Blogosphere must differentiate itself

by Werner Patels

A leftist blogger wondered recently about the reasons why conservative (or non-leftist) blogs were more popular than those on the political left. His question spawned a slew of responses in the comment section of his blog, and most of it wasn’t flattering to leftists at all.

To give a real answer to his question, one must remember the original situation that gave rise to political blogging in the first place. At the time public political debate was dominated by the media and the politicians themselves. Members of the general public could give their - modest - input on election day and, for example, by writing letters-to-the-editors to newspapers and magazines (most of which were censored or tossed in the bin). If anyone wanted to be heard and have a real voice, he’d have to go into politics or hope for a columnist’s job with one of the media outlets.

But then came Web 2.0, which gave the world blogs and interactive feedback. It didn’t take very long, after the initial personal online journals showing off baby pictures or the latest knitting patterns, before people started publishing their own political op-ed pieces online. Since then, political blogging has become an industry in itself, with special aggregators gleaning the best titbits and pearls of wisdom from political blogs and, in Canada, virtual carbon copies of the mainstream political parties (Blogging Tories, Liblogs, etc.).

Even the mainstream media - TV, radio, newspapers, magazines - have begun relying on blogs. Many of them now offer their own blogs and/or special online platforms where bloggers can share their editorials with the mainstream media’s readership.

Despite all these developments the blogs that cleave to non-leftist philosophies or ideologies continue to be the most popular. To any observer of the media this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The mainstream media all have, by and large, a left-wing bias - not too long ago the BBC actually admitted as much and promised to do better, particularly, as they said, in its reporting on issues related to multiculturalism because, according to the Beeb, they had been less than truthful with the general public on that specific topic and now realised that their bias no longer reflected the majority opinion.

Perhaps left-wing bias isn’t even the proper word to choose in this context; instead, the one thing that the mainstream media are guilty of is that they have been excessively politically correct, which has prevented them talking about things candidly and truthfully (e.g., when the BBC, or the CBC in Canada, refused to use the word ’terrorist’).

Blogs, by contrast, are more honest in this regard - and less politically correct, or even entirely politically incorrect. However, this is what the public wants to read. They turn to blogs to get unfiltered and unadulterated opinion. Since this applies for the most part only to non-leftist bloggers, such as conservatives, these types of blogs end up becoming the most popular in the blogosphere.

Looking at the examples from Canada, especially Progressive Bloggers and Liblogs, one can tell quickly - i.e., by looking at a handful of blogs in each group - that they do not provide any new or different angles on the stories of the day. Quite the contrary is true: they merely rehash and quote from the stories in the mainstream media - or worse, from the press releases of political parties - thus offering their readers the same drivel that is also found in newspapers (including the left-wing/politically correct bias).

Global warming and the Kyoto Protocol are two examples of the media telling the public that these are issues they must care about and/or support, and the bloggers on the left keep repeating the same message. To obtain a more realistic and truthful analysis of these topics one has no choice but to turn to non-leftist blogs.

Another such case of ‘manipulation by media’ was the hoopla around Maher Arar, a Syrian living in Canada who was deported by the US government to Syria, where he remained for some time before he was released and returned to Canada. Arar claimed that he had been tortured in Syria but to this day has failed to provide evidence (circumstantial or otherwise) of his allegations. The Canadian government, to avoid a lawsuit he had filed for several hundred million dollars, decided it was better to pay him C$10 million and get him to shut up once and for all.

It didn’t take all those politically correct media long to jump on Arar’s bandwagon and start screaming torture in unison with him. One paper, the Globe and Mail, even went so far as to declare him Person of the Year for having fought so valiantly against the evil regimes of the US, Canada and Syria - without ever questioning the veracity of the torture allegations (government officials who visited him in Syria swear that there were no signs of torture, and frankly, Arar, unlike many other, actual, torture victims in the Middle East, does not even seem to have the tiniest scar).

Needless to say that leftist bloggers instantly repeated the new mantra over and over again, singing the praises of Arar as well as the media that had begun to idolise the guy for some reason. Again, it was the bloggers from the conservative side of the spectrum (and others who do not follow left-wing ideas) that managed to think things through on their own and form their own and independent views and opinions. Naturally readers visited mostly such blogs, rather than wasting time with bloggers who merely copied the mainstream media reports word for word and bias for bias.

The mistake that leftist bloggers make is that they try to be popular by being mainstream - even when the mainstream is completely wrong. Rather than speaking, or writing, from the heart and jotting down their true feelings and thoughts, they want to appear hip, in, progressive - in short, knowledgeable, as in ’I’m as smart as that commentator or pundit on TV.’ The only trouble is that they come across as phoney, sycophantic adulators that don’t have even a shred of authenticity.

In other words, they become like the media but fail actually to become media. Conservative and other non-leftist bloggers, however, have mastered the skill of ’calling a spade a spade’, which is why they attract thousands and thousands of loyal readers every single day.