It's not like I have not been writing.....
It's just not been here. See there are only so many minuites of the day that I can sit and write, and I've been sucked into a couple of "message boards", Slate and of all things my local Times Union. (Albany's Newspaper)
So if you want to see the latest melting of Mikey's mind go to The Forum at the Albany Times Union. I am the Mike Montfort guy if you can't figure it out...
It all starts with someone posting a piece that has been flying about the web, a Bush Resume if you will. It's not very nice to be blunt, and it is mostly bluntly true. Needless to say the Conservatives on the board were upset. If you continue to page forward by hitting the "more" button at the bottom of each page you can follow the conversation.
This was my first and last dipping into the "message board" waters. My dear friend CJWrites has warned me what a huge time "black hole" these can be. I see now what he means. Though they are a bit more fun than blogging because you get into some interesting conversations. Blogging is a bit one sided, and the message board below and to the left sometimes makes me feel like no one is reading this. (I know some are so don't worry and thanks, its very nice that you do check in from time to time.).
Anyway over on Slate it's been a bit less fractous, I posted my peice from Tuesday regarding the Janet Jackson sillyness, and got some very nice responces from that. I had previously posted a review of the new SHOWTIME show called "The L Word" (not a very nice review I will admit, its a pretty bad show) amidst the usual gay and lesbian bashing the nazi right performs every time the subject comes up peripherally.
So I will continue to post from time to time, but not get sucked into mega intellectual battles.. Why?
Simply because it has been proven via some very significant studies that these sorts of boards convince no one of the others' opinions. They actually REINFORCE the opinions that someone holds to be self evident.
This was a little study I read about somewhere in my recent reading. Apparently Libs gravitate to the Lib boards, Con's to the Con boards, etc etc. Its all horribly self reinforcing. The main tennant of that article was that the internet is actually making people drift farther apart, not bring them together, via this mechanism of selective association.
It's just not been here. See there are only so many minuites of the day that I can sit and write, and I've been sucked into a couple of "message boards", Slate and of all things my local Times Union. (Albany's Newspaper)
So if you want to see the latest melting of Mikey's mind go to The Forum at the Albany Times Union. I am the Mike Montfort guy if you can't figure it out...
It all starts with someone posting a piece that has been flying about the web, a Bush Resume if you will. It's not very nice to be blunt, and it is mostly bluntly true. Needless to say the Conservatives on the board were upset. If you continue to page forward by hitting the "more" button at the bottom of each page you can follow the conversation.
This was my first and last dipping into the "message board" waters. My dear friend CJWrites has warned me what a huge time "black hole" these can be. I see now what he means. Though they are a bit more fun than blogging because you get into some interesting conversations. Blogging is a bit one sided, and the message board below and to the left sometimes makes me feel like no one is reading this. (I know some are so don't worry and thanks, its very nice that you do check in from time to time.).
Anyway over on Slate it's been a bit less fractous, I posted my peice from Tuesday regarding the Janet Jackson sillyness, and got some very nice responces from that. I had previously posted a review of the new SHOWTIME show called "The L Word" (not a very nice review I will admit, its a pretty bad show) amidst the usual gay and lesbian bashing the nazi right performs every time the subject comes up peripherally.
So I will continue to post from time to time, but not get sucked into mega intellectual battles.. Why?
Simply because it has been proven via some very significant studies that these sorts of boards convince no one of the others' opinions. They actually REINFORCE the opinions that someone holds to be self evident.
This was a little study I read about somewhere in my recent reading. Apparently Libs gravitate to the Lib boards, Con's to the Con boards, etc etc. Its all horribly self reinforcing. The main tennant of that article was that the internet is actually making people drift farther apart, not bring them together, via this mechanism of selective association.
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