The War Room

DOSSIER # 16: DO BLOGS MATTER?

This is the one question that everyone that does what we do must ultimately ask. Is what I am doing making a difference.

At my first job out of university I was friends with an older graphic designer who was just getting into the internet when it was in its infancy. He used to say that the internet was about people's obsessions. What else could drive a person to devote so much time to something that they are not getting paid for. Whether it is a website devoted to Britney Spears or a blog devoted to complex international politics, the one thing I do believe is that my friend was right. The internet is about people's obsessions.

But does it matter? Do blogs matter?

That is a complex question. Certainly across the world the relevence of blogs has accelerated at differing rates. In America, bloggers helped take down Dan Rather and regularly shame the American media but they also have people like Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham to assist them. In China they are still monitored. In Canada, I do not believe we are at the level of the States. We could be...but we need help.

For blogs to matter, they must be read and for them to be read they must be promoted. For them to be promoted the product itself must be good and desirable.

But in order for a blog to affect change, it can't just be read by the people who agree with its view; if that of course is the goal. With some it is not. If the goal is merely to blow off steam, point to an article and say 'Boy doesn't this suck' then I suppose that the purpose would be to find a sense of community with people who agree that said article 'sucked'.

In order to affect change one must reach people who do not agree with you or are at least on the fence. Alternately one can also affect change by reaching people who perhaps do agree with you but perhaps you can give them a better understanding of why they believe what they believe and let them know they are not alone.

Now, one cannot have a discussion of the blogosphere without discussing how it has been embraced by conservatives and the right. Of course there is a left-wing presence on the web also, but they have not made the splash that they desired. I believe it is because the conservative presence on the web came out of necessity. For the left it is a novelty as they still have the MSM to depend on.

Phase one for conservatives, Christians and Catholics on the internet was realizing that they were not alone.

For virtually four decades the West has had a left-leaning culture. Films, music, books and news all came from the moral vantage point of the enlightened liberal. I remember as a child watching Robert Redford films where he would always cheer on some left-wing cause that I really had no attachment to, such as abortion. Of course, I cheered along with 'ole Bob because I didn't know any better.

I always called myself a liberal because, well, they were the good guys.

Conservatives were all wealthy, white men whose only purpose in life was to wring every last red cent out of the mouths of the poor's children and then hopefully make a profit on it as an investment.

And yet, something in me could not relate to the left. At university, even when people were being threatened and harassed by political correctness I still thought of myself as a liberal. But these people weren't like me I thought.

Then one night I stayed up late and saw a chubby, middle aged, bald headed man speaking into the camera from behind a desk. He said every single thing that had been going through my mind since my teen years. From hatred of political correctness to demanding better health care to having a rugged optimism about life and being sick of self-righteous snobs, he mouthed every thought I had. Vigorously. But he was no liberal.

He was of course, Rush Limbaugh.

Now Rush was taken off the air in Canada in the mid-nineties after one complaint to the CRTC. Yes, one. But he served a purpose. He taught me that I wasn't alone .

That is, I believe, the primary use of blogs. It is a forum where like minded people can comment on the news of the day and realize that they are not alone. That is the beginning of change and the reason why the MSM hates them so much. Once the hegemony of the mainstream media is broken that is when change can occur.

But for blogs to affect change-especially in Canada- and get respect they must evolve to much more than just the 'Hey this sucks' variety.

They must offer complex thoughts and explanations of a sort that cannot be found through other types of media. They also ultimately must have people writing them who are willing to go above and beyond and actually do investigative work. Some do and I especially enjoy reading them.

However, and I am about to say what every blogger who has ever posted a thought also believes...

Even if they are widely read, sooner or later if bloggers are to be truly effective they must get paid for what they do. Being paid means people understand your value and worth. It also means someone believes that what you are saying is worth being said to many. This also means that somewhere down the line the system must change.

It is not enough for conservative politicians and cultural types to rely on blogs to help them gratis. Conservative businesspeople must truly be pioneers and be willing to finance culture aimed at conservatives if there is to be any change in the culture.

Culture affects politics, politics does not affect culture.

Blogs matter in that they have proven to other conservatives and Christians that they are not alone and there is a community of people that they can depend on.

But they are not enough. Conservatives must now take the lead and keep entering the culture. Conservatives in power must also hire other conservatives. Even conservative friendly newspapers such as the National Post and The Toronto Sun still rely on journalism schools for their columnists/reporters and modern journalist schools are breeding grounds for the New Left.

Real power is never given...it is taken.

Bloggers who believe they will be nabbed up tomorrow by a traditional newspaper or media outlet are fooling themselves.

Conservative leaders who believe bloggers can lead the charge and change the culture without their help are fooling themselves.

Some of the best writing I have read in recent years has been on blogs, but until an equally revolutionary conservative finds a way to take the thoughts and ideas of Canadian conservatives and bloggers to the mainstream, too many of us will be screaming at the wind from the comfortable confines of our apartments.

For myself...that's not good enough.

posted by Nicol DuMoulin @ 3:26 PM