This guy I don’t know, William M. Arkin, of the Washington Post, writes a long editorial on the military’s consideration of “exclusive editorial content” for some milbloggers. He opines:
Blogs, however, are the epitome of independence, perspective, and rebellion. For the Army to blog, its bloggers would need to have an opinion, show some emotion, make a joke, make a case. We all know that the moment some public affairs flunkie strayed from the official happy talk and openly engaged in the information fight, he or she would get nuked.
You know, it’s funny, I’ve been writing this blog on active duty for months now, and I work in Public Affairs, and I have not been nuked. I’ve actually made a joke or two, made a case or two, and by damn I’ve even shown emotion once or twice. I even did a radio interview with the BBC.
Maybe William M. Arkin and the Washington Post should be reading my blog, which I am not paid extra to write. I am also not coached on any of the content herein.
My blog was my idea, and it contains many non-official opinions which may or may not be easily digestable by echelons above me in rank. They get to tell me what to do with my time while I’m here in Iraq, but they certainly don’t have a switch that determines what I think and while there are legitimate security concerns that must be dealt with, I’m basically free to say what I want to say, which is as it should be. After all, I’m a National Guardsman who volunteered to serve my country.
Get a clue, my friend. I am not going to be nuked. I am a soldier, not an idiot. The people who lead me are officers, not overseers (with an exception or two in the crowd). Most of the milbloggers I know are conscentious and hard-working individuals who love their country and their fellow human beings and want to make the world a better place. Some days they actually make progress and for them to want to tell their stories, good and bad, is perfectly natural.
Guess what, Mr. Arkin, the good news from Iraq is underreported, and the Army has every right to try and change that. If it doesn’t, this war will be for nought, and the deaths of 2,000+ of my fellow servicemen will have been dishonored. How do you like them apples?
So, our tax dollars are going to get used so the Army can just add to its propaganda machine, shoveling “content” to like-minded bloggers?
Do you want to accomplish anything in Iraq, Mr. Arkin? I do. This is an information war as much as it is one of guns and bombs. What don’t you get? Why should the Army have to fight with one hand tied behind its back while you get to play pundit from the safety of your comfy leather chair in whatever office you sit in?
Doesn’t sound too fair to me. Let us do our job.
And while you’re doing it, go read the 1100+ milblogs that aren’t censored or paid for by PR firms, the US Army or the Bush administration.
I did find a really great blog to link while I was doing reading related to the military’s experiment with “seeding” information into blogs: One Hand Clapping, a neighbor from nearby Tennessee, has been blogrolled.