Thursday, January 24, 2002

SPEAKING OF VIRGINIA: I notice she's perpetuating the me-zine/blog split with her links section. She sets it up like this: me-zines are by professional writers, blogs are by everybody else. I think that's the distinction. It's not an arbitrary division that she's making, but it might be an unnecessary one.

I think a more appropriate split would be blogs that make reference to other blogs versus blogs that make reference to professional writers' blogs, non-web media pundits and figures and Instapundit only (Kaus, Sullivan, Josh Marshall). Virginia herself belongs to the former group. The latter group has the annoying characteristic (reminiscent of 80s-heyday WWF) of pretending that the competition does not exist (would Kaus ever reference Flit like Joanne Jacobs does? Has he, and I missed it?) but they do serve as a kind of nexus between old commentary and new commentary, as in this web-only American Prospect piece taking Sullivan to task for Clinton-bashing. They have their own place in the great media constellations, as do I, is what I'm saying.

But I still think me-zine is a goofy word that should be retired.

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