read all about it

cantankerous columunists

Karl Du Fresne joins msm journalists Deb Coddington, Fran O'Sullivan, and (that pompous, bloated, tired, over-rated, over-exposed, effeminate commie) Chris Trotter, in deriding bloggers. I do love Karl (he's my second favourite grizzly old grump behind Garth George - long live irascibility!) but I suspect his antipathy towards bloggers is due to the growing impotent frustration among journalists that they're no longer the gatekeepers of information. Their stranglehold on manipulating public opinion is under threat. The assumptions, biases, distortions, lies and propaganda of media 'professionals' are being scrutinised and challenged by amateurs - and they hate it. Hence the journalistic backlash.

Unwilling to honestly confront this loss of control, Karl upbraids the blogosphere for its literary shortcomings.

"...many blogs - both of the Left and Right - are barely literate rants written by angry, self-absorbed no-hopers with too much time on their hands."

So what? It's called "free speech." Freedom to opine, rant and drivel without inhibition or proscription. Glorious freedom from censorship, from stylistic conventions (including proper spelling & punctuation), from word-counts, deadlines and editorial guidelines. But most importantly, freedom from the obscene political correctness of urban, upper middle-class liberals whose oppressive genteel speech-codes prohibit 'sexism,' 'racism,' 'xenophobia,' 'militarism,' 'religiosity' or any opinion and subject matter dissenting from the approved discourse of uptight, namby-pamby lefties with their obnoxious paternalism and condescending snobbishness. The blogosphere is a refreshing corrective to our Stalinist media commissars; progressives who profess 'multi-culturalism' but castigate anyone who dares not conform to their narrow, insular, inflexible, intolerant world-view.

Karl is similarly unimpressed with the free-wheeling and rambunctious tone of many blog posts.

"They are often toxic, petty, juvenile and malicious."

Hey, some of us try extremely hard to cultivate that very image :-)

But then again, so what? Get some perspective: a blog is just a blog; no more, no less. Nobody PAYS to view them. Readers, of their own volition, CHOOSE to engage with or ignore blogs. Few of us are pretentious enough to believe we're authoritative or influential. You need a proper attitude to reading (and enjoying) blogs.

• Golden Rule: put some detachment between you and the blogger. Don't believe everything you read. Don't take everything (or anything) bloggers say to heart.

• Remember: they're merely opinions - just like letters to the editor, talk-back callers, or folks you chat with at the pub.

• Bottom line: if you don't like blogs, then don't read 'em. Simple.

Now, if msm journos spent more time & effort probing the lies & deceptions of our politicians - instead of pandering, ignoring, justifying or enabling their shenaningans - they might regain their lost respect and credibility. Who knows? Folks might start trusting the msm's scribblings again, instead of reading those 'dreaded' blogs.