Blogging the News and the Blogosphere

I never could have imagined that something so mundane as a Web log (or Blog as it's popularly known) would turn into what it is now. Then again twenty years ago nobody could have imagined the technology we have now either. Seems like our addiction to computers and technology has migrated to the way we all get news. The regular old tube and radio (or flat screen if your lucky) just doesn't cut it anymore. Since most in the younger generations spend more time on computers then watching TV it was a perfect match for them to start getting there news on the computer too. Blogs were the obvious beneficiary of this arrangement. To me blogs are now the single most influential source of the information in many countries across the globe and perhaps even the whole world.

The reason for this could be that it seems to be the most free and unrestricted form of expression. This gives a whole new meaning to the expression freedom of the press. No longer are we confined to the filtered conservative binds that we get from society and traditional media outlets. This fact has those media outlets worried too. If they can't control the news like they previously have, they lose there ability to control the message that people get which decreases there market-ability to advertisers and hurts their profit margins. As I see it, there is not much they can do about it except conform. Yet, you can leave it conservative to try anything no matter how low they may have to go.

Over the last couple years I have noticed several times that some prominent Republicans from the Senate have held hearings and forums regarding blogs and online communication. Of course conservatives have the same view with this as they do with most things new and unfamiliar to them. They are scared of it, they want to get rid of it, or they want it out of sight out of mind. Their answer to the "Blogging Problem" is to regulate it and control it like government already controls other media. This amounts to suppressing our freedom of speech; our right to speak truth to power and demand accountability, responsibility, and justice from our Public Servants. That's why it is called public service. Funny that politicians always seem to only regulate things that come between them and there power and money. The Conservatives didn't seem to mind as much when taking dirty money from lobbyists or exposing CIA NOCs, but hey that's hypocrisy in politics for you. Still I doubt the Blogs can be silenced now that they have taken deep root in the culture of modern society. This makes them a powerful and influential source of information for years to come.

Accountability in blogging isn't as lacking as one mite think though. Blogs have been shutdown, content removed, and in extreme cases people have even been incarcerated for speeching their mind. Regardless of what some big mouth politician says its not something that's out of control. People can be held accountable for things they post on the Internet if it is just to do so. It's just another form of free speech that shouldn't be regulated by authority as a whole. Every time the voice of the people isn't being heard loud enough, new mediums find a way to the surface of society.