For a behind-the-scenes glimpse of what one pack of conservative blog-commenters were saying to each other as they took turns posting comments on Mitch Ratcliffe's site attacking him for saying that he was troubled by the blogstorm over Eason Jordan, check out this post from Mitch. He's obviously angry at being the target of a bunch of people who, by their own comments, come off as little more than pretentious jerks, though he uses some pretty impolite language himself in response. But, on reflection, I'm with Mitch--and I hope all the people who want the political blogosphere to be a diverse, fluid, intelligent forum would agree. People who think bullying is a form of debate need to hear that many, many other people disagree. As an organizer pal of mine likes to say, "When you're in a fight with a bully, what do you do? You gather your friends."
Or, as Jay Rosen put it, "The solution to miscommunication has to be more communication, not excommunication."
[Cross-posted at PersonalDemocracy.com]
Maybe this whole James Guckert/Jeff Gannon business is a tempest in a teapot? I mean, isn't the real issue all the ways the Presidency has become more imperial and sealed off from the people, in what ostensibly is still a democracy? Yeah, I'm amused/outraged to learn that this White House gave a press pass to a ringer, but what about all those so-called professional journalists who ask nothing but softball questions, too? Anybody who doesn't know what I'm talking about ought to watch a tape of the president's infamous press conference on the eve of the Iraq War, when the peacocks of the press all stumbled over their ties and red dresses in abject acquiescence, afraid to pose a hard one for fear of offending the powers that be. Just because Guckert/Gannon (who certainly didn't deserve a press pass) is out, we shouldn't assume that the other "legitimate" reporters in the press room are asking questions that aren't also subtly shaped by the power of that institution. After all, the White House press office, whether controlled by a Democrat or a Republican, long ago learned that it could tame professional journalists by offering or withholding access, including threatening to push them to a back row or out of the press room entirely or off Air Force One. So, do we really expect any of these men and women of the Fourth Estate to prove that they're not all that different from "Jeff Gannon"?
It's one thing to talk about how new technologies are changing politics, and it's another thing to actually experience that change. With that spirit in mind, we at Personal Democracy Forum are hosting an open online backchannel during President Bush's State of the Union speech and the Democratic response tonight, for anyone who would like to join in.
It's an experiment in creating a virtual conference around a real-time political event, and, we hope, a nifty way for PDF subscribers and friends to discover a new tool for enhancing community conversations.
We will be using "A Really Simple Chat" (ARSC), the simplest way we know of to do group chats. Unlike other chat tools, ARSC is a program that lets anybody with a Web browser -- any browser -- join in a discussion and see what other members of the group are typing.
To join in, anytime after 8:30pm eastern, go to http://fwiki.com/pdf, pick a nickname for yourself, and enter any password you like. It's easy to add your own message; simply type it and hit "enter" to send your message to the group. The "help" menu offers additional tips.
You will see a choice of three chats to enter: "Democratic-leaning," "Republican-leaning" and "Free for all." We've created those three rooms to allow people to self-select what kind of conversation they'd like to be part of. Please respect the other participants in the room; disruptive or obscene posters will not be tolerated.
ARSC is a great "backchannel" for sharing commentary during meetings. It has been used productively at conferences such as last year's Personal Democracy Forum, WTF, and PopTech, and it will be featured at F2C: Freedom to Connect, March 30-31, in Washington, DC and this year's Personal Democracy Forum, May 16, in New York City.
ARSC is an easy to install, simple to handle, cross-browser and cross-platform compatible, high-performance open source web chat system written in PHP. It was created by Manuel Kiessling, with InRoom chat features from Greg Elin and David Isenberg. We are indebted to Greg for his help in customizing the tool for PDF. For more information (and to download):
http://manuel.kiessling.net/projects/software/arsc/
http://www.openp2p.com/pub/a/p2p/2002/12/26/inroom_chat.html
Remember, this is an experiment. Hopefully, it will enliven the experience of watching the State of the Union. Please give us your feedback afterwards.