"The blogosphere was birthed by a simple phenomenon."

[babylonsister]

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/3/19/101939/533

Ten Years Gone

by BooMan
Tue Mar 19th, 2013 at 10:19:39 AM EST


Now that we've arrived at the ten-year anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, it's natural for people to look back and analyze how things were and how things have changed. I've noticed quite a bit of self-flagellation from people in the corporate media who were there ten years ago and either did nothing or participated in the fraud. It's hard to stomach, frankly, because very few of those people are actually asking for forgiveness. None of them are saying, "You know, it turns out that the liberal bloggers were right and we were wrong."

The blogosphere was birthed by a simple phenomenon. Hundreds of thousands of Americans were consuming corporate media and feeling like they couldn't believe a word of it, and they sought out skeptical sources which turned out to be a bunch of amateurs in pajamas smacking their keyboards in their parent's basements while they downed bowl after bowl of Cheetos.

Once enough people discovered that they weren't alone in thinking that Tom Friedman and Judy Miller were full of crap, they formed online communities. And then they started meeting in real life. And then they started to get organized. And then Howard Dean emerged as someone to rally around.

The legacy of that is seen all over our political landscape, as progressives have asserted themselves and made significant inroads in getting power within the Democratic Party. The media is better than it used to be. Even some of the old fraudsters have tightened up their standards and become less credulous.

Where were you ten years ago? When did you discover the progressive blogosphere, and what site served as your introduction?

[Berlum]

1. True. Corporate Media, Inc. (R) crapped all over its own cred

and anyone intelligent knew the corporate media (R) was just parroting the intentional lies of the Chickenhawk Republican Cabal that lied us into this needlessly costly and death-dealing war -- a war that killed or maimed so many of our honorable sons and daughters in uniform who were duped with lies into serving the Military-Industrial Profiteering Machine (R).

The Bloggers & the Blogosphere came into being to fill the Glaring Truth Vacuum in the corporate media (R).

[Jackpine Radical]

2. To answer BooMan's question, I was right here.

Got here in spring 2001, following a link from Democrats.com.

[xfundy]

3. As far as I can recall,

that's about the time I found DU.

[Luminous Animal]

4. Ten years ago, I was on Michael Moore's message board... became a member in 1999.

[Denis 11]

12. I loved Michael Moore's Board.

I was introduced to DU by Bartcop
I liked American Politics Journal back then too.

[Luminous Animal]

13. There are a few people on DU who's name I recognize.

It was quite a lively board!

[arely staircase]

5. for me it was mediawhoresonline

eom

[lumberjack_jeff]

6. This morning they interviewed Hans Blix on NPR

The interviewer asked him "do you want to say 'I told you so'?"

He of course said no, but I'm screaming at my radio, "Yes! Say Yes!" Why is it worse form to remind people that you were right than it is to commit tens of thousands of people to death because you were wrong?

There's less downside to fucking up and saying "Whoops! Sorry!" than there is to being right.

[Nictuku]

7. C-SPAN was my stepping stone

.... I remember how refreshing it was when I first discovered C-SPAN (Washington Journal), a morning news program that read the headlines, and then allowed open discussion, with a moderator who did not speak opinion!

This is some time after 9/11, and I was sick to death of the drums of war. Even my progressive mother was convinced that Saddam had something to do with the 9/11 attack. I thought I was going crazy.

C-SPAN and DU, then there was Daily Kos, Raw Story, Brad Blog, later Huffington Post, it was all so much more informative than what I saw on CNN.

And then Air America! Since day 1 I have listened to Randi Rhodes. Of all of them, I appreciate her the most for opening up my eyes, and telling me to go look it up, do some research.....

All of these things have helped lead me to a place where I now can look things up myself. Generally 'follow the money' works. If something doesn't ring true, it probably isn't. Trust your inner gut feelings, they generally are right.

As Randi often says: The News is Cancelled. It is Infotainment. It is all about the profits, and nothing about public service.

[Arugula Latte]

8. Re: the media's loss of credibility ... the election coverage of 2008 and 2012 was fascinating.

I think, especially in 2008, they were shocked that they no longer had the power to make up or point to some stupid thing, lie about it, stretch it out, and make it into a Very Big Deal that ran for days and days in the media to damage the Democratic nominee. People ridiculed them instantly on Facebook and the like, and their propaganda attempts never gained traction.

I think they thought '08 was a fluke, but it was not:

From this past election night -- This says a lot:

[malaise]

9. Salon.com

I joined DU in 2004

[HangOnKids]

10. Buzz Flash

That is where I found Top 10 Conservative Idiots. I spent a great deal of time on The Horse as well, AKA mediawhoresonline.

[kickysnana]

11. When Dave Dahl WCCO4 news and read a story about "authorities announcing" bioterrorists landing in

Florida. (Before anthrax, before 911.)

He was looking straight into the camera, didn't blink or look startled, (or say April fools) and then went on to a community feel-good piece.

My type E brain goes. "If this is true we should be on high alert, duck and cover but we are not on high alert and yet he is reading this bit of "news". Hmmm, this must be a test to see what happens when the media announces something like that."

NOTHING HAPPENED. No mention of it anywhere ever again. (However wasn't the first anthrax deaths at a tabloid in Florida critical of the BFEE?)

That is when my world view shifted (again) and I started looking for other such anomalies and boy were there a lot of them to follow. (And realized that most of America was truly brain dead.)

Watched the (s)election live on CSPAN that had nothing to do with media news. Heard rumors on the internet prior to 911 that turned out to be true. Watched the dog an pony show surrounding the non-investigation into death of Senator Wellstone, friends and family. Watched the abomination of how Katrina was handled. Marshall law come to the Twin Cities for the GOP convention on the internet live vs news coverage etc etc etc

Right now I am amazed that you are still supposed to send your money to Red Cross Sandy disaster relief and nobody gets any real relief but they are STILL begging for money on Xfinity OnDemand CBS-Cares for Sandy. On the other hand Bloomberg tried everything to thwart Occupy's efforts at disaster relief. It is still all about Kontrol, and little else.

Feeling mighty il at ease here. It is like we are in the middle of a bloody war and nobody speaks it out loud.

[zeemike]

14. I was right here

Saw the whole nightmare of bush from start to finish on DU...In fact I found DU by watching C Span and seeing one of our admins in the "free speech zone" holding up the sign saying Democratic Underground.com and went there...cause I was feeling like I wanted to go underground.

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. DU via The Smirking Chimp

Lurked for a while then jumped in.

[diane in sf]

16. The blogosphere saved my sanity, found smirkingchimp, mediawhoresonline, and eventually DU, which is

my main portal. People were very grateful when I'd tell them about websites where they could read the truth.

[Le Taz Hot]

17. I can appreciate the sentiment

behind the article but:

". . . and they sought out skeptical sources which turned out to be a bunch of amateurs in pajamas smacking their keyboards in their parent's basements while they downed bowl after bowl of Cheetos."

Nice stereotyping there. Couldn't possibly be that millions of us are actually educated adults who care about the truth, have internet access, a keyboard and a functioning mind?

And this jewel:
"The legacy of that is seen all over our political landscape, as progressives have asserted themselves and made significant inroads in getting power within the Democratic Party."

In what universe? We're the "fucking retards," remember? Ashley Judd throws out the possibility that she might run for the Senate and the Blue Dog Corporate-shill "Democrats" are shitting all over themselves trying to find someone more pliable to run against her in the primaries.

[Fumesucker]

19. I read the first part as snark

And like you I get a big from the second part.

[Le Taz Hot]

20. You're right.

On second read (and you pointing it out). Oh well, I like to let my stupid shit stay up just as I let my (rare) brilliant shit stay up.

[Fumesucker]

18. Bartcop and Salon's Table Talk

Bartcop isn't much good for posting so when Table Talk went away I eventually ended up here at DU.

I think I heard about DU first on Bartcop.