Re: Sports Media as a Class Struggle by Mike Carminati

How hard is it to put the perspective of class struggle in American society into how sports journalists perceive bloggers? Mike Carminati of Mike's Baseball Rants easily accomplishes this with his thesis on the clash between traditional sports writers and the blogsphere as a whole. Among the replies is my own thoughts on the subject, which I've often sprinkled liberally among the comments at Bronx Banter.

To further my own point in support of Mike's rant, I believe that media is a key component of any ruling class' ability to enthrall the general public, either positively or negatively. A great possibility of how a dictatorship can actually create an ostensibly progressively democratic society than the system currently in place is written out in science fantasy form by the great Piers Anthony in his series Bio of A Space Tyrant, in which the title character outmaneuvers a renown member of the fourth estate to insulate him by making it the writers' obligation to criticize him; a de facto ombudsman of sorts.

Now, I'm not advocating dictatorships, but I'd like to point out that some of this country's greatest leaders have gathered the reigns of power to themselves alone by delegating not the decision, but the action to those they oversaw, and convinced the masses that it was by their own power that the results were indeed accomplished. Abraham Lincoln was a master at this in his speeches and addresses to his cabinet, to Congress and to the country at large during a great war, as was FDR with his fireside chats and JFK with his use of television to secure his public image. You can also include Martin Luther King, who during his lifetime secured the sympathy and humanity of millions by projecting himself as the face of the subjugated (willingly or not) via the same method of utilizing the press as a means to communicate his principles, ideas and vision to the world. Today, we can argue about the proposed visual aesthetics of the largest memorial statue to inhabit Washington, DC's National Mall, quite an accomplishment for a Black man in any regard, never mind that it will outdo some accomplished leaders already memorialized in statue there.

But I digress somewhat. I do that, but believe me, it all connects. Go read Mike's column and get back to him or me, whomever you wish >;)