 Not the MSM you're used to |
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March 22nd, 2005 Reviewing Blog by Hugh Hewitt - I got a coupon from B&N the other day and used it to purchase Hugh Hewitt's newest work, Blog. Review follows. Political blogging as a phenomenon is a social exercise in self-aggrandizement and opinion percussion, ceaselessly beating the drum of personal viewpoints but claiming it to be the sweet resonations of the common sense violin. Many try to do it, few really succeed, but in the end, personal opinions are like a nail and blogs like a hammer. Not to say that hammers are unnecessary - Dan Rather needed to be taken down, and his error was just the type of thing the Blogosphere could use to do it - but in the end its all just opinion, occasionally dressed up in fact. But there's a market for opinions, and Blog shows you not how to exploit it to your benefit, but why. Its a short read, intentionally so, but well written. The points he makes are simple:
He begins with a history of blogging, though it is incomplete (he leaves out mention of early forms of blogs, but correctly relates the history from about 1998 or so onwards). He does this to reinforce the potential of blogs to destroy - First Trent Lott, then Howell Raines, Dan Rather, and John Kerry. Unfortunately he doesn't give a historical example of how blogs were used to successfully create a product, though that's not entirely his fault. I'm not aware of an example myself, though curiously you might be able to point to this book as an example when all is said and done. The advocacy section takes up the middle of the book, giving good reasons to start blogging, especially for corporate executives. He highlights the potential for blogs to direct streams of information relating to the topics they cover. For example, if a car manufacturer were to begin a blog they could not only highlight new innovations in their autos but also react quickly to potential bad news about the same. Throughout the book he lambastes Big Media, particularly newspapers with a liberal bias. They are the target of his constant scorn as he derides their fall from a meritocracy-style industry to an autocratic, self-exalting imperial court, where only those who agree with the royal doctrine are allowed admittance. He uses the example of the Reformation as the appropriate parallel to the Blogosphere explosion, and the analogy is compelling. Where Martin Luther used the printing press and the original scriptures to take on the Catholic Church and enlighten a disaffected populace, Bloggers are using almost-free blogs and the popularity of ideas to take on the Big Media and promote democracy. He concludes by exhorting the reader to blog, if they haven't started to do so already. He gives a short set of ideas as seeds and suggests that the field is already fertilized, so go out and sow. Hewitt promotes the Blogosphere for its meritocracy approach to news dissemination, though he does not point out, except in an included essay, the potential problems that could come about. Appendix A is a collection of his previous writings on blogs, one of which is the Black Blog Ops essay he wrote for the Weekly Standard. He suggests the destructive nature of the Blogosphere could be turned to mean or dangerously harmful ends, but goes on to encourage blogging as a means of counteracting Black Blog Ops. If you are reading this review odds are high that you have a blog already. If so, the book will probably clarify some views you already have and enhance your perspective on the Blogosphere as a whole. If you don't have a blog it will give you plenty of reason to start one. If you don't even know what one is, you need this book. Get it, regardless of your blogging state. It's a good first volume on blogging, and I'm looking forward to more of the type from Hewitt and others.
Of course, to some ROTC is just a means for the military-industrial complex to sink their evil fangs into the youth of America and suck their little souls dry for the sake of their evil McCheneyShrimpHalliburton schemes to overrun peaceful, nonviolent third world dictators. To me and my friends it was, mostly, a common thing to identify with, around which we could form our own little clique. We didn't care (much) that we were demeaned as 'smurfs' and 'ROTC Nazis'. At least I didn't. ROTC is mostly just a recruiting tool to find people who are willing to defend their country and direct them towards one of the services. It works for both smart students and those who would be considered dumb by egalitarians who jump at the chance to demean the service of their betters. I know classmates from the AZ-861st that both enlisted after high school and were commissioned after college, and both have succeeded in their relative pursuits. I don't feel the need to defend ROTC, as the fruits of its presence are apparent - more well rounded students that frequently end up serving their country. I just get a little irritated when I see people like Jim Murphy come out and demean recruiters who are trying to find people willing to serve their country. Games - Heh. I guess I'm playing the wrong game, advocating an increased military size. I'm supposed to be criticizing those who want to expand the military and criticizing those who think its too large, and those who think its just right. I think. This game has confusing rules. Why can't we just admit we need a military, to begin with? |
Toys |
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This site is copyright 2001-2005 by Matthew Maynard. All rights reserved. All your trademarks, copyrights, insignia, and other distinguishing characteristics are belong to you. Sharks in suits make for good joke material. Don't leave a mess on your way out. Links to external websites are valid at the time of article authoring and may decay as time goes by. But we'll always have Paris. The opinions on this site are those of their author and do not represent anyone else's views. That is, unless and until you agree with them, at which point they become yours as well. Opinions expressed in the comments belong to the comment poster and may be edited for content. Play nice with others, since you want them to play nice with you. |
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Mustangs
that aren't cars - Air Force Junior ROTC what where I spent most
of my spare time in high school. We were the Dobson Mustangs, so of
course the squadron patch had the horse and the plane. We learned
all sorts of somewhat useful things, just about all of them having
to do with Air Force and flying history. We even took flight
training in our fourth year, and almost every piece of it was
forgotten by the time my freshman year in college was complete.
