HW 3: "Toward a More Participatory Democracy"

In the first chapter of Blog! by David Kline and Dan Burstein, they tackle the political aspect of blogging. The influence on American politics has been greatly impacted by the phenomenon of the blogosphere. AMERICANS TODAY TEND TO BELIEVE THAT the mainstream media lacks credibility and doesn't focus on key issues that are important to most today. There are a staggering high number of people that are relying on getting true and accurate news from blogs and other internet sources. On the internet, nothing is filtered or edited to manipulate the minds of the American people. One large issue that bloggers have with the media is the way it portrays politics and in particular political debates. The mass media gets to choose and pick what they want to focus on and what they don’t want or want to tell. Maxwell McComb and Donald Shaw state that "the mass media may not be successful in telling us what to think, but they are stunningly successful in telling us what to think about." ON ONE HAND, the creation of a place where people can openly discuss and support their issues on politics is a great stride towards a "more participatory democracy." ON THE OTHER HAND, the division between Americans is growing deeper everyday due to the fact that people are not listening to each other but they are simply expressing their own beliefs. Ezra Klein says that he has "not yet-and not for the lack of trying-found the blog where smart and engaged partisans are respectfully speaking to each other...where the point is to inform and enrich rather than enrage and destroy." MY OWN VIEW IS THAT blogs both have a negative and positive impact on our society and especially on politics. It will remain to be seen in the future of blogging if minds can be altered to be listening more and blogging less.