January 31, 2006
BLOGGER SPOTLIGHT: Beacon Hil
Today the Blogometer talks to liberal Hilzoy, who writes for the joint liberal/conservative group blog Obsidian Wings.
What is your full name?
Hilzoy.
What is your age?
46.
Where did you grow up?
Belmont, MA.
Where do you live now?
Baltimore, MD.
What is your occupation? Have you ever worked on a political campaign or for the mainstream media?
I am a philosophy professor. I focus on bioethics and Kant's moral philosophy, and have written on freedom of the will and moral responsibility.
When did you start blogging and why?
I once worked as a copy editor for the Jerusalem Post over 20 years ago; other than that, I have never worked for the media. I have never been paid by a political campaign, but I have volunteered for a lot of them.
What has been your favorite post, or favorite story to write about, in that time?
I was asked to join Obsidian Wings when one of its posters decided to move on a little over a year ago. I thought it would be fun, and besides, it was before the election, and I wanted to be in conversation with more conservatives.
I had also, at that point, grown very tired of the conservative stereotype of liberals, and I thought if anything good could come of my blogging, it was that while I am quite liberal, some parts of the conservative stereotype of liberals are just plainly false of me. (E.g., no one, not even my worst enemies, has ever called me a moral relativist, or said I just didn't care about morality. Likewise, I am not normally regarded as mushy-headed, nor has anyone who knows me ever accused me of insufficient patriotism. Not that people don't criticize me in real life -- they do. They just don't make these criticisms.) For this reason, I thought that I might be able to make people question it, not by trying to falsify it, but just (as my Mom would say) by being myself.
Describe your typical blogging schedule. And what is your average output?
One of the nice things about writing for a group blog is that I don't have to have a blogging schedule. Sometimes I write several posts a day; sometimes I write nothing at all.
Who is your favorite political blogger? Favorite non-political blogger?
I can't pick one, so I'll pick three. See here, here and here.
Who is your favorite mainstream media columnist?
Paul Krugman.
What is your favorite television news program, either network or cable?
"The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." I find most of the others unwatchable, since I have no interest in Scott Peterson et al.
What MSM-produced websites (i.e. newspapers, magazines) do you visit on a daily basis?
Too many to list.
What non-MSM websites (i.e. blogs) do you visit on a daily basis?
Again, you really don't want to know, especially with a 50-word limit on the answer. Luckily, I read very fast.
How often, or do you ever, read a newspaper in its dead-tree (i.e. print) form?
At this point, almost never, except sometimes in airports.
How do you see the new media and old media affecting and influencing each other in the next five years?
I really don't know, and I'm no good at predictions. (I do think that the idea that blogs and other media are in conflict is wrong.) But here's one effect I think blogs might have: blogs make it much easier for people to get really well-informed on political issues. People with real expertise are blogging, and it's amazing how much background knowledge about an issue you can pick up by reading a blog by someone who knows about that issue and discusses it. Moreover, a lot of blogs are funny and well-written. But blogs can also present policy information in a way that's accessible to people who do not enjoy reading, say, GAO reports or extended arguments about the tax code. Blogs are an extremely personal medium, and good bloggers have their own voice; this means that blogs can engage people whose cognitive style is less suited to digesting data and arguments whole, and more suited to dealing with, and coming to understand, actual people.
Posted by
The Watergate · 600 New Hampshire Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20037
202-739-8400 · fax 202-833-8069
NationalJournal.com is an Atlantic Media publication.
