death of the blog

thought i'd put up my creators column from last week, since it's about blogging.




Ponder with me, if you feel like it, the sad fate of the blog.

There was a time when "blog" meant that almost anyone could publish almost anything she wanted, when it seemed that the media of political discourse were being radically decentralized with incredible rapidity, when no one could control what people were writing and reading or its remarkable and strange effects.

The mainstream media (msm) would become obsolete, their tepid opinions and colorless language swamped in a sea of free, beautiful, anarchic ranting. And by sheer vastness and variety, all this talk would be self-correcting; everybody could participate everywhere, and every mistake would draw a hundred subversions.

It seemed a remarkable realization of democratic ideals.

But the blogosphere is now under full-scale consolidation and colonization. Most of the most-read "blogs" are simulations. Let's consider a few examples.

The "Daily Kos" is perhaps the most visited political blog on the net. The discussion is lively and, apparently, freewheeling -- there's even the occasional cuss word. But, truth to tell, it is the mouthpiece of the Howard Dean wing of the Democratic Party, and taken all in all, it is painfully orthodox and unanimous ("with a Democrat like [Joe Lieberman] on the Armed Services Committee, why do we need Republicans?"). Of course, there are dozens of official right-wing versions, as well.

That is one form of the contemporary pseudoblog: the tool of a political party or issue organization (pro.lifewithchrist.com).

Another genre is the "blog" put up by an msm outlet. These things are multiplying like mad, and newspaper websites are quickly mutating into blog collages, on specific subjects or driven by specific personalities.

Washingtonpost.com lists 25 "blogs." The New York Times has taken to publishing guest columnists such as Sarah Vowell and Stanley Fish in blog format. The Los Angeles Times keeps you abreast of the news and gossip from Vegas, for example, with a blog. Time magazine has signed up long-time blogger Andrew Sullivan, among others.

These are best thought of as slightly reformatted msm opinion columns and news stories.

A genuine blog, it seems to me, is unedited; it is someone specific. It's probably riddled with typos, etc., but it represents the unadulterated voice of an individual rather than the flattened prose and predictable range of opinions of a bureaucracy.

But an msm pseudoblog is ultimately subject to all the same constraints as the rest of the publication. The publication is just as suable there as anywhere else, and so everything questionable is going to have to get through the legal department. Cautious and conscientious professionals edit these things, and the "bloggers" know the constraints before they write.

These faux blogs can be good; I very much enjoy Joel Achenbach's at washingtonpost.com, for example. But even their liveliness is just a trifle disturbing. They are attempts to simulate a freewheeling, idiosyncratic voice and point of view. They take the little frisson that accompanied the first efflorescence of the blog and try to clone or replicate it in a context that is anything but free.

And just let's not deal with commercial flogs, beautifully designed sites with bold entries such as "Giorgio Armani Croc-Embossed Tote & Embellished Satin Halter." Amazon.com has instituted "plogs"; there, Meg Wolitzer is telling us that she's almost finished Ayelet Waldman's "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits," "which is really smart and tender." Nike and Microsoft blog. At the same time, there is more and more advertising on actual blogs (intapundit.com: "HELP RE-ELECT SENATOR GEORGE ALLEN"), which can be expected to have the effect of toning down content.

Perhaps this is the fate of all media -- indeed, all signs of life or communication -- bludgeoned by bureaucracy, corporate, organizational, and governmental. I think it's fair to say the blogosphere is liable to come under FEC and FCC regulation, the traditional death rattle of any form of human expression.

This particular communication revolution is over. But if you felt like pondering with me, I don't want merely to leave you melancholy. After all, every repression is the occasion of the next resistance, and human communication is essentially uncontrollable. So bring on the next idea.