On the internet, Olbermann’s style of old-media authority doesn’t hold up. He selectively responded, and thought no-one would call him out on it; he was wrong. He blocked protesters to shut out their voices, and apparently thought they wouldn’t be able to tell a wide audience about it; he was wrong. He attempted to control the discourse, to sit at the center of it like a news anchor behind his desk, to exercise a centralized, access-dependent control; he was on the internet, where hierarchy breaks down, where people are able to interact with each other and influence each other without the buffer of celebrity, but he didn’t get it.
Sady Doyle on Keith Olbermann quit Twitter because of me – War Room – Salon.com
This, is the gist of much that happens in media these days. This principle will save us (by us, I mean, smaller people with lots of words and ideas but no access to publish them on mass media). It is no secret that I love Sady Doyle. But here is one point we need to remind ourselves of: I love her not only because she is a feminist (a kinship we share), but because she is an intelligent woman who gets it. And that, I believe is what irks people like Olbermann the most.
Also, if you can stomach it, read the comments at Salon in response to her piece. These are the progressives that, supposedly stand by our side on issues of social justice? Why am I not surprised that the Tea Party has such a following when the people on “our side” write stuff like that?
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