Fellow blogger Karlos Schmieder asked a question recently:
Is the Blogosphere Racist?

Can we agree on what the blogosphere is? It is not an organization with a leader or central committee (the Web and the Internet are such entities). The blogosphere is a disorganized, organic assembly of people. Which is not to say it cannot be racist — a crowd, a mob, a gang can all be racist.

I think it is fair to define the blogosphere as the creation of those who write and read blogs. To put it in sharper focus: are you and I racist?

No one would be shocked if a middle-aged liberal American straight white male concluded “no, we’re all cool here.” Still, I am entitled to my opinion (and I am so much more than a few obvious facets). I think people are seldom all good or bad — in spite of the examples we can all bring up. Human beings are a mixture of things wonderful and horrible and that mixture is in flux. Regardless of the things we see as dividing us into sub-groups, we are all human beings. We all have the capacity for racism and all of the evils of our kind. Thankfully, we all have the capacity for empathy and love and all of the good of our kind.

I believe one of the things that raised the question was some evidence that the blogosphere is composed of mostly white Americans. And, because the blogosphere is built around links, whites linking to whites — whites not linking to others — may be evidence of racism.

The World Wide Web is about 17 years old. The blogosphere is at most 10. The early days of both were only of interest to nerds, techies, scientists and academics. Gradually, more and more people have fallen under the spell of technology. As more people become involved, the Web becomes more diverse. It is inevitable that it will reflect us perfectly, warts and all.

Anyone can start a blog in 5 minutes. It is far easier than creating a website, not much harder than email. Sure, you need access to a computer and Internet connection (public library); you need some basic skills (public schools); you need to be beyond worrying about surviving poverty (public policies).

There is no question that human beings are hostile to some and generous to others and that as we clump together those feelings aggregate. We are all part of a society that discriminates and is at times racist. We should not deny that nor simply accept that. But one of the things that reminds us we’re all one people is contact, and the Internet has revolutionized contact. Everyone should take advantage of that and contribute to that. Put your life out there. Share. Listen. Empathize. mjh

Start your own blog here:
www.blogger.com