The Pink Flamingo :: The Pathetic Futility of Political Blogging

Are political bloggers accomplishing anything valid or are we simply salving our ego into thinking anyone is actually reading what we write? Are we all that or just pond scum or something in between? Is it possible political bloggers are the internet’s version of The One? We are The Ones for which the Universe has been waiting?

I don’t mind admitting I enjoyed reading my numbers, but have realized it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans. Or am I going through my cynical phase? Could be both, but then again studies have shown that very few people actually read political blogs. Those who do include the MSM who willingly and frequently delve through our content, making it their own, and there’s not a darn thing we an do about it. I don’t mind admitting The Pink Flamingo is used as fodder quite often. I’m proud of that, and proud of my work. All I want, thought, is just an infrequent little link. My server can handle it.

Maybe that’s our lot in life, being media fodder. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is a little dispiriting at times. Every once in awhile we all want a little credit for our work, doesn’t matter who or what that work is, be it after we built that better mouse trap, or came up with one of the great exposes. That’s what we bloggers do best – expose things that don’t quite pass the smell test.

My favorite example, On January 16, at the Pink Flamingo, I mentioned that my mother calls Barack Obama “Bambi”. Doing a quick “Google” I can’t find anyone using that term with Obama before Feb of 2008. I think The Pink Flamingo is the first to use the term, but that’s not the point. There are some MSM pundits who are starting to use the term. Come on guys, just a link once in awhile. If all else fails, do what is right and cite a source or two.

Does any of this matter?

Nah.

What we as bloggers can do is keep digging. I’ve accepted the fact that unless said blogger is a master at self-promotion (and many are) we political bloggers are consigned to riding in the back of the bus. If a blogger steps out of line and speaks his/her mind, as The Pink Flamingo is want to do, there’s no longer room on the bus, but under the bus. Then again, if anyone is going to stand up for what they believe is right, they’d better be prepared to have the stool kicked out from under them.

Perhaps the one thing a blogger should be doing is finding a niche and trying to stick to it. I know The Pink Flamingo’s numbers are better when the immigration button is pushed or when exposing the idiocy of certain conservatives. Yes, exposing said conservatives are what has caused The Pink Flamingo to be thrown under the bus, but that’s okay. It’s called standing on principle. Standing on principle is what attracted me to John McCain in the first place. I find amusing how those supporting him wax poetic on John McCain, but fail to understand what he’s all about.

John McCain is about principle.

If I were stuffing fortune cookies, I would say, the blogger who stands on principle gets kicked in knee. Where is this going? Nowhere, actually. It is simply something that needs to be said. Then again, maybe I’ve learned something about the blog-sphere. It’s all about cliques, hype, and shameless self-promotion. It’s also attacking one’s blog on the blog of someone who is either ‘there’ or on the rise, and kowtowing to the point where one loses one’s ability to speak out when necessary.

The beautiful thing about blogging is we have a platform to do something honest, honorable, and to actually try to do something to right a wrong or two. Instead, most of the political bloggers I know (with a few notable exceptions whose names I will not mention to protect their identity) spend their time pandering for page rank, writing about the same subject, and patting themselves on their backs.

If you’ve never met a person and don’t know them, it’s much easier to criticize and much easier to stab that person in the back. Trust me, my back has the scars to prove it. I’ve learned how easy it is in real life to have someone lie about you. In the blogsphere, it’s even easier. Because people are not well known it is quite simple for a single outraged (and outrageous) individual to basically destroy a person’s reputation because they don’t like something that was written. With luck, that person has a group of followers who participate in the pile-on. That happened to me a few months ago, and the damage has been considerable.

None of this really matters. With the exception of a few highly placed individuals who have figured out how to turn their blogging into a real, paying career where they make chipper little appearances on FOX, no one is really noticing much any of us are doing. We’re not effecting millions of votes. The MSM checks out what is being said and mimics us, but that’s about it. We can’t do much of anything. I am discovering that bloggers can make a huge mess of things, but that’s another story.

Where does all of this lead? Nowhere, really. I guess I just don’t like arrogant, self-serving, people who don’t quite want to tell the truth about their agenda, bit it blogging or political. I’ve run up against a few of these the past couple of weeks. I’m still scratching my head and trying to figure out why they are up to what they are up to, but I think it’s all a number’s game. I’m also discovering some groups of bloggers will go to strange lengths to try and shut up bloggers they really don’t like.

It is fun to be independent and not care what you say. It is good not to be beholden’ to different consortiums. I am noticing a tendency for bloggers to now band together to and work as a unit. That’s good, when you can find someone who agrees with you. The problem, I discovered, is it could have the problem of silencing the difference of opinion, or consigning it to second class status.

In the blog world it is very easy for people to pass themselves off as far more important then they really are, and to pretend to be experts in something they really aren’t. I’m discovering people think of themselves as “editors” and professional writers, when they are far from just that. Like all writers, I think my work is “perfect” and don’t really like having it edited. As a writer, I know that editing is a fact of life. There are two different versions of editing – content and grammar. I need help with the latter, especially keeping an eye on my spelling. As a dyslexic my spelling is appalling. I don’t see things in my work, I miss them. I don’t mind admitting I am a perfect little snot when it comes to content and sources.

In my ‘real’ writing, in my chosen field, a person is only as good as their sourcing. One of the things that drives me crazy when dealing with some very out of control conservatives, is the questioning of my sources. Any writer should be this way. Just because we are writing and posting on our blogs is no reason to be sloppy with sourcing. Just because those sources do not agree with a person’s political agenda is no reason to go on a vendetta against me or any other blogger.

I am seeing a tendency in some spheres, be it liberal or conservative, to attempt to silence any voice of opposition. This is not good. We all have our own ideas. You don’t try to destroy them because they are either not conservative enough or liberal enough.

This is part of my effort to “de-stress” and reclaim my life. I feel better now. A filthy gin martini might help me feel even better!

To re-cap, if no one is reading political blogs why do we even bother? If no one is reading political blogs, why do those so many individuals who blog political act like such self-important jerks?