The Blogsphere: A Political Force?
I never wanted LiL to be the story. That is why I regret that Councilor Rita Mercier chose to use the City Council meeting to lash out at anonymous commentators on blogs. I think a discussion on this topic is fair and necessary but mixing it up with the election process created confusion.
First and foremost, the great majority of individuals who post on this site our known to our community. Lynne, Kristin, Bob Forrant, Dayne, Kim, Paul, Jack and others. Yes, there are some who choose to remain anonymous for obvious reasons… like their job. I know the great majority of those individuals who post with a pen name. A few, I do not know, i.e. Prince Charming. By the way, why don’t we see such visceral reactions to Backtalk, or the paper’s topix section.
Yes, some comments on this blog as well as the other local ones are at times vicious and personal. But democracy can be ugly sometimes. However, one of its major components, ‘free speech,” gives all of us the opportunity to discredit the comments as well as the commentator.
At the heart of all this public criticism is not the anonymous commentators but the emergence of the blogsphere as a political force in Lowell. No, this has nothing to do with self-importance as I was accused by a commentator recently but an opportunity to discuss my views on the blogsphere and its impact.
In the past couple of years, the Lowell blogsphere (LiL, richardhowe, mrmillicty; jackiedoherty; right-side-of-lowell, the New Englander, lowellshallot) is impacting the public debate (well, maybe not the shallot; just kidding don’t start in on me 
). In the past, the selection and advancement of public policy issues was solely in the hands of the City’s two media outlets: the newspaper and the radio station. In effect, a handful of people controlled the flow of information. So if you were a politician, your options were limited. Your rise and fall depended on the whims or agendas of editors and radio hosts. I like to think that the circle of influence and access has been fractured, if not broken.
The internet and blogging, including all the social network sites, have changed all of that. Anyone and everyone [with or without an agenda] who has access to a computer can voice his/her valid or invalid opinions. The message is then read, absorbed, debated, rejected or embraced, and those messages that withstand this scrutiny are then elevated to the larger public forum. The advantage and disadvantage of the internet is that it is almost impossible to control; that is where democracy comes in.
Given a choice between 100’s of people shouting in the public square or 4-5 whispering on the pages of the newspaper and on the airwaves, I will take the former.
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Not to mention Facebook, which has been used well by the Greater Lowell Tea Party.
Regards — Cliff
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
A few years ago the University made an–let’s call it–”adventurous” move when they brought Chris Lydon on board to launch a new-fangled public radio show that attempted to combine interview & talk radio with interactivity on the web, particularly blogging. At the time Chris passionately promoted the blogging revolution that was going to turn the media world on its head. He was looking for a way to tap into the new energy with his short-lived Open Source program. It was costly and controversial on campus. Not every experiment works. That’s R&D. Ask the Pentagon. He spoke about the power of “hyper-local” media. There have been a few more revolutions since then, including Twitter, but he was onto something. I’m deeply impressed by the depth and breadth of the blogs reporting on life in Lowell. I miss the Sunrise radio program, however, the local blogosphere is expanding. It’s a little like those time-lapse photography clips I recall first seeing on the Wide World of Disney TV program. Viewers were amazed to see a flower grow to full size in 15 seconds. Blogging is growing in front of our eyes. It’s all over the place in quality and interest and tone and attitude, but that’s democracy. Many hundreds of people go looking for the local blogs each day. They sort through what interests them. I just wish more of them would make the leap and comment — join the chorus. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to understand and appreciate Jack Kerouac. Imagine if he had this electronic scroll available 60 years ago? Picture him as a blogger. He wrote every day. I think he would have been prolific with this technology. He wrote a zillion letters and kept journals. The whole keyboard was “home row” for him. He was a virtuoso typist and literary composer. I’ve always thought his main artistic lesson or message was “Write your own story.” That’s what the bloggers are doing. At richardhowe.com, we say “History as it happens.” The many-threaded Lowell story is now being simultaneously created by a self-appointed team of writers. Sociologists, political scientists, historians, anthropologists, community psychologists, and others will figure out what it all meant somewhere down the line.
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:42 pm
This is the cheapest political stunt. Rita’s constituency wouldn’t know a blog if it jumped up and bit them in the ass. She’s trying to strike fear into the hearts of the masses about these nasty bloggers (read Communists). Just a diversion from the main issue here, which is her feeling that her better days are behind her.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:20 pm
I’ve found more than a few of my posts moderated yet un-posted. So here’s my name.
As I’ve posted in the past, I find your site interesting and an important topic carrier. However, again you don’t fully understand or respect the nature of historical blue collar Lowell. Take this as someone who is truly independent. A fine example was seen last night, although Rita’s comments bordered histrionic, they represent why many love and support her here. When you’re unfairly smacked, smack back.
You know her comments weren’t directed solely at LiL or the 6 people who use their names here. LiL a political force? Please, way more credit than you guys deserve. By posting chosen-consenting-comments, you are not offering a different voice. Your blog has become exactly what YOU accuse “The Sun” of being… a selfish-agenda-based-rally-point.
I thought you gave a discussion well worth having, a carnival backdrop and your dissent of the vote was well framed by Murphy’s “America’s got talent” impression of JFK.
I’ll give you this, at least you were there. But LiL is sooooo not the story… you’ve becoming the whacky relatives at the back table of the wedding reception or the reason for primary races in the first place. To weed out the weirdo’s.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Corey:
I do not agree with your assessment that we think we are the story. I raise the topic for discussion; This is just a forum; it is not the message.
I do agree that we have an agenda; it is not hidden. I am not sure why you say selfish, though.
One thing I will vehemently disagree with you is stating that I do not understand blue collar Lowell. You do not know my background, if you did you would realize how wrong you are on that point.
By the way, I do not know why your comments were moderated and not posted. I will check in the spam file, in case the filter blocked it erroneously.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I love you Mimi. Clearly bloggers are affecting the debate as the internet is not something politicians can control. The Lowell Sun, is part of the machine. Reporters are afraid to report. Editors change stories. Columnists have an agenda and their hand out. The truth is dangerous to someone like Rita, in a place like Lowell, where so much is decided for the wrong reasons. The fact is: the city council voted to take away part of the political process. Why? To serve their own agenda behind a thinly veiled excuse. The cowards are the slick six who are afraid to take part in the marketplace of ideas.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Corey Dear…FYI…ALL posts are put into moderation and then authorized by several individuals. BTW, our agenda is NOT hidden. Just like everyone else, we’d like to see “things” a particular way.
But seriously, why don’t you go hold a sign for “mercierx2ElliottLenziKazanjianCulfield”. It’s lengthy, but goes well with your smile! ;0)
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Thanks KRS. Here at LIL you may never realize the “change” you seek. Unlike you or the “authorized few”, I can recognize the only “change” from Left and Right in down the pipe honesty. I’ve realized I was looking for thoughtful discussion without agenda, spin and blind supportership and may not find it here. Here’s the problem with agendas… I’d like to see what’s best for Lowell and you want what’s best for your agenda and like MiMi said if you knew me… you’d know I don’t hold signs.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Corey, hate to disappoint, in case you hadn’t surmised as yet, any media is going to be biased and largely depends on the framework of the individuals contributing to the discussion. Look… Mimi, Lynne and I very often agree and equally disagree. In some instances we, individually or collectively agree or disagree with Cliff at Right in Lowell, Dick Howe Jr. , MrMillCity, etc…the way I see it, we all have a hand in shaping the future of this city.
As for seeking change..well,shame on me if I hadn’t tried.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:56 pm
I’m not disappointed, just another Lowell resident and taxpayer stuck in media’s web of words. I know you guys have resonable opinions but change means something different and that’s not what’s being offered here. No different than the Shalot, just cleaner and more thoughtful. The shame lies in reporting on events according to framework.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
But seriously, it’s difficult enough for many, to digest this “type” of media and “evolution” in political and social culture. What is it that you expect, in detail, so that events are reported outside of the framework? **Seriously, am curious and always willing to explore news tracts of consideration.**
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:21 am
Let’s just say that some people are paying attention to the blogs….and are getting nervous. Especially Rita. She doesn’t have the paper, she doesn’t have a blog, all she has for a mouthpiece is her own whistling self on Tuesday nights. I don’t mean nervous in the sense that she’ll lose, just nervous that the people are beginning to see right through her and accept her for what she truly is, a hack who has taken care of her family (and others) very well.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:57 am
Corey,
What is your vision of what is best for Lowell?
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:44 am
“Here’s the problem with agendas… I’d like to see what’s best for Lowell and you want what’s best for your agenda…”
First of all, ‘what’s best for Lowell’ is an agenda. Second, you’re making the assumption that any agendas you see here and ‘what’s best for Lowell’ are somehow different. Truth is, to the extent there is an agenda, it’s to stop the cronyism that’s polluted this city’s politics for decades. We want this not because it’s on our ‘agenda checklist’ but precicely because it’s ‘what’s best for Lowell’. If Lynne didn’t want what’s best for Lowell, she would have let herself get sucked into the GOB network years ago. It’s not like they didn’t try.
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:52 am
I just want to take exception at the impression Corey is posting. ALL comments GO THROUGH unless they are profane, offensive, or contain too many personal attacks (it is, after all, our blog and we have a right to moderate comments).
I DO NOT delete comments of people who merely disagree with me, and to be honest, Mr. Corey, I don’t remember any comment with your moniker that was deleted. If you posted under another nickname and used personal attacks or profanity, perhaps that was deleted or modified, but we have always stated this as our policy and you always have the right to go make your own blog and swear and cuss and attack people personally to your heart’s content. Just don’t expect me to link to it, for the same reason mentioned before. (People click on our links, then blame us for landing on a website they find offensive. By the way, I won’t link to porn either.)
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:07 am
this is posted on richardhowe.com too. And to Cory and others who want to see an agenda if you read through a lot of th ematerial many of us may disagree on exactly where city dollars ought to go in terms of services, long-term development and education. But, I think what cuts across the blogs is a wish for a much smarter conversation and more thoughtful and forward looking council and school committee and a serious recognition that the city can not be run any longer as a club for its large and historicaly politically-connected handful of families. The economy, the infrastructure, the diversity of the city, the grinding poverty that persists across several neighborhoods, the determined effort on the part of many people in leadership to deny more democratic political participation, the misinformation on our budget and where our tax dollars go, the decaying police and fire stations across the city with no thought to fixing them up - should I go on? But when you have an entrenched misleadership on the council that believes the only correct ideas and ways to envision the city are their own,you are heading for disaster. Just ask residents of Springfield, MA where their junk politicans and out-of-touch leaders got them over the last fifteen years. We can not keep saying ‘well we are better off than Lawrence’ and think that passes for sound planning for the future.
I sometimes give my history students at UML an assignment to do a photo essay of the city. The context is that a historian or two or three is going to arrive here in 2050 to write a history of Lowell that covers the period from 1975 to 2010 and the only sources they will have to write this history are the photo essays they create. I wonder how future historians will discover the chattering that goes on in these blogs, how the pieces will be left in some sort of archive, and how the material will be considered by individuals doing serious historical research? On my own work I rely a lot on reading old newspapers to establish the mood of a community or the larger context around a particular event I am interested in learning about and then writing about. But as newspapers disappear and in those that survive the quality of journalism and the breadth and depth of coverage suffers, what will future historians really have to work with. In ‘olden times’ (for many of my student, 1985!) lots of people kept diaries and wrote letters that, remarkably, were quite often saved. When historians find these letters they rejoice for the windows the letters open on the past. So, how will those interested in writing the Lowell story capture the tenor of the times? The Sun provides a lens, but a narrow one. Back Talk offers a perspective - a unique one at that. And, it seems to me, that the numerous blogs in the city may in the end provide the most useful source of all even when a portion of the pieces are difficult to attribute. As someone posted elsewhere, as events unfolded toward the American Revolution participant opinion shapers attacked the king and his Massachusetts GOBS in scorching terms but did it using a variety of fake names because they feared retaliation from the out-of-control royalists bent on limiting political discourse and electoral democracy. Substitute those mean-spirited members of the current council for the royalists (a stretch I know but AK likely would have supported the crown if it meant more boat towing contracts!) and you have the current blog universe. Of course, for all of us the stakes are nowhere near as high as they were back in colonial Massachusetts. And, this is all the more reason for more and more voices to be heard on the issues of the day - after all the city council can not bring back the stockades, or can they??????
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
Corey the site is called LEFT in Lowell. If that didn’t give you an idea that it’s presented from a point of view I don’t know what will. Whether that is a valid one is left up to the educated reader to determine. No different than any other source of information in the world.
I used to post by my real name until I started taking flak for it from friends and co-workers. I posted a lot of information and opinions using my real name on this site for quite some time. Hell some things I posted on various Lowell web sites were brought up in meetings.
But given the choice of risking my safety and my family’s economic security vs. using my name I’m gonna have to choose to post anonymously. Yes it came that close to home. I choose to use the same pseudonym on all the blogs, so it still my voice, but even that took a while to get established. And anyone who really needed to know who I was could always just ask the moderators for my email address.
I believe Bob posted somewhere about the founding fathers using anonymous methods or pseudonyms to write pamphlets during the revolution. Good enough for them is good enough for me.
Truth is still truth. Like Obi-wan says - even if its true from a certain point of view.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Tryin - sorry to hear you were given such a hard time just for voicing your opinions. That is disgusting. (And unless subpoenaed or for some other serious reason, we would never give people’s email addresses who didn’t want them published.)
This sort of intimidation - the trials that a LOT of people have shared in this city - is why I write this blog, in the end. It makes it worth it to me.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
Truth is Lynne I wish I could paint a more sinister face on it, but these were from people I know well. It wasn’t intimidation from without, but within, so to speak. In some cases it was very subtle not overt, but the message got through regardless. Just STFU. I can’t imagine if I pissed off someone I don’t know.
I don’t worry about blogs giving up my ID. When the shoe was on the other foot the identity of another blogger was not disclosed to me. I’m not worried about a subpoena or anything else because I can back up just about everything I put out there, when push comes to shove. And if it’s my opinion, I state it’s my opinion to CYA. In fact I lament that I lose credibility when I can’t disclose just who I am and how I know certain pieces of info. If I could I’d have my own damn blog right not. Fact is I hold back.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:02 pm
TTA: I feel your pain, but if I was “outed”, the flow of information would dry up. That would not be good. I don’t feel like a coward because I haven’t put my name on a ballot but if I ever DID put my name on a ballot, I could win on my merits and experience, not because I’m a shriveled-up windbag that appeals to the Geritol Generation.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
PC: a little less personal there please…
tryin - that’s sort of the problem…everything in Lowell is personal. I’ve never seen such a bunch of thin-skinned people in my life!
July 24th, 2009 at 6:15 am
OLG:
As Lynne said, a little bit less personal. Please try again. Thanks.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I didn’t mention a name, that statement could be applied to any or all six.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Interesting way to weasel out of that one, PC.
July 24th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
smooch
July 26th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
I don’t know why I don’t use my real name. I guess because I use this handle on national blogs, and I’ve just kept it.
Everyone who might cause me trouble if they knew who I was, already knows who I am.
Worst. Pseudonym. Ever.
Oh, well.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:05 am
Well at least we know you’re from Lowell!