A letter to the Townhall editor

Michelle Malkin has compiled a Top Ten list of Blog Highlights for 2005. I couldn't help but comment about her number two pick (via LaShawn Barber's site) a rather acerbic scorning of the blogosphere by Townhall columnist Kathleen Parker. Allow me to address Ms. Parker directly:

12/31/05

First off Ms. Parker, wow. What happened? You seem to be loathe to about 99 percent of the blogosphere, and generally don't like the other 1 percent. Allow me to offer my opinion of your opinion.

You said you were wary of power untempered by restraint and accountability of the citizen journalist. Valid criticisms, let me tell you where I'm coming from. I'm not pretending to be a journalist. I have a day (night and sometimes weekend) job. This blog is nothing more than a fancy outlet to express views and comments about the events of the world as I see them. Mistakes made can be corrected, if not by me then by readers who care to take the time. This is not necessarily true with the MSM.

As to blogger truth-telling vs. tale-toting, my dad told me to "never believe most anything you read, only half of what you hear and a quarter of what you see". That's an old saying described many ways, but you get the point. It doesn't just apply to blogs. The person who coined the phrase would surely laugh at your description of the media as "overworked and underpaid, who suffer near-pathological allegiance to getting it right." Consider some historical perspective:

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. ~Thomas Jefferson

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers. ~Gandhi

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: "President Can't Swim." ~Lyndon B. Johnson

So unfortunately, despite the high standards tens of thousands of others strive to uphold each day without recognition, people still manage to screw it up. The results of an MSM screwup are much worse than anything a blogger can do. As you said, there are millions of blogs and most aren't widely read, including this one. But remember, fact checking is good...fact checking is good. There is not yet a copyright on the near-pathological allegiance of getting it right.

You end by saying, "we can't silence them, but for civilization's sake - and the integrity of information by which we all live or die - we can and should ignore them". By all means let the browser beware, but there's nothing wrong with the browser browsing. During the dawn of the republic it was pamphlets that provided a similar freedom, we've simply graduated to electronic versions. Simply look at bloggers as modern "letters to the editor" without the censorship, and celebrate the diversity of opinion they allow. If you have an issue with a blogger, go to the site and post a comment. Everyone can read it.

I still agree with your opinion on many things and consider you an excellent writer, and if I may be so direct, a rather handsome woman. But on this one you're wrong. Good day.

Regards,
A.C.

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Happy New Year all, and thanks for visiting this ego-gratifying baby-bloggie bereft of adult supervision.