One of the really cool things about keeping a weblog is something that I've only recently gotten into. This really cool thing is its facilitation of public discourse, largely through the means of comments and TrackBack. Somebody writes an article on a blog about what s/he thinks; I write an article on my blog, referencing the other article, and also send a ping telling the other blogging system that I've made that reference. Anyone who comes across either article can follow the discussion either forwards or backwards. It's kind of like discussion on Usenet, except it's on the web, and it takes advantage of hyperlinks.
The trigger of this post was an entry on, erm, the psychic departure bunny lounge blog (apparently by a MHC alum) about the proposed deposition of Amiri Baraka as New Jersey poet laureate. Although I generally think it's a lot of hullabaloo about almost nothing (after all, why do you have a poet laureate if he's not supposed to engage in public debate? being controversial is one of the best ways to do that), that's not actually my point in this post.
My point is that all the people crying wolf about anti-semitism get all the media attention. There are probably not all that many of them; after all, I believe that people are generally reasonable. It's just that you can't hear the reasonable people above the screaming minority. Besides, it's not politically correct
to say that these people are overreacting. It's really depressing that a minority gets to silence other people just by crying oppression or discrimination, whether it's warranted or not. (Not that there aren't times when an outcry needs to be made, of course. But there are also times for not crying out.)
This is where blogging comes in. Although blogs are not exactly mass media, they are a vehicle of communication and of discussion that allows individuals to share their personal opinions. For instance, I found out that bunny evidently shares approximately my opinion about the Baraka stuff, which is nice. I read blogs much more than I read conventional news sources.
Anyway, sorry this isn't as structured an entry as it could have been... I'm just kind of rambling, and I contradicted myself by saying that a poet laureate should be controversial and then saying that people are arguing pointlessly. This is not an argument, it's just thoughts.
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