As a journalism grad and media studies grad student, let me write about what I'm studying. Don't underestimate your power.
Blog Armies are capable of disrupting the postmodern constructs of truth. Mass media in the modern world allowed messages to reach huge audiences. Think: ABC, NBC, CBS. Authority was vertical. Authority was believed. Authority dictated the truth of matters.
It is now beyond very contemporary. It is theoretically postmodern. It is all about the narrative and who owns it and who controls it. And spaces such as this are able to disrupt the truth-as-it-has-been-constructed.
Like Nike's Just Do It, everyone can create a brand. Image construction is changeable and malleable. MySpace and IM -- all ways to create a boundary-less reality and interact with it. Kos is de-constructing truth from the top. Can it help to reconstruct truth for the masses beyond disrupting the MSM and institutional gatekeeping functions? More intellectual ruminations below the fold...
We're moving from a vertical construction of the narrative to a horizontal one, empowered by the individuals.
Rebublican truth has been constructed top-down. Democratic truth is being formulated from the bottom-up. What happens in the middle is powerful yet still in chaos. MSM has smelled the coffee and Kos has moved to agenda-setting. Be careful not to be used by those who would manipulate.
Media created passive consumers and fooled them with entertainment. In the postmodern world, it is about interactivity and not passivity and the changes and creations can flow from the bottom-up. Engagement takes thinking. Thinking is not a passive act. Reality becomes something to question. Truth is masticated in places like DailyKos. It is the conversations that add to the truth in bits and pieces and deconstruct the narrative of authorities.
Maybe this is a little theoretical but it is from political communications studies and postmodern theory thinking from a media studies graduate student. Some of this is covered in my own space, www.motherpie.com -- anothermother blogging about media and motherhood. I studied the shift to online news and the changes are happening so fast and furious that my May '05 study was completely outdated by September '05. The Plame issue coupled with Katrina pulled the veil away from reality-as-constructed-by-authorities. The online environments drove the process.
The Online Armies of Kos, http://motherpie.typepad.com/... can disrupt the reality constructs of authorities. It is more than just venting. It is more than the modern day answer to Bowling Alone. It is the online pub-on-the-corner and the power is real. Agendas are being disrupted.
Niche marketing, fragmented audiences, greater options for information which is no longer containable by traditional gatekeepers. Everything is in flux, all is in chaos and Markos created a winnable place for engaging politically powerful wannabes and smart participants wanting to actively engage to make a difference.
Don't undersell or underestimate yourselves. You are a disruptive force. There have been questions in the threads-- new participants wanting to understand the history of the power of the place, wanting to understand the functionality of the personalities and the operability of the activists. Diary it so that it is historically archived and the power isn't just ethereal. I did a huge project on the postmodern presidency and the Orweillian nature if it all. Maybe I'll do a thesis on the post-postmodern disruptive power of the online communities. Hmmmm.
Tomorrow my blog http://motherpie.typepad.com/... covers what is IS today and Enron tilting the truth just like their logo, DeLay is spinning his broken brand and the Whitney Biennial shows the art of it all. Most of what I cover there is not very political, though. Most of my political diaries get overlooked I guess because I'm more passionate about media and motherhood than I am about politics. Just thought I'd diary what I know most: media both old and new (in case anyone cares).
Praise be the Blogs, Power to the People, Thanks to Kos and all the really smart diarists and participators out there. Amen. Pass the Poll.