At the beginning of the Democracy Cell Project, we discussed the necessity of focusing on a limited number of issues, lest we become another news site, racing to get the first word out there. One of the issues we recognized as critical to restoring democracy was media reform. But it’s hard to reform institutions from the outside. So we reminded ourselves of the words of one the more famous Kerry-Edwards bloggers, Wild Salmon, who kept telling us to BE THE MEDIA.
The entire blogosphere has taken up the mantle, and now we see the mainstream media catching up, finally—after over a week of blog coverage—noticing the small woman sitting on a roadside in Texas.
And today, this weekend, all roads lead to Crawford.
How far can this go? What, exactly, is being created here?
Will Pitt writes about a number of people showing up with other causes, and how distracting that is and how un-helpful that is, and I agree with him. It is quietude and sense of purpose that is allowing the noise to die down, and drawing the cameras --finally! — to the focused Mom, and her vigil. We don’t need the other causes; we don’t need extra noise. In theatre, we call this “giving focus