Steph has started indulging in a nice habit, now that I'm getting my
home office more mucked out; she'll drag her chair into my office,
along with some craft project such as knitting, and sit with me while
I'm working. We may not talk much depending on how hard I'm
concentrating, but she provides a comforting presence.
Today I was writing up a reaction to CNET's interview with ITU Director Houlin Zhao for my work blog and she made reference to the story thread with Peter and Valentine in Ender's Game (written by Orson Scott Card.
For those of you who don't know (or remember) the plot, Peter and
Valentine are the brother and sister of the protaganist. While Ender is
off in space learning how to lead armies and kill things efficiently,
they're back on Earth building up a power base through eloquent
punditry using anonymous accounts on the worlds' information networks.
Their most successful identities are those of Demosthenes and Locke, a
virtual Odd Couple who are just about guaranteed to take opposing
viewpoints on any matter.
Steph pointed out that between web forums and blogs, we're starting
to get to that stage. We're a little more transparent than Card
envisioned -- as a blogger gets popular, the ability to find out who
they really are (and more importantly, who is funding them) increases.
Likewise, today's bloggers are not nearly so dependent on corporate
sponsorships to pay for their blogging, although there are a growing
number of bloggers who are making money just by spouting their
opinions.
[Editor: I'm down with that. Yo, phat cash deals for corporate blogging consluting? I am so there.]
What Card got right, though, is that more and more, a blogger's real
identity is less important than what they have to say and how they say
it. You don't have to be a law professor to be the Instapundit
(hi, Glenn!)...okay, bad example, but you get my point. By the time the
real identities of Demosthenes and Locke were unmasked in his book,
they had such a loyal following that they were able to wield
significant influence in global politics, even though they were
children. Bloggers aren't nearly that influential, but the constant
clashing between big media and bloggers seems to prove that bloggers of
all stripes are exerting more and more influence on the world around
them.
Heady stuff. Where do I sign up? I'd be a benevolent dictator, I promise.
[Editor: I see I'm not the first person to remark on this.]