The Future Of Democracy
Jan. 18th, 2007 10:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloThere was a film last night about the bloggers who brought down Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut primary. OK. I thought, no contest. People power. I know which side I'm cheering for.
But.
While Lieberman is a machine politician and a sell-out, the empty-eyed smoothiechops they had running against him had nothing going for him except that he was rich and not Joe Lieberman.
And then there were the bloggers themselves. You know what? My idea of a blogger is the sort of person I meet on LJ- independent, quirky, individual, committed to the art of writing, happy to be in a place where there's no editorial control and one can say what the hell one wants- no matter how silly, far-out, erudite, obscene, strange or uncommercial.
But these people were sweaty and had stary eyes. They didn't care about words.
And there was this brutish, young man- who wore his hat the wrong way round and never took it off, not even in church- who was organisinhg them, feeding them stories, telling them what to say.
A whipper-in of hounds.
So there were the bloggers, a whole posse of them, with their camcorders, following Lieberman around, hoping to catch him saying or doing something daft, smirking and smugging and egging one another on and it slowly dawned on me that I hated them. As someone said in inteview- maybe it was Christopher Hitchens- they'd become a mob.
A gang of peasants with torches and pitchforks.
And what they were blogging was mainly abuse. Not, clever, witty, analytical or anything like that. Stupid stuff.
Then one of them- a blogger of national celebrity who can count on getting a million hits a day- published a photoshopped image of Lieberman in black face. Why? Because the mind of a mob is constantly pushing the envelope of stupid.
And there was a surge of support for Lieberman.
In the end Lieberman lost the primary but went on to win the race as an independent. Something had changed and nothing had changed. We'd seen the future of democracy and it was just like the past-
Graceless and ugly.
But.
While Lieberman is a machine politician and a sell-out, the empty-eyed smoothiechops they had running against him had nothing going for him except that he was rich and not Joe Lieberman.
And then there were the bloggers themselves. You know what? My idea of a blogger is the sort of person I meet on LJ- independent, quirky, individual, committed to the art of writing, happy to be in a place where there's no editorial control and one can say what the hell one wants- no matter how silly, far-out, erudite, obscene, strange or uncommercial.
But these people were sweaty and had stary eyes. They didn't care about words.
And there was this brutish, young man- who wore his hat the wrong way round and never took it off, not even in church- who was organisinhg them, feeding them stories, telling them what to say.
A whipper-in of hounds.
So there were the bloggers, a whole posse of them, with their camcorders, following Lieberman around, hoping to catch him saying or doing something daft, smirking and smugging and egging one another on and it slowly dawned on me that I hated them. As someone said in inteview- maybe it was Christopher Hitchens- they'd become a mob.
A gang of peasants with torches and pitchforks.
And what they were blogging was mainly abuse. Not, clever, witty, analytical or anything like that. Stupid stuff.
Then one of them- a blogger of national celebrity who can count on getting a million hits a day- published a photoshopped image of Lieberman in black face. Why? Because the mind of a mob is constantly pushing the envelope of stupid.
And there was a surge of support for Lieberman.
In the end Lieberman lost the primary but went on to win the race as an independent. Something had changed and nothing had changed. We'd seen the future of democracy and it was just like the past-
Graceless and ugly.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 12:03 pm (UTC)is anyone who does not agree to your
political views a sellout?
surely this does not do justice to
what I have felt of you through
your journal, and I think rightly felt.
so perhaps you have some personal
knowledge of this man?
no subject
Date: 2007-01-18 12:14 pm (UTC)...a double needed
Date: 2007-01-18 12:19 pm (UTC)opinions if so they are...:)
or ,I dont know, just the craziness of this
world and life through which we are speeding
where so many choices are hard or lunatic...
again sorry for my sort of 'moral high ground'
answer which is a sure way of being offensive
in and of itself...
recall fella I mentioned other day fr Peter
of Wyszinski U. Pol Sci observing that there is
no way to go through our days without hurting
and being hurt.
sad thing when you think of it.
uh make mine a double Jameson then if you would. :)
Re: ...a double needed
Date: 2007-01-18 12:27 pm (UTC)Politicians are people who put themselves in a position where the hurting they do is on an industrial scale.
It's dirty work, but someone has to do it.