Many POVs Maybe (2#) -

They had distinctive voices then . . .

Bill Maxwell writes about POVs and
the recent chilling effects that have made
an impact on the public discourse in America:

"I recall my introduction to the power of the columnist... My civics teacher, a native of Baltimore, would bring in a folder of H.L. Mencken columns... He said that if Mencken, 'the fearless gadfly,' had expressed the same opinions in many other countries, he would have been imprisoned or executed... Opinion in America, particularly in the traditional media, is a shadow of its old self."

I sympathize with the sentiments expressed by Maxwell in this piece. And we do not need to go back as far as Mencken to see some fundamental differences; Jimmy Breslin is another example of a kind of voice and perspective you are not likely to read again in the contemporary American Press anytime soon. Why? What's changed?

Most American newspapers today are owned and controlled by Media Corporations that are just thinly disguised Marketing Agencies. When their old columnists retire or die and they need to replenish their pundits, their selections are guided by Marketing considerations. But you can now enjoy many more diverse perspectives by reading Blogs. Well, sometimes.

We Bin Banned !

This is the first time this blog has been
banned, apart from Iran and Cuba - and
even Iran relents sometimes to let it through.

Rick at SFDB has put the ban on us for not being PC.

Although I've never even mentioned partisan politics on this blog, Rick fancies himself an authority on blogs. He also likes to belligerently pick fights with other bloggers and mock people. Today he gratuitously posted a juvenile insult to the new governor-elect. Maybe I'm better off being banned from his playground.

Thus, the same thing that has been happening in
the MSM is now also happening in the Blogosphere.

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