to the second installment of Slice of Life, the semi-regular "column" of what's on my mind and how life surrounds the individual.

Earlier this week, we saw a blatant and coordinated attack by the old media against the new media.  Obviously, this isn't so much an attack on the messenger, but in reality, the message.  The outcry against those of us in the "new media" who have welcomed increased freedom and less government regulation in an effort to disseminate the truth, are now seen as targets for a dino-media that is loosing influence and market share.  Most of us do this for free because we enjoy it.  It is our hobby and our passion, and gives us an outlet, which may or may not have an impact upon the landscape of the country.  Most of us realize that we are relevant only to a subset of American culture, but we are relevant to those who matter most; family, friends, and the friends of friends who share the same views as us. 

While writing, politics, and history might be a hobby of mine, I am not personally seeking much gain other than another voice on the bandwidths of the internet.  I don't seek attention, except to fuel my own ego, and I certainly don't do this for the money.  Instead of keeping a lame journal, that no one else will ever read, there is a chance that the words scribed here will become immortal and invaluable for future societies.  A common "peasant's" view of the world, unaltered, unregulated, and unflushed down the memory hole of the Ministry of Truth. 

Most of the new media movement merely follows the news and reports on the "obscure" outrage of the day type stories that those in the old media refuse to follow.  The new media follows them because to us, these stories are not "obscure" but actually "slices of life" (reality).  We feel empowered to broadcast the insane stories and to question the lack of attention provided to them by those in the old media.  New media members want to show the hypocritical nature and the collisions of those in the old media with the ruling class.  The mere fact that the ever expanding technology that is now accessibly affordable to mainstream Americans has given those of us with grievances the forum for redress, drives those in the old media to the funny farm.

When our founders were frustrated and fed up with the ruling establishment, they first sought out the minds of their fellow colonists through editorials in revered and prestigious newspapers.  Most of our founders were commoners who took it upon themselves to do the work that they knew needed to be done.  Today, us commoners must trudge through the web of news paper editors, website moderators, talk show call screeners, the FCC's decency policies, and other litigious obstacles to exercise our First Amendment rights.  In the era of the "self-publishing" World Wide Web, we feel emancipated to spread the wealth of ideas, philosophy, and history and win over the hearts and minds of our fellow Americans. 

Perhaps in that quest, we may step on a few toes.  We may inaccurately report a few items.  We may use sarcasm and irony to twist the words of others to prove the righteous points and ridicule the liars and the thieves of our ruling class along with their complicit dino-media lackeys.  Most of us know that we have to use excellent Google-Fu skills to advert lawsuits and place phone calls to those who we really were on the ground and have the first hand knowledge of the situation we are reporting upon.  Unlike the old media, we are not motivated by ideology, but for a natural and relentless pursuit of the truth, which is precisely the job that the old media is supposed to be doing. 

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