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The Forum > Article Comments > The curious chemistry of the blogosphere > Comments

The curious chemistry of the blogosphere : Comments

By Steven Schwartz, published 27/8/2009

Blogging can be something of a contact sport. There is 'an endless army of critics well equipped to carp and stab …'

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Way back in the early 80s, Arthur C. Clarke wrote that "the world will become one vast, chattering village."
Posted by Clownfish, Thursday, 27 August 2009 9:20:41 AM
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Because newspapers have editors, whose immediate job depends upon not really upsetting the capitalists who invest in the newspaper, or the governments who protect their capitalist owners, and there are two major newspaper players in Australia, Murdoch and Fairfax, and both are unbridled capitalists, radical or different opinions have a very limited opportunity to get a run in the sun.

The Blog is changing that. Obama is probably the first son of a blog. The way he was able to finance his Presidential run, from millions of small donations, rather than a few huge ones from vested interests, is evidence of that.

The blog allows a radical like myself, a believer in the most radical and unpopular individual ever to upset an establishment, to have a say. It is a platform, in the most democratic and egalitarian way possible. It is almost like a night at your local pub, having a few beers. Unless you get too loud and start insulting the patrons, you can pretty well say what you like in your local pub.

A blog is like a great big local pub, but that should not detract from it as a marketplace for ideas. It should not be so pedantic about spelling. To criticize spelling, is to focus on trifles. It is the underlying ideas that matter, substance over superficiality. Jesus was the first internet free blogger. His log still has enormous influence on the minds of men and women everywhere.

The guts of the Holy Bible is that man should not judge man, but there is a higher authority, to which or to whom man should turn for judgment. This was so radical two thousand years ago, that Caesar, after offering to give Him citizenship, on his refusal to accept the State as God, ordered him taken out and killed. The log, says he returned from the dead, and thumbed his nose at the concept of the State as God.

Millions choose to believe He was right. People still lay down their lives for this idea. The blog is a safe way to express support for Him
Posted by Peter the Believer, Thursday, 27 August 2009 11:23:28 AM
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This article should have attracted more comments, as it deals with an important mode of communication. Eight years ago the same author wrote a piece on legislation on OLO , saying it was a way for intellectuals to impose their will upon others, and that it did not necessarily make them any happier.

The blog is a way to have a say even if the mainstream media thinks you are a nutter. OLO does this and with its archives can give us all a way to see how we have grown or evolved over time. The articles by Kevin Rudd are enlightening, and disclose a thinking Prime Minister. They start in 2004, when he realized the Australian Labor Party was doing something wrong, and would not become a government until they fixed it. It was a close thing but he succeeded.

The blogosphere is a place where radical thoughts can be floated anonymously, under a nom-de-plume. The word radical, is in reality a word that means going back to the roots, not something so far out of left field, as to be taken as foolish. The Dictionary, says radical means: of the root; naturally, inherent, essential, fundamental, belonging to extreme section of the Liberal Party. That was the English Liberal Party, not the misleading and deceptive name given themselves by the Australian Tories, who are really a conservative Party dedicated to dictatorship.

Dictatorship is no different when imposed by a vicious King, to dictatorship imposed by a vicious and unaccountable Parliament ruled with a rod of iron, by party discipline. Fortunately we have a Senate. We used to have a separation of powers too, where Courts and Judges, were banned and courts with judges could rule dictatorial legislation illegal. With a bit of help from the blog, this desire for freedom can be fanned and encouraged. The blog is probably the most important innovation for democracy to come of age in the twenty first century. The newspapers and universities are all establishment, and few are radical or given to promote radical thoughts. The blogs do and can, and they matter
Posted by Peter the Believer, Saturday, 29 August 2009 1:17:44 PM
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