Don't Throw it out Just Yet

In this article in the Weekly Standard, columnist Louis Wittig makes an observation about the power of the blogosphere to influence politics and culture on a mainstream level in America. He compares the recent Snakes on a Plane phenomenon (see my previous post for more) with the liberal blogoshere in an attempt to show that the effect is basically nil: politicians were not elected because of the efforts of left-wing blogs and Snakes on a Plane only garnered around $15 million its opening weekend. His ultimate reason as to why is:

“People go to the blogosphere because they can't find a sizable number of people in their everyday, off-line lives that are as enthusiastic as they are. The blogosphere gathers together atypical fans and brings them together in what quickly becomes a broadband echo chamber. The louder and more intense the online community gets, the farther it's likely drifting from what is happening offline.”

This may be true, but what Wittig is overlooking is the fact that this echo chamber wasn’t available before at all. Before the internet, if you were overly enthusiastic about something and couldn’t find anyone else that was, you probably just kept it to yourself. Now, anyone with an idea can link to people all over that might share their passion. Snakes on a Plane, as stated in the article by a fan lamenting its poor opening weekend performance, might never have happened without the online support. The fact that a bunch of geeks with the internet got the producers to re-film scenes says something in and of itself.

Perhaps the blogosphere is not going to elect major politicians or have far reaching cultural impact now, but it allows ideas to come to the surface that never would have before. Also, it’s quite young. There’s no telling what effect it may have in the future. At the very least, it is a useful tool and provides a medium to sort through ideas and hopefully cull the best from the dregs to come forward to national attention. I would be hesitant to throw it out so soon as an influential medium.