Column:Blogs don’t always start dialogue By Manuelita Beck

The medium, with its emphasis on linking, is perfect for spreading the word. Many blogs not only link to other sources within their posts, they also feature links to similar blogs – which is where I see a bit of a problem. …

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems as if the political debate in this country is getting more polarized. People don’t just politely disagree anymore – they almost violently dispute every factoid. I don’t remember this level of loathing in the October before the last presidential election.

Despite being a forum for opinion exchange, there’s actually very little communication going on.

Manuelita-

I’m a blogger. This isn’t a flame, just a response to share a piece of my perspective.

On the one hand, I’m as sad as anybody that things are so polarized. And I don’t mean to deny my part in that.

On the other hand, part of what I want to do in some of my blogs (I have 4 and host several others) is to connect people to information they may not otherwise see. In and of itself, that’s not too sinister. Some of us are paying very close attention to things that most others are not (or are even actively ignoring). My blogs are ripples in a larger wave of information, spreading information.

At the same time, my views are quite obvious. I do try to encourage others to express themselves; and I do read views I disagree with (like Alex Hughes).

It is very interesting to be part of the Internet and Web. Each of us has an opportunity to reach all of us AND to hear from all of us — there have been small scale versions of this (any small gathering), but no universal two-way mechanism before. Some will waste this opportunity, some will screw up, some will abuse it, but it does seem to be changing the way we live, learn and communicate.

peace, mjh