It’s just an innocuous column about blogging, people…: 

In the last few weeks, I’ve scoured the Minnesota blogsophere, finding more than 500 blogs with some kind of tie to the state.

What I’ve discovered is that just beneath the surface of our media consciousness is an incredible community of mothers, athletes, comedians, professionals, farmers, mayors, teachers and many more who are putting the stories of their lives online for the world to read about.

Who is this person who’s just discovered Minnesota’s huge, vital blog scene?   My parents?  Someone who’s been in an underwater lab since before Matt Drudge first put finger to keyboard?

No.  It’s Justin Piehowski, who “was most recently Web Manager at KSTP-TV for four years where he won five Regional Emmy Awards, including one for Best News Web site in the Midwest for 2007.”  

Those Hubbards must have kept him busy.

Anyway, now he’s with the MinnPost, the regional web news outlet that, unlike the Minnesoros “Independent”, wasn’t started purely to be a propaganda outlet – but it’s published by former Strib editor Joel Kramer, who is affiliated with all sorts of “progressive” groups.  

And part of his mission is to watch blogs.  And dang – it seems he’s noticed this newfangled “blog” thing:

Americans are creating blogs at a scorching pace. Technorati.com estimates that there are nearly 23 million bloggers in the United States and nearly three-quarters of all active Internet users read at least one blog regularly. The number of blogs worldwide is believed to be approaching 200 million, according to Universal McCann.

While the definition of a blog — short for web-log — is still very unclear…

 Really?

…there’s no question that they are having a profound impact on communication in the United States and the world.

Every day, the seeds of dozens of major mainstream media stories are planted in blogs. Gov. Sarah Palin even called the blogger at Draft Sarah Palin after her selection as Sen. John McCain’s running mate to thank him for his support.

The hell you say!

Are you saying that bloggers – even Minnesota bloggers – might just be starting to have an impact on things in Minnesota, or nationwide, or even around the world?

Let me make a note of that.

Now, to be fair(ish), Justin’s mission seems to be largely to call attention to blogs a little off the beaten path – because you might not have known this, but people do occasionally write about things other than politics. That could be a good thing.

Still, Piehowski  seems to have taken  on a little more than “tour guide” to his brief:

So, who’s calling out bloggers when they misstep? Conversely, who is lauding the good moves that bloggers make?

Er…our audiences?  Other bloggers?  Everyone who gives a rip about the subject that happens by the blog?

Here’s the part that I – and not a few other readers – found interesting: 

Let me first point out a few things that you won’t find much of in the Minnesota Blog Cabin.

Harsh political blogs: Left or right, if you’re more interested in bashing those you disagree with than producing thoughtful, original content, I am not interested.

“Harsh” is one of those things like “balance”; nobody can define it, but everyone knows it when they see it; and most people see it most easily when it’s their ox being gored.  Most Twin Cities leftybloggers think – indeed, seem to chant – that Michael Brodkorb is “harsh”; that he goes beyond merely exposing the (myriad) misdeeds of Minnesota Democrats and gets into personal attacks.  These same bloggers will think that, say, PZ Meyers is funny.  It goes both ways, of course; conservatives tolerate Ann Coulter, while liberals think she’s worse than Pol Pot.

So while I have no idea what trips Justin Piehowski’s definition of “harsh”, the fact that he  works for the MinnPost might in itself be a tell.

That, and the fact that he admits in the comments that he “Love[s] the Blog House”, the Strib’s misbegotten, relentlessly-DFL-leaning, and seemingly-identical column about blogs.

Anyway, Justin – welcome to this newfangled world.  While you’re here, you’ll notice that we have some weird neighbors.

For example, Andy Birkey, formerly and currently with the Minnesoros “Independent” (note to Justin; they are not “independent” in the least.  You will find that a bit of a paradox), who reviews Piehowski’s column and notices:

 Its name bears a striking resemblance to another political blog:  Blog Cabin, the blog of national gay group, the Log Cabin Republicans.

Oooh!  A conspiracy!

That’s harsh!

Birkey links to “Bluestem Prairie”, where “Ollie Ox” writes:

It’s just so messy; these bloggers who have been known to call other writers wankers and worse. You’d think that we didn’t care about Minnesota when we do that.

Fortunately, relief is on its way from the menace of reckless blogging. MinnPost has hired a blog nanny to watch over those of us who presumed to set up blogs without asking permission.

 Justin:  you’ll find some of the local leftybloggers are a tad overdramatic.

Anyway, welcome to this crazy wacky world, Justin.   Oh, and I’m not “harsh”. I’m “gleeful”. There’s a difference

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 7:46 am and is filed under Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.