One of the sessions I attended this morning was, "Netroots: What's Next?" As it dealt with the future of the political blogosphere, I really wanted to check out what the panel had to say.
The fight for blogging legitimacy has been won (well, sort of). MOST have accepted blogging as a medium that not only offers quality writing, but gets it right more often. So...what next? What do we do now that everyone is listening? And what are the new battles we must be ready to fight?
That was the focus of the panel. Gina Cooper, the head of "Netroots Nation", talked about the positive ramifications of a Democratic president (hopefully) come November. I couldn't help but disagree with what she was suggesting. I felt myself shaking my head "No" as she talked about how much easier bloggers (and all media) will have it once we don't have to fight the argument with people who "don't think dinosaurs existed." Those people aren't going away. And they'll only be working harder to attack our attempts at getting the truth out there and holding them accountable. Not only that, but the Democrats have their own set of problems, don't they? This certainly isn't going to be easy sailing if Obama gets elected.
Technology has changed the way we run elections, and as the panel suggested, the next step is seeing how it actually changes policy and government. We all know how easy it is to sign a petition now but we've gotta take it further than that. It's the move from bitching to acting. Signing a petition is one thing but start your own blog! Watch the network news and start holding them accountable. Tell your friends about the garbage that's out there. Tell your elected officials that you won't accept it. Technology makes this all so much easier. We've got the power. It's time to REALLY start using it.
As a side-note, Baratunde Thurston (from Jack and Jill Politics-also on the panel) was awesome. His ability to combine heavy topics like this with humor is perfect. I suggest seeking out his blogs. He's so insightful. And fricking hilarious.
During the Q&A, one wise-guy had to question why we're all complaining about "talking heads" and being talked at while we're attending a conference with panels of people talking at us. I appreciated his point (not really) but I look at it this way. If I were such an expert on these topics, I'm not sure why I'd be going to the conference at all. We don't have the answers! We're here to be inspired, get good information, and take action.