Nov. 7 - I've been trying to find some intelligent comments I could make on the blogger bash in Toronto last Friday night, and all I can come up with is awe that so many of them are so wonderfully exuberant (and young!)

Yes, I know that sounds incredibly superficial. Yet given the plethora of media reports about how young American idealists were supposed to rock the vote and follow the Boss to the polls, I think it significant that so many 20 and 30 somethings up here are openly espousing the Western ideals of individualism and independent thinking that is probably the greatest achievement of this civilisation that we love to criticize and defend.

Michael of Canadian Headhunter had described last spring's meeting with guest of honour Damian Penny as like watching Mystery Men, i.e., ordinary people engaged in battling super villains without superhero skills. That description has grown on me because most bloggers are indeed Everymen who have chosen to break from bobble-head acquiescence of mainstream media punditry and tried to apply common sense to political observations.

The sour comments by Dan Rather about bloggers presumably organizing a call for John Kerry to concede missed the entire point about bloggers: no one tells us what to write. Yes, we do read and link to one another, but only if we want to. Unlike Mr. Rather, we don't rush to publish something that doesn't pass our individual litmus tests for truth.

The blogosphere has given new life to those who feel disenfranchised by mainstream media, and whenever a blogger says maybe it's just me you can bet your bottom dollar that it isn't.

Flea has a post on the meet and lists some of the attendees including their urls and Nicholas of Quotulatiousness has a more extensive post and (ohmigosh) pictures!

As always, if you wait long enough someone else will write something coherent and the rest of us can just link to it ... but it will never be redundant to say how wonderful it was to meet finally meet the people behind the blogs.

Posted by: Debbye at 10:54 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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