Catching up on the news...

...I came across an interesting set of data points that New Donkey snagged from the Washington Post.

Three percent of the respondents said they read blogs every day; 12 percent said they visit them at least a few times a month. Forty-eight percent said they never look at the sites, and 24 percent said they do not have access to the Internet.

It's just a bit of statistical support for my empirical observation that we bloggers ain't, in fact, all that. Spending a fair bit of time out and about in the world, not to mention my own recent self-imposed blogging blackout, I constantly find myself in conversation with well informed, articulate, often activist folks who, when I mention my obsession, simply say "What's a 'blog'?"

New Donkey notes that....

...for some bloggers, "disrespecting the netroots" is the political Sin Against the Holy Ghost, the one truly unforgivable act. But the political potential of the netroots, and more importantly, the political prospects for the Democratic Party, require some perspective, and at least a bit of the humility which "netroots" advocates rightly demand from everybody else claiming to speak for Democrats. Nobody other than Democratic voters has the standing to decide who is and isn't a "real Democrat."

I heartily agree. While even a small fraction of the population can produce hundreds of thousands a hits a day on the biggest sites, and even a remote outpost in the online world like this joint is closing in on 75,000 visits and continuing to grow, we aren't the world. We aren't "the people." Not yet, anyway.

We're just a bit. An bit that's important beyond the numbers, certainly, but the numbers should inspire appropriate humility.




OK. I'm humbled. But golly gee! Almost 75,000 visits! Wow, thanks!