Blogging–the New Pamphleteering?
November 9, 2008, 11:10 am
Posted by Cathleen Kaveny
Re-reading Sacvan Bercovitch’s The American Jeremiad, I came across a comment (p. 169) in which Bercovitch invoked Tocqueville on the form of political rhetoric in the US.
“The contending parties, as Toqueville astutely noted, did ‘not publish books to refute each other, but pamphlets which circulate[d] at an incredible rate, last[ed] a day, and died.’”
Seems to me Toqueville would have an “a-ha” moment were he to encounter the blogosphere.
Yep, sure seems like it.
Thanks for the posting and historical reminder, Prof. Kaveny. Would just add that the elections seen by Tocqueville were also extremely bitter, harsh, threatening, used lies and slander whenever possible, and make today’s standards look like kids stuff.
It certainly seems that blogging has replaced the old pamphlets of old. Good, less wasted paper. Now we can just waste our time. :-)