Triumph of the Pyjama Brigade
This is how it starts. Memos hit the US mainstream, heavily aired by major network CBS and its anchorman, Dan Rather. The memos smear George Bush for dodging military service and medicals back in the 1970s.
But something doesn't smell right to the Republican blogging confederacy. On FreeRepublic.com, one 'Buckhead' suggests that the fonts and spacing of the memos couldn't have been produced in the early 1970s.
'I am saying these documents are forgeries,' he writes, 'run through a copier for 15 generations to make them look old.'
CBS's executives complain publicly that bloggers have no checks and balances.
'You couldn't,' they insist, 'have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances and a guy sitting in his living room writing in his pyjamas.'
But it looks like the pyjama party is set to continue. Bloggers may lack checks and balances, but they certainly know a fishy story when they see one.
- That Memogate story in full: What Blogs Have Wraught www.weeklystandard.com
- FreeRepublic.com -- usual Republican warning applies www.freerepublic.com
- Bush 'Guard memos' are forgeries! www.flounder.com
- Pajama Eating, As It Happens: www.cbsnews.com
Bloggers On the Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown
So far, so great. Blog world calls the mainstream media to task once again. Exposes the memo story for the sham it is. People get down to discussing issues, instead of personal histories of candidates. Democracy gets new lease of life, thanks to internet.
Except that it doesn't work out like that. The story refuses to go away. In fact, bloggers continue to trade opinions about the memos' typeface, typesetting, military vernacular and the (im)probability of being able to achieve superscript using a 70s typewriter.
All week.
Democrat bloggers put themselves in the untenable position of defending the memos. Republicans quite reasonably subject same to utter derision. The Democrats respond by accusing rightwing bloggers of forging the memos themselves. In short, the whole thing descends into politics-as-usual, which is not how the blogosphere likes to represent itself.
- Daily Kos: Typewriter Follies. www.dailykos.com
- 'Pathetic Ignorance', claim rightwingers. www.littlegreenfootballs.com
- Memogate By Microscope: www.washingtonpost.com
The Science of Self-Disinformation
Even worse, the 'spirited debate' manages to spirit away any other blog-based interest in world crisis, permanent war, etc., leaving only marginal trivia, nonsensical mania, and the strangely compelling titbits this column usually leaves unreported because of their utter irrelevance to everything.
(See 'Child-Star-Turned-Bad-Boy McCauley Culkin Caught on Drugs - Again' featuring the obligatory bleary mugshot; the 'Is There A God? - Frequently Asked Questions' page; and 'International Talk Like A Pirate Day'.)
Really, anyone wanting to distract the world blogosphere from any serious discussion of the issues at hand couldn't have designed a better smokescreen. What could be a glummer spectacle than watching people actively participating in their own disinformation?
It is at times like these that WATB pulls out the ethernet cable, turns off the WiFi, and heads for the hills without so much as a modem for company. There is, after all, always next week.
- Child Star On Drugs, The Sequel. But Does Anyone Care? www.thesmokinggun.com
- Is There A God? Warning: spoiler. www.400monkeys.com
- Pirates Ahoy! www.talklikeapirate.com
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