brainwagon

Except for my occasional bleats about intellectual property rights, I try not to write very much about politics in my blog. It’s not that I don’t have political opinions: I do, and many of them quite strongly held. It’s simply that I write this blog mostly for my own amusement, and talking about politics and politicians simple isn’t all that amusing to me.

Still, it’s an election year, and I’m so consistently exposed to the craziness of our poltiical system that I find myself beginning political rants and raves, and have only been able to resist the temptation with some supreme act of will.

At the same time, it seems that blogging is becoming a real player in the discussion of political events. In Lessig’s Free Culture, he notes that blog stories have advantages that conventional media do not: they can unfold in a time frame which simply isn’t available to conventional media. Television and newspapers are ultimately money-driven enterprises, and it doesn’t pay for them to release half finished stories, nor in most cases to dedicate reporters to digging deeply into the background of stories. Blogs are driven by the forces of gossip and enthusiasm, and present a different view of the political landscape than we see published in newspapers.

So, I’m considering the revocation of my self-imposed ban in talking about politics. It’s not that I have a great deal to say which others have not said, and said better. You probably won’t learn much that you couldn’t learn elsewhere. But the blogosphere grants individuals the power to add to the political landscape in a way that no other technology has, and like most powers, they are useful only if you exercise them.

If you feel this will be a mistake, and that I should keep with my normal, more light hearted content, feel free to comment below.