George Packer, You're wrong! Blogging is (a big part of) the revolution

After blogging for three months, in April I posted Move Over, George Packer, confessing to my need to check numerous blogs each day. In the spring of 2004, Packer confessed to his addiction to reading blogs in his Mother Jones article, The revolution will not be blogged. Packer states, “To see beyond their own little world and get a sense of what's really going on, journalists and readers need to get out of their pajamas.” The point of Packer’s article is that bloggers will not create needed change. In April, I agreed with Packer.

However, now that I’ve been blogging for six months, I’ve changed my mind. In the process of blogging and reading blogs, especially those by unknown people all over the world who leave a comment to one of my posts, I see blogging as a large part of the “revolution.”

Why did I change my mind? Because I have found an incredible amount of energy and careful research and writing about important issues by countless unrecognized, unknown bloggers. This gives me hope. With hope, I get out of my pajamas and do my part as a citizen, always keeping in mind Rebecca Solnit’s wonderful March 14 article, Was I a good American in the time of George Bush?

I’ve referred readers to other blogs here (my ten top blogs, all visited by thousands of people each day); here and here (about my interesting friend, Tod Brilliant) and here. This last link will take you to two relatively unknown bloggers, Bonnie Allen, a friend, and Josh Rosenau, a graduate student at the University of Kansas in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I found Josh’s site at one in the morning when I was researching for a post about the Endangered Species Act.

As an example of what unknown bloggers are writing about, I recommend Bonnie’s
Change a bulb, change everything, about CFLs (compact florescent lightbulbs). Whether or not your are in your pajamas, reading this post is likely to result in your making a greater effort to change a bulb and thereby change everything, i.e., a contribution to the revolution.

(photo – SunAgency.ca)

Top Ten Blogs - Recommended reading while I'm away for a week

I’ll be away from my computer for a week starting tomorrow because I'm going kayaking (photo) at Cache Creek. Numerous people have asked me what blogs I read.

Here’s the list of my top ten political blogs:

1. Tomdispatch.com: I try to read every post, which I receive by e-mail alert (two or three times a week) The current article, by Chalmers Johnson, Ending the Empire, is typical of Tom Engelhardt’s posts. Tom is my all-time favorite blogger.

2. Informed Comment: Juan Cole, an expert on the Middle East, posts every day. I wouldn’t know what’s really going on in the Middle East if I didn’t check this site every morning.

3. No Comment: Scott Horton, a human rights attorney, is the most prolific blogger I’ve found. I check his blog several times a day, especially because I’m interested in the US attorney scandal, which he is (un)covering as it develops. Scott occasionally posts a poem or recommends music worth listening to, a welcome diversion from the unraveling of the Bush Administration.

4. Glenn Greenwald: (subscription required, or view the brief ad, then click “enter Salon”) is a former constitutional law and civil rights attorney. He lets his indignation show and takes on the mainstream media when it attacks the blogosphere. I check this blog during the work week.

5. White House Watch: Dan Froomkin weighs in Monday to Friday. You may need to subscribe online to the Washington Post, which is free. Froomkin is often given credit by other bloggers for being the first on breaking stories.

6. Talking Points Memo: Joshua Micah Marshall has achieved national recognition for staying on stories until the mainstream media (MSM) finally catches on, i.e., the fired US attorneys. Joshua burrows in on specific stories typically ignored by the MSM and asks readers to contribute what they know. I subscribe to TPM’s daily “Must Read.”

7. Political Animal: Kevin Drum posts every day. You can tell he’s from California, because he’s slightly more relaxed than the East Coast bloggers. On most Fridays, he posts about his cats!

8. Washington Babylon: Ken Silverstein, like Scott Horton, blogs for Harper’s Magazine. Ken posts several times a week, and they are always worth reading.

9. The Washington Note: Steve Clemons, who appears to have met everybody worth reading about. He’s been closely following what’s happening to Paul Wolfowitz at the World Bank and early on weighed in calling for his resignation.

10. Rootless Cosmopolitan. Tony Karon, a senior editor at Time.com, who emphasizes that his posts are his personal opinions. He posts several times a week, and they are always interesting. I liked his series on Six Rabbis for May Day and Three Rabbis for Israel's Independence Day.