The Revolution is Coming!...eventually

One blog that really caught my eye when searching for Buffalo-related blog material was one entitled “Buffalo Geek,” located at http://buffalogeek.wnymedia.net/. The blogger is a 31 year old male who was born and raised in Buffalo, moved away, and has returned. While he does not state his name or bother with a pseudonym, he does reveal that he is a United States Air Force veteran and currently works for one of the top IT companies in the world as a systems engineer. He also adds that he looks forward to becoming part of the solution to a New Buffalo, rather than part of the problem, which I whole-heartedly stand behind him on this point. Buffalo Geek itself is not listed in Technorati; however, the author’s MySpace has a blog link that is listed at blog ranking 2,924,506. Stating he is a social libertarian, a fiscal conservative, and an overall free-thinker, it is easy to note upon viewing Buffalo Geek that anything and everything is game for conversation. There are specific “Town Politics” and “Erie County Politics” categories, and links on the side to a multitude of politicians, cities issues, schools, etc.

The tone of the political side of the blog is very much a conversationalist one that presents information in a seemingly bipartisan way, as opposed to taking much of a stand on either side. In other words, the author is not trying to force his political stance into the tone so much as he simply wants to allow the reader to gather all the facts about the current issues at hand, a la a newspaper or news telecast. Some examples of posts include: a link to a live audio stream of the Erie County Legislature voting on the 2007 budget on December 1, 2006, a rare stance taken on a piece about (in the author’s opinion) the unnecessary number of 37 libraries in Erie County to support a dwindling population, and a series of posts with complete coverage of the recent toll situation, fully-loaded with Buffalo News article excerpts followed by reaction and insight. Furthermore, the tone of pieces such as these is very much (as expected) pro-Buffalonian. That is to say, whenever a sarcastic remark is made or a stance taken against a politician, it is because the on-goings are not, in his opinion, fully benefiting the Buffalo community. To the local reader, the appeal to this style is massive, as it reminds one of a conversation with a friend about topics with which we Buffalonians are greatly familiar.

With so many blogs today constantly critiquing political and social issues on a daily basis, we are seeing a whole new age of people involving themselves in their own community. How is this done? One post on a blog can spark a debate that can affect the community and actually make its way back into the board room where politicians seemed, until now, so isolated from the rest of us. Tony Hung (2007) states “…what remains to be seen is how political leaders at local levels are dealing with this kind of phenomenon…” in reference to the people’s opinion being showcased in blogs.

While I somewhat agree with Hung that blogs have probably not reached their peak as far as directly influencing politicians, Alinta Thornton’s article “Does Internet Create Democracy?” (2002) argues that whether we like it or not, the media has an increasingly active role in political outcomes. We have reached the point where simply reporting on political issues is no longer interesting or engaging to an audience. Instead, experts and debaters must be brought onto shows to open up their firm viewpoints for the audience to agree or disagree with. On the other hand, Thornton goes on to say that until the Internet specifically reaches more middle-income and lower-income households (which has already happened since 2002), it will not reach its full potential in a “true revitalization of the public sphere,” therefore touching on the same point as Hung.

Will Internet blogs like Buffalo Geek one day be dominating the board rooms that gather our local politicians? The jury seems to be out still on this issue, while the general consensus among bloggers seems to be clearer: not yet, but the revolution is coming.


References:

Thornton, A. (2002, October). Does Internet Create Democracy? Retrieved March 25, 2007, from https://ublearns.buffalo.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab=courses&url=/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_39998_1

Hung, T. (2007, February 27). Blogging Can Affect Policits – On Local Level. The Blog Herald. Retrieved March 25, 2007, from http://www.blogherald.com/2007/02/27/blogging-can-affect-politics-on-local-level