I know BGA started a thread a while back regarding the impact of digital media on the Internet (e.g. YouTube) on the current election cycle, the Obama campaign, etc. Here's an interesting NYT article on the YouTube video of an Obama supporter, Derrick Ashong, who is about as well-informed as anyone in the country. Kudos to DNA; this is the kind of story that inspires the patriot in me. God bless America!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/business/media/17carr.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kica8hmSdAM (Ashong's man-in-the-street response. Well done!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2zO5d-XZWA&feature=related (Ashong's follow-up)
I'm still debating whether to open up our blog to the rest of Google users or the entire Internet. It would be wonderful to get a numerous variety of responses across the political spectrum from people like Ashong, but I'm not interested in quick, one-off, infrahumanizing shots that would inevitably get injected into our conversations. However, I'm not opposed to any of you inviting someone you know well who would take the time to be involved in our discussions. I definitely would like more conservative views represented.
I'd not be in favor of an open forum. There are plenty of venues for folks who want to do drive-by posting damage; we don't need to give them one more opportunity. As much as we are four intelligent people who care about what's going on, we still have had our challenges in working through issues and baggage to get to the point where we can dialogue in a way that is honest about what we think and feel without offending or flaming those who might think or feel differently. Imagine the added challenge of maintaining this virtual environment when we're wide open to assaults from any side from people who simply don't give a damn about anything except reading their rants on a blog. I'm not opposed to opening up to a few other people, but I think anyone else who comes in needs to be well known and respected by at least one of us before an invitation. Perhaps, since in a sense we're creating a virtual intellectual civic society, it would be useful to establish some guidelines for posting. Any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteNot sure what guidelines you have in mind. I wouldn't want us to worry too much about what we say, but just that we keep it respectable, decent and civil.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to open up our blog to anyone, unless any of you know someone who is like-minded and enthusiastic about the matters that we discuss. I see that things have definitely tailed off since we've stopped using email. I would like to urge again for a more conservative voice in our forum. Thanks.