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On the whole, yes of course, since it could potentially be read by a billion people, which is 'mass'.
In actuality, it is read by a few hundreds a day, at most - probably (I mean actually read) - about the same number I could lecture to without technological aids (if the lecture theatre was well designed).
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But the main determinant of whether this blog counts as 'mass' is in the behaviour of the reader.
Is reading this blog part of a large trawl though other blogs and websites; or is it a specific, deliberate and much more focused thing.
If reading this blog is just one element in trawling the web, or marinating-yourself in the internet, then it is indeed part of the mass media - even if only six other people are reading it.
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Are you plugged-into the mass media?
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I sometimes think that the main difference between pseudo-Right wingers (such as libertarians and neo-conservatives and 'manosphere' types) and real reactionaries is indicated by whether they are plugged-into the media, or not.
On this analysis, if you life is dominated by the mass media you are a creature of the Left - and this is not affected by the nature of the media content.
A self-identified 'reactionary' who spends several hours per day engaged with 'reactionary' news sources, magazines, blogs and the like - is actually a Leftist.
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"Is reading this blog part of a large trawl though other blogs and websites; or is it a specific, deliberate and much more focused thing."
ReplyDeleteThis blog tends to be the antithesis of the "mass media" and is rarely "on-message."
I am therefore guessing that most of those regularly reading this blog are being selective and deliberately seeking thought that is not the usual "mass media" content, saturated with leftist/atheist ideology.
With TV and Radio avoidance of leftist propaganda is almost impossible without constant channel changing!
I think information has to be actionable or it's fairly pointless. Conservatives tend to think they are engaged in a public conversation with liberals, but that is not how leftism works- with leftism the transfer of information, beliefs and attitudes is one way. I'm certainly guilty of consuming information for its own sake but I also hope to get something out of it I can use for some useful purpose.
ReplyDeleteYou left out part of your argument.
ReplyDeleteWhy does reading reactionary blogs for several hours a day make you part of the left?
You could just be someone who is in the process of learning about a political ideology that isn't widely understood.
@A - that part of the argument is in the posts published over the past few days.
ReplyDeleteOhno! This is not the only blog I visit. I am dooooooomed!
ReplyDelete"I sometimes think that the main difference between pseudo-Right wingers (such as libertarians and neo-conservatives and 'manosphere' types) and real reactionaries is indicated by whether they are plugged-into the media, or not.
ReplyDeleteOn this analysis, if you life is dominated by the mass media you are a creature of the Left - and this is not affected by the nature of the media content."
This is one of the reasons why I instinctively didn't like the Orthosphere web-site the few times I've looked at it in the past while - it seemed like the authors were too enmeshed in the narratives and issues being set by the secular mass media (SMM). So, even there, the Orthosphere authors tended to be 'reactionary' in the worst sense of the term, from my limited sampling.
As a rule of thumb, maybe 95% issues not set by the mass media, and 5% engaging on issues actually set by the SMM ...?