Bizarro Blogosphere Digs from two supposedly opposing corners of the human condition:
First off: H.G. "Buzz" Bissinger vs Will Leitch of Deadspin. Otherwise known as Friday Night Lights vs "You're With Me, Leather".
And then: The Today show's harpies vs the Blogging Moms. As if having parental units hocking each other online weren't enough, network TV's morning juggernaut has to join in.
Costas Now treats the blogosphere like an interloper - heavy on any and all information without that inside access, without even seeming to care about whether or not they get that. Will Leitch does his best to emphasize, amidst all the anger coming from Bissinger and the attempted pinning of comments on recent posts on him by Costas, that, in the end, it is readership that is driving the content and contributing to the success of a blog(s). And, no, people aged 18-34 aren't going to be picking up newspapers now because darn near all of them are getting their sports news, among other news out there, from syndicated news agencies and not from local reporting. It costs too much for these news conglomerates for them to, say, pay somebody to exclusively follow a farm team, and this is not something the blogosphere started. Blogs might actually have been contributing to it in the past couple of years, but mainly as a response to trends that have already been fueled by corporate buyouts of news outlets. This is a trend that eliminates contributions of human beings, warts and all, and it doesn't give folks like Bissinger the time to hone their craft much anymore, as he says. I weep for his bygone past, but I celebrate the openness of the blogosphere and the chance to figure all of this out for myself, thank you...and, on that score, Bissinger really doesn't give bloggers and readers of blogs credit for having some brains. Only readers of his books can really appreciate good sportswriting, apparently.
On the blogging moms score - excuse my aside here - Hoda, what the hell happened to you? You were the toast of New Orleans, a great investigative reporter who rightfully went national and began contributing insighful reporting to NBC's Dateline on a regular basis - and now you're Kathie Lee Gifford's sidekick, asking Heather Armstrong "is it all moms who are on your blogosphere?" Wake UP, woman!!!!
There's a reason why marketers are trying to cater to moms who blog now, and that is the previously untapped community these women represent, the generation of mothers who were supposed to be able to have it all and don't quite. We all want nothing more than to get beyond the mommy platitudes of its being the best time of your life, caring for an infant and taking that time to do so, when in reality, it can be a depressing, isolating, hugely chaotic time for new parents who are being bombarded on all sides on how best to raise these young lives they've brought into the world. Being a parent is still damned difficult and we need all the help we can get. And though I didn't need to know it before I saw that sad Today show clip, I am thoroughly convinced that I don't need an overly orange Kathie Lee, the woman who launched a thousand sweatshops, to put down the blogosphere. Honey, come on down to my city and we'll set you straight on what blogging really can be.
Perhaps then you'll get a little less concerned about whether or not it's right for you personally and you'll start worrying about the children again, since, after all, you are all about family - right?
Uh-huh.
9 comments:
Does Kathy Lee Gifford even have a vagina?
therealgrayghost.blogspot.com
Karen, I think of it as being like what Peter Sellers once said of his personality on "The Muppet Show": she used to have one, but I think she had it surgically removed.
Kathie Lee is an irrelevant throwback - "oooh the internet scaaaaares me..." - please leave her behind with all the other closed minded fools that refuse to progress online
sad thing is, many women will take her words and run with it...
Fuck Kathie Lee. Like she has a real job; Dooce is a lot more relevant.
Although, "is it all moms who are on your blogosphere?" may not be that stupid a question. There are women, even in New Orleans, who have no one on their blogroll besides other moms. I am a staunch supporter of the mantra "your blog, your dime, your space, your time," which means it's your blog and you can do whatever the hell you want with it, but most mommy blogs and attendant discussion are so mind-numbingly vapid that reading some of them for too long makes me wonder about these women.
Dooce, Pistolette, Cold Spaghetti and you are women I'd read even if you weren't mommies, but enjoy/empathize while reading your parental celebrations and trials BECAUSE you guys write in a compelling manner, offer reasonable advice about being a mommy and don't make it NECESSARILY a self-indulgent whine fest.
Blogging is self-centered but it can also be a great outlet. The trick is not to write about "taking out your contacts" or the latest "baby shit his diaper" incident too much.
I don't personally care about what Kathie Lee or Buzz Bissinger THINK about blogging...I am simply concerned with who they represent and how they are representative is all. I've seen blogs of all kinds that seem to be set up simply to put people down, or to emphatically and adamantly put their views out as THE way things oughta be and that's that...and I have also seen the best content and writing rising to the top in terms of readership on merit alone as well as an openness to other's views and discussions.
Ac-centuating the negative, in this case, can only backfire on these sorry MSM tools in the long run.
And besides, every once in a while, one just HAS to whine publicly 'cause it can be cheaper than psychiatry and, with commenting, it offers a chance for commiseration - which, honestly, I really would have killed for in the little guy's infancy.
Let's just say I'm sympathetic to the whining, but I am also at the point where I know that that too will pass with most women...or, it SHOULD. 8-)
Great points about parenting being so challenging.
It's true that kids are a great kid (which I just commented on your previous post), but that doesn't mean it is all wine and roses. Sometimes it's whine and...mud and stuff.
I had really bad post-partum depression for a long time after my daughter was born. Part of it was, as you say, from trying to have, do and be it all. Working full-time, keeping the house, and the child care was just too much. But it was more than that too...I had some heavy-duty hormonal stuff off-balance for a long time afterwards.
It's one of the reasons I only have one child...Unlike that Andrea Yates lady in Texs, I figured out pretty quickly that if the post-partum depression was that bad after one child, I probably shouldn't do it all over again (Yates had been TOLD to stop having more babies because the ppd got worse even time, but their religious beliefs told them to keep going forth and populating...then she ended up drowning her children in the bathtub).
I like the card from your sister-in-law at the post beneath this one. A few years ago, I got my sister a refrigerator magnet with the same lady on it - she was on the phone, looking all cheery, and said, "Gotta go, the kids are chewing through their straps."
I read what i wrote about my own PPD and it still makes me cry:
http://liprapslament-theline.blogspot.com/2007/01/i-am-writing-this-post-right-here-right.html
It also makes me angry as all hell that a denial of something that most women who have children are going through is still going on, like a mass brainwashing. And these idiots in the MSM are still seeing this as a passing fad? Screw 'em.
Well, you know, Tom Cruise says it isn't that bad and that meds aren't required - and with all that dudely wisdom, he would know about post-partum, right?
(in my previous post, I meant to say that a kid is a gift; instead I said a kid is a kid, which is kind of ridiculous!)
I will check out the post on your PPD later on tonight and comment then...
Take care.
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