Lileks on Blogs ("This is actually rather telling…")

A wire story consists of one voice pitched low and calm and full of institutional gravitas, blissfully unaware of its own biases or the gaping lacunae in its knowledge. Whereas blogs have a different format:

• Clever teaser headline that has little to do with the actual story, but sets the tone for this blog post.
• Breezy ad hominem slur containing the link to the entire story.
• Excerpt of said story, demonstrating its idiocy (or brilliance)
• Blogauthor’s remarks, varying from dismissive sniffs to a Tolstoi-length rebuttal.
• Seven comments from people piling on, disagreeing, adding a link, acting stupid, preaching to the choir, accusing choir of being Nazis, etc.

James Lileks —Lileks on Blogs (“This is actually rather telling…”)The Bleat)