Socio-political blogs and lunch with Howard Owens - By N.L. Belardes

Dusty would probably say I had lunch with the enemy. Fraternizing you might call it. Our own government does it all the time. Remember in its attempt to stabilize the Middle East, the US did not allow Iran to become the grand Middle Eastern poobah in the 1980s after the hostage crisis? America fraternized with Iraq to prevent that. Somewhere around then Iraq dusted Kurds with chemical agents bought from who knows where. OK, apples and oranges, right Howard? Joking. Howard and I recently went to the pizza-a-go-go, near the stairwell to the dark cavern of rock and roll to break some blogger bread.

I could tell he was tiptoeing a bit; only give away sound bytes of information. But I wasn’t there to pry. On his guard with a great poker face he kept the minimalist approach. We did cover a lot of topics, including big media, Bakersfield history, Chinese tunnels, Bakersfield music, San Diego punk, LA punk like the Groovy Rednecks, some minor Bakersfield Bob thoughts (we tread lightly there and I didn’t press at all. Can you believe it?) and we spoke blogs. Howard mentioned, “Blogs are really just conversations” as we discussed journalists having to change thinking patterns to understand blogger writing tactics. Not sure I agreed totally. World News tonight is a conversation as well come to think of it. A bond between news and the public as told through talking heads. Newspaper columns are conversations in those regards too: I always feel cozy when Robert Price is writing a great column exposing the ills of Bakersfield society. He does it in great conversational fashion.

A good blog does both: provides a witty narrative, some interesting bits of information, and a dose of conversational element. Perhaps the journalist world being as huge as it is simply wants to draw a box around the strangely growing world of blogs and blogger writing styles, lumping them all together as mere conversations. But then, newspapers write blogs themselves in a wide range of categories to trap traffic, which then in turn potentially captures more readers. Not a bad strategy at all, conversational in tone or not. All in all it was a good lunch that really pointed out my intention: to let Howard know his and Logan Molan’s Bakosphere blog is entertaining. Doesn’t matter if I agree with Bakosphere or not. I like how Howard and Logan data mine for Bakersfield-related topics that are both mainstream, underground and often trivial (yet entertaining. I write trivial bits all the time).

On the political spectrum, thanks to Howard Owens of the Bakersfield Californian and a recent blogger who got in touch with me, I have to say thebuzzblogs.com are going to have to get a whole new category, maybe called, ‘The political spectrum’. Why? Because there are local Bakersfield blogs by folks who have opinions that matter. Sure, you will find conservative and liberal bloggers, but then, that’s OK. We’re in a democracy, right? And in this new age of blogging, ala a modern era of pamphleteering, this Thomas Paine ‘Common Sense’ approach from both the right and the left can only breed more opinions, more blogs, and more fun at looking at perspectives. In newspapers you’re only supposed to get the middle ground, though we know newspapers are as politically diversified as America itself.

Well what do we have around Bakersfield on a citizen journalist level in socio-political opinions of local news? Take a look at Baketown’s conservative slant on local news, then mix in some straight-up Black Dog with his strong verbage against societal ills, Bako Carpetbagger takes a self-declared anti-whiny Bakersfield Conservative stance that is sure to ruffle a few feathers. It’s my right to be left of the center is a Bakersfield blog by a local activist who spends quality time taking on the powers that be. She even called Bakosphere “Bako-breath”. If that isn’t enough, take a look at the sometimes socio-political slants of the very potty-mouthed Heath Dobbler, who in his Conservative punk nature just wants the right to shoot guns in mountains and to say Merry Christmas. No harm no foul in that is there?

*Amendment to this blog on January 24th. Bake Town herself commented on this blog that her blog is not conservative-minded or political, but humorous, poking fun at all...

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Sunday, January 22, 2006. You can leave your response.