Thoughts on Blogging posted by Ben

With a couple months of logging under my belt, I've begun to notice an odd trend in how I approach the news. While there are definite topics which I return to frequently, like global warming, deconstructing conservative ideology, and human rights issues, it is difficult to continue to refute the same tired spin, distortions, and outright lies from the extremists in the Republican party.

I imagine that many progressives feel the same way. How can you compete with the nonstop noise from the right, the talk radio, the cable news, the preacher's pulpit? The propaganda never stops.

Maybe that's part of what makes the right wing echo chamber so effective; they don't get tired of sounding like a broken record. Just keep repeating the talking points, no matter what. (They're also good at coaching newfound cheerleaders in that subtle art.) When faced with that relentless repetition of deceit, it's difficult not to feel like I'm being sucked into their world. Read the news, identify the distortion, correct the distortion, repeat. But how else can progressives respond?

One answer may be to be proactive in the presentation of alternatives to the Republican agenda. Take an ideological offensive and put the Republicans and their evangelical allies into a response mode. Unfortunately, they know that they don't need to respond. Rather than illustrating detailed problems with progressive proposals, they can ignore them, make ad hominem attacks, and continue the broken record model which has worked so well for them.

Right now there is no effective progressive echo chamber. There is no streamlined delivery mechanism for the progressive message of hope, reform, growth, and human rights. I and thousands of other bloggers write in an apparent vacuum, which some degree of cross-linking (especially at the major sites), but little diffusion of the message beyond the hard-core base.

The mainstream media lives in fear of the "liberal media" label and incipient conservative outrage and overcompensates for its knowledge about the Bush administration's corruption and deceit by inviting more and more conservative radicals onto the air to spew their venom. They have lost the ability to moderate intelligent, informed discussions and the ability to identify lies. To imagine that we have hope for countering the conservative message through television news is naive.

The newspapers are dying. (The Wall Street Journal had a massive drop in advertising revenue last quarter.) No hope there.

The big action is taking place on the internet, but it's insular. An accidental discovery of an alternative point of view is rare. Nevertheless, to refute conservative distortions and lies is an action that must continue. But not in an ideological vacuum.

On this website, I need to continue working on platform pieces that can stand alone. And in real life, we all need to pursue personal education and research and to share our discoveries in our communities, with our families, and at our jobs. We need to know the facts. We need to have the latest refutation of the latest conservative spin ready to go. And most importantly, we need to share the message that we can have a better government, better business, better environment, better living conditions, and a better world.