As much as I love Billmon’s web site, I wasn’t going to comment on his silly op-ed about how the good-old-days of blogging are behind us. Of course they aren’t. If anything there seem to be more new and exciting new blogs starting up every day then ever before. Sure, the media will co-opt a few bloggers, but so what? Then they become the mainstream and a few hundred new alternative blogs pop up in their place. Nor do I notice much of a difference in quality since any of the big-time lefty political bloggers gave up their day jobs. They all seem to be doing a great job after all these years (OK, after two years).
The reason I decided to write something was because I remember what it was like when I first started blogging. It was hard work. I had to spend hours to find a few snippets of quality information that was critical of the mainstream press. Sure, there were always the British papers, and that is what I started with. But now there are hundreds, if not thousands, of web sites all picking up on important stories ignored on the evening news. Its gotten so much better that I feel free to spend much more time blogging about other things besides U.S. politics and the War. Moreover, more people are reading blogs on a regular basis, so I can simply direct people to a few good sites and be done with it, I don’t have to link to every single story I think is important.
I’m much more concerned about the issues raised by Ethan Zukerman who worries about the bias to articles about America and information technology on wikipedia and in the blogsphere. But even here, thanks in part to sites like Ethan’s BlogAfrica, the situation is so much better than it used to be. I’m hopeful about the future of this medium, even if the future of the world looks a mess.
