One Among The Ruins

Has anyone else noticed that CNN no longer allows comments? CNN tried for a while to allow comments on it's 'Opinion' section. Now it seems that it has stopped all comments. Many news sites now no longer let readers give their own opinion. Go check some of the news sites that do allow comments. This article is a bit dated- a number of the sites mentioned have now also given up and stopped allowing comments.

Fox News and Breitbart are two examples I checked that still allow commentary. The opinions are pretty entertaining. And pretty angry. I actually have a small 'wall of fame' of people responding to horrible comments I used to make on these sites to piss people off. Let's face it- being a troll is fum.

I think this is a pretty telling trend. The news media does not want to know what you think of it. It does want your suggestions. You consume the content or you get out. And that is where the problem lies. If you do not listen to what readers want you lose the audiences interest and it's trust. In the effort to silence argument and ignore disagreement the site drifts further from reality. If you do not know what cognitive dissonance is then you must read Scott Adams. He will help you understand what is happening.


I think this will increase the demand for blogging. Also I think it will only further the 'citizen journalism' trend. You don't have to like Cernovich but you have to admit he spotted a need and capitalized on it.

One thing that has become very clear to me is to find people who are smarter than me and try to understand what they are saying and what they are doing. I recommend everyone do that same.