Yesterday, while relaxing and reading the Sunday paper, I read an interesting Op-Ed piece in the Los Angeles Times. “Who listens to blogging heads?” by John Sides and Eric Lawrence is an interesting read, and addresses an issue that’s been bouncing around my head for some time now.

While computer ownership has increased over the years, and most people these days have e-mail, whether via work or home (My family’s a great example– my grandparents have an account, my parents, me, even the youngest grandkids…), not everyone uses the internet the same way. The blogosphere in general attracts and holds the attention of a fraction of computer users.

Now when you examine the blogosphere, it’s fractured into different areas, based on people’s interests. One of the blogs in my blogroll, Bellamoden, is primarily a knitting blog; occasionally, Bellamoden herself has written about tangential issues, including deafness, but 99.9% of her focus is on knitting, yarn, knitting, patterns, knitting… oh, there’s cats too. But it’s mostly about knitting (and did I say yarn? She’s building up a thriving hand-dyed yarn business).  She’s linked to tons of other knitting blogs, and her readers have their own knitting blogs. But I’ll bet you 90% of her readers don’t read deaf blogs, aren’t aware there’s a deaf blogosphere, and probably couldn’t care less.

The same is true for political blogs. As the piece points out, there’s tons of them, from Little Green Footballs to Daily Kos to Firedoglake to Instapundit. But as Sides and Lawrence point out, they’re pretty much little fiefdoms of their own. Here in the deaf blogosphere, I can count the number of political blogs on two hands: mine, Micah Brown’s, Michael McConnell’s (although these days, he’s morphed into something else completely… a champion of the decidedly tiny minority of oralist/oralist-leaning blogosphere), Rob over at Roblog, and a couple others. Joseph Rainmound used to discuss politics at Deaf in the City, but now he’s discussing English, education, bilingual issues, and ASL over at Many Tribes. Not so much politics these days…

Our readers/commenters aren’t that many; McConnell probably garnered the most, and even then, that number was miniscule compared to those that come to hear him hold court about his take on deafness, the deaf community, the deaf blogosphere, cochlear implants, and the like. Our corner of the deaf blogosphere is very small, indeed.

Now, going back to Sides and Lawrence: their overall premise is that the political blogosphere as a whole is balkanized; their major premise is based on partisanship. I agree to an extent. Where the best politically focused blogs are effective is when they do journalistic work. As Sides and Lawrence put it,

 If political blogs change opinions, they will more likely do so indirectly — by uncovering new information that is then amplified and discussed in media that reach a broader, and less partisan, cross section of the public.

Before he signed up with Salon, Glenn Greenwald was doing this kind of blogging– logical, thoughtful, well-researched and well-thought out pieces. Other bloggers and blog groups have done this as well. Firedoglake’s work on the Plame case comes to mind.

But one line of this article I found interesting. It’s this:

Indeed, some blogs put mobilization over persuasion.

Developing a political infrastructure will be one of the two-pronged legacies of the political blogosphere. The other is the previously mentioned dissemination of new facts to the Corporate Media and the public at large.

Other than that, a lot of these blogs, even the best ones, preach to the choir. As much as I want things to change, I’m only seeing that sentiment shared among a small, highly literate, highly politicized group of people. How do we effect change out in the real world?

I’ve often sometimes felt that way about this blog. It’s a way for me to share my thoughts, my frustrations, my concerns– but by and large, I think most of my readers are sympathetic to my views from the start. The same is true for the others. McConnell even has one reader who called herself his “groupie number one” on his last blog post (since then, he’s come out of hiatus).

Now, how does this relate to the deaf blogosphere? Simple: go back to that one-liner: “Indeed, some blogs put mobilization over persuasion.”

The deaf blogosphere is an echo chamber, a place where most of us are preaching to the choir. Thus far, I haven’t seen any evidence that outsiders are changing their minds, or that people’s opinions are being swayed. Most people have come with their own preconceived notions of how things are. All most of us are doing is maintaining the status quo.

Where we CAN motivate change is through mobilization. It may be time for those of us who blog to assess what we’re doing. Some of us blog because we want to share our lives and our thoughts with friends and family. Others are venting and speaking out (I fall into this category). Another group of bloggers are trying to educate people about their perspective on a variety of issues. Yet another set of bloggers actually want to instigate change. For those bloggers, mobilization needs to be the name of the game.

Now, a final thought: part of political blogging concerns the definition of political identity. That’s also what many deaf bloggers are doing online, whether deliberately or not: they’re defining a deaf communal identity. The recent firestorm surrounding DBC bothers me for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is how we appear to others. We’re willing to use questionable ethics (posting an entire IM conversation with real screennames, etc.), craft weak arguments (I think there’s a degree of truth to the charges of a “witch hunt” that some people contend is happening), and generally hurl nasty comments at each other. This isn’t our best moment, people. If you want to educate, persuade, and mobilize, then we’re going to have to be better than that. Right now, we’re preaching to the choir, listening only to other partisans, and generally not willing to conduct a thoughtful debate on the issues.

I hope that changes. While “Who listens to blogging heads?” is about online politics, the elements Sides and Lawrence raise are equally applicable to any aspect of the blogosphere. It’s an article we all should read, analyze, and learn from.

[Happy Bastille Day, by the way. If we want a revolution, whether it’s against our political system or against the medical model or what have you, mobilization is the key.]

I don’t really watch TV (part of it is we have a lousy connection, which is amazing considering you can throw a stone and hit several studios if you just stand outside), so I didn’t see the interview on “The Today Show” featuring Jane Fonda and Eve Ensler, and the resulting brouhaha when Jane Fonda used a particular four-letter word for female genitalia. I did, however, read about it later online.

I just dismissed it as the usual hand-wringing by the media and by oversensitive individuals who have no problem with Rambo but get all indignant when any mention of human sexuality makes its way onto the airwaves. I also found it ironic considering Ensler’s play, “The Vagina Monologues”, was written to demystify the female sexual experience and bring it home to all of us. It’s a play that has been performed tons of times all over the nation, and has been done successfully in the deaf community (my walking partner was in a benefit performance up north in Sacramento a few years back, sharing the stage with the likes of Shoshannah Stern and Nathie Marbury).

However, I later read an outstanding post on the topic, written by Bev Sykes at Funny the World, which is one of my daily must-reads. As Bev notes, “cunt” isn’t the only four-letter word out there– there’s also “rape.” The main reason why Fonda and Ensler were on the show at all was to talk about the fundraising Ensler is doing on behalf of rape victims in the Congo. As Bev articulately states,

We hear a lot of dialog about “family values” these days and you can just bet that there are whole groups which will recoil in horror when speaking about Jane Fonda.   What will those people do about the rapes in Congo?  Will they even think about them?  Or will their sensitive ears be so offended by hearing a bad word that this is all they hear?  Will they be so busy vilifying Jane Fonda that this little matter in Congo will be forgotten?

She’s right. Go read her post in its entirety, and then tell me and come back what we really should be horrified about?

I don’t know whether to be appalled or amused. I suppose a little bit of both.

Once upon a time, people actually read books. They went to plays, artistic performances, and celebrated the arts and the intellect. Today, people get excited over shows like “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?”

So I suppose it wasn’t too surprising to see the following news item the other day:

Woolworths stores in Britain have stopped selling “Lolita” beds for young girls after a parents’ organization complained because of the name’s association with the famous novel about a pedophile.

Something tells me there’s someone in the Woolworths marketing department desperately in need of a Great Books curriculum, immediately. Item #1: Nabokov, obviously.

Christmas time is here
Happiness and cheer

One of my favorite holidays is here: Christmas. While I know not all of you celebrate the holiday, it really is everywhere these days, and other religions have similar celebrations that highlight peace and goodwill in its many forms. Whether it’s reflection and forgiveness as emphasized during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, or the sense of a new start and the promise of possibilities, as Tet, New Year’s, and a host of other holidays and festivals promote, Christmas, in its fundamental roots, is about our spiritual self and our humanity.

Fun for all that children call
Their favorite time of year

The commercialism is just a layer that was added not all that long ago. As this interesting piece by historian John Steele Gordon outlines, the origins of our modern-day Christmas emerged in New York City, in the days of Nieuw Amsterdam. The Dutch children who eagerly awaited Sinterklaes influenced their non-Dutch playmates, and aided by merchants from A.T. Stewart to Macy’s to Gimbel’s to today’s Wal-Mart, Christmas flourished from its religious roots as the Christ Mass to a largely secular holiday filled with red-nosed reindeer, magical snowmen, and children up way past their bedtime.

Snowflakes in the air
Carols everywhere

One of the things I really miss at Christmastime is snow. Here in Southern California, we’re not that far from the mountains and the promise of snow, but it’s not the same as looking out the window or walking out the door and seeing and feeling that crisp, crunchy, fresh-fallen blanket of white. I’m the kind of person that likes snow from, say, about a week before Thanksgiving until January 2nd. Then I’m ready for something else. Roll on, Spring! Those of you in the Midwest, who have been suffering through storms lately, may share that sentiment. Others may be wondering if you’ll be getting any snow at all. But regardless of where you are, snow is part and parcel of that wholesome, old-time Christmas image, whether cinematic, fanciful, or realized.

Olden times and ancient rhymes
Of love and dreams to share

For me, Christmas isn’t necessarily about gifts. At my age, that kind of stopped long ago. One of the reasons I love this time of year is the feeling of goodwill, the sentiment that we take this time to think of others, to spread cheer, goodwill, and yes, love. We don’t always do it, but I think the fact that the potential to do so is there says a lot. Regardless of all the problems we have in this world, love is a commonality that all spiritual belief systems share, because it really is at the heart of what being human is about: the capacity to feel, to laugh, to cry, to reach our internal and external potential, and most of all, to work on behalf of the whole– whether it is as small as the family, or as large as humankind.

Sleigh bells in the air
Beauty everywhere
Yuletide by the fireside
And joyful memories there

As we get older, Christmas ostensibly becomes about the children in our lives, whether it’s our own children, nieces and nephews, cousins, grandchildren, or even just children in the neighborhood. But I think it’s also important to reach into ourselves and remember the children we once were, and that we still are. For all the adult responsibilities we have, for all the burdens we assume, underneath, we’re still young, even if it’s just at heart. Youth is not just about physical appearances and chronological age; it’s about attitude. It’s an attitude that appears during the holidays. This is part of the message that’s in Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, especially when Scrooge revisits the celebration at Fezziwig’s. It’s not about money, it’s not about appearances; sometimes, it’s just something as simple as fellowship, good cheer, and the promise and potential of love. Sometimes, I wish though, that this carried throughout the year, and didn’t just end when the credit card bills arrive in the mail.

Christmas time is here
We’ll be drawing near
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year
Oh, that we could always see
Such spirit through the year…

As the song says, “Oh, that we could always see/Such spirit through the year…” Christmas is ostensibly about family. But I think it’s also about the human family, and that was the message of the original Christmas: the birth of a savior, who had come to rejuvenate the world. While not everyone believes in the divinity of Christ, the message found in his gospel is one that we could all learn from. It really is, in its fundamental form, the Golden Rule– a precept that is found in some form in all spiritual beliefs worldwide.

To put it another way, we’re all Charlie Brown: we’re surrounded by the trappings of the modern world, of commercialism, but deep down, it’s about the stars, it’s about a simple tree, it’s about peace, happiness, and goodwill.

Merry Christmas, everyone.