Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Tell Me Your Favorite Blogs And...

These are Laura Rozen's "Favorite Blogs":-


Not a very well-balanced representation of outlooks, perspectives and information on the subjects she might well cover.

And Laura is who?

Laura Rozen's POLITICO.com blog "reports on the world of foreign policy from Foggy Bottom to the White House, the Hill to Embassy Row". Fairly important slot in the media/politics realm.

Tell me what your favorite blogs are and I can guess what your opinions are, how they are shaped and why you'll never learn better.

Expand your blog list and expand your mind!!!

4 comments:

Mark said...

>> Expand your blog list and expand your mind!!!
--------------------------

Hi,

I agree completely with the idea that one should read a full spectrum of views, broaden the mind, and ... occasionally... maybe even have an epiphany and change one's mind on a subject.

My question is: Does reading something, which you know you will disagree with, soley for the purpose of finding errors or other material to write about, enable mind expansion?

I ask because my assumption (yes, it's just an assumption) is that while you accuse others of not expanding their minds, it seems to me that you yourself, having very strong opinions on various matters, have not yourself changed your mind on a subject in quite a few years. If I'm wrong, I apologize.

One of the great joys I've had in reading so many diverse points of view is the ... occasional... instance where I slap my hand on my farhead (gently) and say "wow, that's a good point that I didn't see before. I've got to check that out." ... I wonder when was the last time you slapped your hand on your forehead in this manner. It's a great feeling, but you have to have an open mind going in if you're ever going to experience it.

Enjoying your blog (with some exceptions),
Mark

YMedad said...

You are unbelievable at times. As you know, I cast my net wide and far and read a variety of posts, magazines, academic articles, books, etc. Everytime, I am testing my opinions, introspecting my facts, challenging my assumptions from liberals, Arabs, antisemites, less-observant Jews.

And then there is you. Oh well, I I shall persevere.

Thanks for stopping by and testing me.

Stacy said...

Hi there. As someone who runs a blog on Laura's list I thought I'd chime in. I do happen to know that Laura just moved her blog over from ForeignPolicy.com to Politico and I've noticed that her blogroll is slowly expanding. I'm not trying to defend her because I don't really think she needs defending, I'm just sayin'.

Also, I'm not sure one's blogroll is necessarily a totally accurate reflection of everything one is reading. I know on my blogroll, which is very heavily weighted in the liberal direction, I have links to sites that I just don't go to very often and I do read conservative blogs that I don't link to. Of course, I'm not a journalist, just a regular old blogger...

I guess the question is do you find Rozen's reporting to be relatively objective irrespective of who she does or doesn't have in her blogroll? I happen to think she does a great job covering the State Dept. and the administraton's foreign policy- she has good background information sometimes that I just don't see in other places.

Cheers!

Stacy

YMedad said...

Hi Stacey.

Before passing judgment of Laura's reporting quality, my point was more basic: bloggers are, shall we say, interested conveyors of information. Now, we all know that reporters are as biased as the next person, but in a major news network, there is supposed to be an enforceable code of ethics and since you are more visible, the criticism comes fast and quick. Now, is Laura reporting or blogging? If reporting, no need for blogroll. But if blogging, a preponderance of blogs of a certain ideological tripe is problematic as it fixes her sources and/or recommendations.