Sirotablog

from David Sirota:

[excerpt]

Though there is little in the way of scientific data about the netroots, various bloggers have documented how its demographics trend wealthier, whiter and more male than the rest of the population. And any look across the major progressive blogs and online advocacy groups shows that much of the focus in the blogosphere (beyond pure partisan issues, which dominate) is not on class issues like trade, globalization, wages, health care, pensions and jobs but on non-class issues like wiretapping and net neutrality and Gitmo.

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This isn't to say that wiretapping, net neutrality, media ownership don't have class components or that they are unimportant - every issue, at some level, has class implications and this set of issues is VERY important. But this set of issues gets a vastly disproportionate amount of time, attention and bandwith from the netroots than the former set of issues . . . In fact, most middle and working-class Americans think issues like wages, jobs, health care and pensions are MORE important.

So, why should we consider this dichotomy? Because if the netroots and the blogosphere is really going to be a part of any broad-based movement (which, I don't think it is just yet) then it is going to have to figure out how to meld its bourgeois focus with the kitchen-table concerns of everyday, non-political-junkie Americans.

Part of that means trying to avoid focusing every single policy debate on Washington, and actually doing the much harder work of exploring state and local issues.