Fletch
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 8,865
- Location
- Iowa - The Land That Stuff Forgot
If the site and the writing encourage intellectual engagement, commenters can and do raise meaningful points. I've even seen the odd blogger engage commenters right in the comment section.Like you, I find very little to respect in modern "journalism," but I think the news bloggers, with their half-baked pronouncements and their cut-and-paste "research" only make it worse -- and the people who *comment* on blogs and news-sites are even below them. If the news-blogosphere is an intellectual cesspool, the comment sections are the leach field.
But it doesn't happen enough: most comment sections are mere partisanry, and some make you think they finally gave a million monkeys a million typewriters. It's no wonder some of the more inflammatory blogs don't even allow comments.
But maybe we should get back to kids - those of low chronological, not mental, age. It would be cool if educators could somehow help them prepare for what will probably be a life of many-to-many communication, but it would also be controversial. Hell, even teaching critical reading would be controversial in many districts.
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