Politicians Vs. People/Bloggers/Constituents

Marcus from DailyKoS touches on a topic that's been on my mind lately in this segment on Crooks And Liars. In the MSM, I'm increasingly hearing the message that bloggers are somehow polluting the political process and moving it to the left. Bloggers have become the new scapegoat for failures in the MSM and in politics. We're being blamed for server crashes and getting bad information out to people.

And I'm beginning to see why they are beginning to fear bloggers.

People still ask me if I'm aware that I can't believe everything I read on the internet. But it's not as a strongly said as it once was. The self-policing force that the internet provides, is making it a more reliable news source than television and radio. And people are becoming aware of this, and so is the MSM. Worse, when the MSM publishes a false news story, it's blogged to death. They can't lie anymore, without their lies becoming an internet news story.

I admit that when blogging first appeared, and people were extolling it's virtues, I had my doubts. I got into blogging late because I didn't actually believe in it's potential. I've come around over time. And I've seen blogging on the rise even since I just the movement. And it is a force and it is making a difference. If the MSM and politicians fear it, it must be effective.

But when the established press and politicians demonize bloggers, who are they demonizing? Well theyr are demonizing quite simply, regular people. Politicians that blame bloggers on their failures are telling the world that they are blaming thier constituents. After all, it's regular people exchanging news that is becoming the problem for them. No longer is the MSM channeling specific information to produce desired political outcomes, but information is oozing out from everywhere.

Lieberman didn't get canned because bloggers were out to get him. Leiberman got canned because the regular people that once supported him, learned that he stabbed them in the back.

Blogging has become a way to fight ignorance in the political process. And ignorance is the incumbent's best friend. But when politician's declare war on bloggers, they need to be aware that they are fighting their constituents. And that's stupid.