How Bloggers Changed the Election: Eric Boehlert's 'Bloggers on the Bus'

I was reading this critique of Eric Boehlert's new book by Anglachel, and it reminded me of something I'd thought earlier today: I can't believe that only a few bloggers have reviewed the book so far.

I mean, this is Eric Boehlert of Media Matters, author of very popular "Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush". He's one of the most respected and credible voices in the blogosphere. So why the deafening silence? Yes, I know it wasn't released yet, but there are an awful lot of review copies floating around.

Perhaps it will help matters if I point out the only blog reviews to date have been written by the bloggers who protested the treatment of Hilary Clinton in last year's primary. Which raises an interesting question: Is discussing even the possibility of sexism in the liberal blogosphere the third rail? Might be.

That isn't all the book covers (the primary wars do take up two chapters). There's a lot of interesting background about other bloggers I didn't even know (for instance, who knew that Duncan "Atrios" Black once lived in Australia?). Boehlert wants readers to get some sense of bloggers - who they are, what drove them to blogging. It's really a good read.

But the book does have a few flaws. Boehlert takes great pains to list the charges of sexism in the primary without really investigating them; for instance, I can't imagine why he let it pass when a male blogger claims there was no sexism on his site because he didn't allow his commenters to call Clinton a "cunt" or a "bitch." (Because, of course, we all know there's simply no other language that could possibly demean women.)

To illustrate the debate, he gingerly uses a technique that liberal bloggers deride regularly: "He said, she said." (Literally.) I think the book would have been a lot stronger if he'd verified or refuted what male bloggers claimed about their allegedly sexism-free sites. (Because when I was interviewed for the book, I know I was asked for specific examples. I supplied them.)

And the "it's okay to be sexist because they're racists!" debate is also missing in action.

But I don't mean to make it sound like this book is just a replay of that dark time. There's much, much more (the subtitle of the book is "How The Internet Changed Politics and the Press"), and it's all great fun to read, especially when you already know so many of the players. (I especially liked the chapter on Glenn Greenwald and FISA. )

Anyone who reads liberal blogs and/or is interested in how the media works should enjoy it tremendously.

Comments

[BoGardiner]

And I must Betty, your contemptuous dismissal of sexism concerns being limited only to nonsupporters of Obama is either woeful ignorance or the height of willful self-deception to stoke the hate. Sadly, it sounds like the latter.

[BoGardiner]

"So why the deafening silence? .... Which raises an interesting question: Is discussing even the possibility of sexism in the liberal blogosphere the third rail?"

Susan, the short answer to your question, given the continued deafening silence here, would seem to be "Yes."

Boehlert is dismissed at our peril.

[MizJ]

Although there were many new sites created during the primary, the chief reason amongst most of them was the treatment that was cultivated by bloggers who tended to shout down and shut out any reasoned debate if they did not happen to agree with a comment. Much of it bordered on the juvenile in many cases but there were those mainstream blogs as well who deleted or banned commentators they felt were not on the same page. Quite a few bloggers then felt the need to branch out and create their own sites as a result.

The availability of laptops also created the ability, unheard of say as of 5 years ago, for someone who wished to chime in and many of the comments bordered on the obscene. Sexism and racism were pervasive throughout many of the comments and a poster often found themselves surrounded, as it were, by multiple posters who essentially drove the commentator off the site. Blog wars then became the norm in calling out one another with insults that were objectionable due to the content.

[BettyCracker]

I can clear up one mystery for you: The book has been reviewed by so few bloggers because it hasn't been released yet. PUMAs and their ilk seem suspiciously overrepresented in the pre-release copy recipient pool. I hope this doesn't mean that Boehlert plans to concentrate solely on the sexism directed at Clinton (though that deserves a thorough airing) and ignore the racism directed at Obama. Both were shamefully evident in the liberal blogosphere during the primaries, and to address one and not the other in a book that purports to provide a comprehensive examination of the role of blogs in the 2008 election would be a work of pure hackery.