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August 23, 2008
I'm slow to pick up on Christian Kerr's piece in The Australian attacking bloggers because I'm in the bush back of Clare. I cannot say I'm not surprised by another attack on bloggers from The Australian. But I am surprised that it took so long since the last one and that it is so poor in terms of arguments.
Kerr asks whether the internet is the greatest tool for the sharing of ideas or an instrument for reinforcing prejudice? Big question isn't it. The lightweight pundit answers in the negative:
The internet is narrowcasting to narrow minds, with some of the narrowest dwelling in the echo chamber world of the blogs ....The offenders here are discussion blogs. They would like to see themselves as the common rooms and salons of the online world. But they are intolerant and, worse, often incorrect .... In the world of the blogs there is so much righteous indignation, so much sneering superiority, so little analysis and so little humility in the search for balance, or even for further information that may enrich or enhance the views expressed ... Bloggers have discovered that proffering conspiracy theories is a very good way of looking wise to the ways of the world while being utterly ignorant. There's plenty of [paranoia] on the blogs; paranoia about certain journalists, certain newspapers, paranoia about certain pollsters, paranoia about Catholics taking over civil society, paranoia about (yes) Zionists and paranoia about US government conspiracies.
From these comments Kerr clearly has leftwing blogs in mind. He adds that the blogger's pet hate is the mainstream media and then comments that the mainstream media offer two crucial elements missing from the world of the blogs--- balance and fact.
Kerr therefore implies with a straight face that The Australian (its online) and the tabloids of News Ltd (also online) stand for balance and fact, and so do not have any conservative prejudice, bigotry and speculation. That is myth making.
Does Kerr himself offers balance and fact in his commentary on the internet as an instrument that reinforces prejudice? Not really he reduces the internet to blogs and sees the blogs in negative terms. Isn't Kerr offering sneering superiority with little analysis in answering his question? Sneer and bigotry was his trademark when writing for Crikey on green issues. It was his trademark style. Little has changed since apart from the bloggers being the new enemy.
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We are the modern pamphleteers. Forget the broadsheets with narrow minds. They don't even give us an online opportunity to refute their empty and ignorant assertions.