Analysis Of Baghdad Burning: The Blogosphere, Literature, And The Art Of War
The media tend to give information about dramatic issues that are considered "newsworthy" in order to trigger the audience's attention. This information leaves the audience with obscure knowledge about what is really happening behind the scenes. Wayne Hunt, the author of "Baghdad Burning: The Blogosphere, Literature and the Art of War,” talks about a certain type of media he refers to as the "new media,” blogging in this case, that gives valuable information regarding what is happening globally. This paper discusses two case studies that emphasize the type of information available in different types of blogs. The first case depicts the story of Riverbend, an Iraqi woman who blogs about what life is really like under American occupation. The
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second case presents a "milblog," written by Colby Buzzel who blogs about what it feels like to serve in the U.S. military in Iraq. Hunt mentions that although they represent different sides during this war, they share many similarities. Indeed, after some examination of Hunt’s paper, it becomes clear that there is a lot in common between soldiers and victims of war.
On the surface, Riverbend seems to lead a life different from a soldier’s. She talks about what it feels like to live in Iraq during war, and she gives the audience a perspective of what people like her go through in order to survive. Such details are not given much importance on the news because they are extremely vague and not considered “newsworthy.” Riverbend does not talk about any troop movements; instead she discusses issues like lack of security and basic necessities such as water and electricity. Living in chaos is one of the ways to describe her life during war. Riverbend and her brother "E" learned to identify the types of automatic weapons being used by the sound of their volleys, and this fact gives the audience an idea about the instability of Iraq during the war. The media depict issues that are "newsworthy" in their opinion and most of these issues tend to fade away with time just like how the daily reality of Iraqis faded to the background after a period of time. Riverbend's blog tells the readers how victims of war live their life in fear because they never know what is going to end up happening to them or their family. Yet, readers tend to criticize Riverbend by accusing her of being unabashedly anti-American because her family prospered under the previous regime before the war started. However, she still managed to respond with great courage by claiming that she is anti-occupation and not anti-American. She also stated that she does not long for the days of Saddam, but she does not wish to have foreign troops in her country. Despite having people criticizing her as her popularity rose, she continued blogging daily with passion. The way she thinks is very logical and reasonable; in her opinion, religion is personal and should not be politicized like it is being nowadays. Her opinion makes a lot of sense, and if Religion were not politicized, maybe the world would have fewer problems to worry about. Although her life seems to be very unexciting, it does not differ greatly from Colby Buzzell’s.
Colby Buzzell started blogging about his life as a soldier in Iraq and since the media does not talk about how soldiers feel during war, his blog became an instant success.
The details in his blog filled an empty gap that was not covered by print or broadcast media. On one hand, his blog was informative about military life but it was highly discouraged by his superiors who feared a loss of control. After a while, U.S. service men and women were asked to submit their blog entries to supervising officers before they posted them on their blog. “How user-generated media can turn hierarchies on their heads” is a remarkable point mentioned by Hunt since the military and other hierarchies seem to care a lot about the information provided to the outsiders and the image it gives off. Hierarchies have been trying to eliminate the use of different websites that may cause a leakage of information they may want to hide from outsiders. However, the real question is why does it really matter to them if bored soldiers are just trying to express the way they feel during war, in the absence of their family and loved ones? One of the answers may reveal that soldiers are also victims of war like Riverbend which in turn affects the image of the U.S. military.
Despite the different sides they represent in war, Riverbend and Buzzell have a lot of things in common such as “numbness,” “boredom,” hatred of war, and harsh realities. They also use the same medium, blogging, as a way of letting out their emotions that build up from the difficulties they face every day. The information they produce to the outsiders is highly consumed which fills in the gaps that are uncovered in the
media.
Hunt mentions a phenomenon where Yochai Benkler, a professor of law, describes our society as a “networked information society and he also argues that a society in which information is freely shared is more efficient than one in which innovations are restricted through the widespread use of government authority.” This statement is very logical because if a society is limited in knowledge it can never be as efficient as other societies that are open to new methods and types of information whether they come from a group of regular bloggers or a group of political pundits.
Hunt asks a very interesting question about how people are capable of understanding what is really happening regionally and globally in the presence of punditocracy. A group of political pundits who are thought to have a great political influence occurred in the second wave of bloggers after the first wave that was politically unengaged. The second wave played a role in the emergence of several types of online activity, and many activists began to organize fellow-activists in their country to advocate for political change. Despite the influence of pundits, people continue to lack knowledge because they tend to mold facts around pundits’ opinions.
Overall, the war in Iraq was most probably the first war that was spoken about in detail, using blogs that can be accessed by everyone. The information provided by bloggers contains strong emotions and more reality unlike journalism, where people are more likely to lack emotions towards the subject they write about, which in turn provides readers with obscure knowledge about what is really happening behind the scenes.
second case presents a "milblog," written by Colby Buzzel who blogs about what it feels like to serve in the U.S. military in Iraq. Hunt mentions that although they represent different sides during this war, they share many similarities. Indeed, after some examination of Hunt’s paper, it becomes clear that there is a lot in common between soldiers and victims of war.
On the surface, Riverbend seems to lead a life different from a soldier’s. She talks about what it feels like to live in Iraq during war, and she gives the audience a perspective of what people like her go through in order to survive. Such details are not given much importance on the news because they are extremely vague and not considered “newsworthy.” Riverbend does not talk about any troop movements; instead she discusses issues like lack of security and basic necessities such as water and electricity. Living in chaos is one of the ways to describe her life during war. Riverbend and her brother "E" learned to identify the types of automatic weapons being used by the sound of their volleys, and this fact gives the audience an idea about the instability of Iraq during the war. The media depict issues that are "newsworthy" in their opinion and most of these issues tend to fade away with time just like how the daily reality of Iraqis faded to the background after a period of time. Riverbend's blog tells the readers how victims of war live their life in fear because they never know what is going to end up happening to them or their family. Yet, readers tend to criticize Riverbend by accusing her of being unabashedly anti-American because her family prospered under the previous regime before the war started. However, she still managed to respond with great courage by claiming that she is anti-occupation and not anti-American. She also stated that she does not long for the days of Saddam, but she does not wish to have foreign troops in her country. Despite having people criticizing her as her popularity rose, she continued blogging daily with passion. The way she thinks is very logical and reasonable; in her opinion, religion is personal and should not be politicized like it is being nowadays. Her opinion makes a lot of sense, and if Religion were not politicized, maybe the world would have fewer problems to worry about. Although her life seems to be very unexciting, it does not differ greatly from Colby Buzzell’s.
Colby Buzzell started blogging about his life as a soldier in Iraq and since the media does not talk about how soldiers feel during war, his blog became an instant success.
The details in his blog filled an empty gap that was not covered by print or broadcast media. On one hand, his blog was informative about military life but it was highly discouraged by his superiors who feared a loss of control. After a while, U.S. service men and women were asked to submit their blog entries to supervising officers before they posted them on their blog. “How user-generated media can turn hierarchies on their heads” is a remarkable point mentioned by Hunt since the military and other hierarchies seem to care a lot about the information provided to the outsiders and the image it gives off. Hierarchies have been trying to eliminate the use of different websites that may cause a leakage of information they may want to hide from outsiders. However, the real question is why does it really matter to them if bored soldiers are just trying to express the way they feel during war, in the absence of their family and loved ones? One of the answers may reveal that soldiers are also victims of war like Riverbend which in turn affects the image of the U.S. military.
Despite the different sides they represent in war, Riverbend and Buzzell have a lot of things in common such as “numbness,” “boredom,” hatred of war, and harsh realities. They also use the same medium, blogging, as a way of letting out their emotions that build up from the difficulties they face every day. The information they produce to the outsiders is highly consumed which fills in the gaps that are uncovered in the
media.
Hunt mentions a phenomenon where Yochai Benkler, a professor of law, describes our society as a “networked information society and he also argues that a society in which information is freely shared is more efficient than one in which innovations are restricted through the widespread use of government authority.” This statement is very logical because if a society is limited in knowledge it can never be as efficient as other societies that are open to new methods and types of information whether they come from a group of regular bloggers or a group of political pundits.
Hunt asks a very interesting question about how people are capable of understanding what is really happening regionally and globally in the presence of punditocracy. A group of political pundits who are thought to have a great political influence occurred in the second wave of bloggers after the first wave that was politically unengaged. The second wave played a role in the emergence of several types of online activity, and many activists began to organize fellow-activists in their country to advocate for political change. Despite the influence of pundits, people continue to lack knowledge because they tend to mold facts around pundits’ opinions.
Overall, the war in Iraq was most probably the first war that was spoken about in detail, using blogs that can be accessed by everyone. The information provided by bloggers contains strong emotions and more reality unlike journalism, where people are more likely to lack emotions towards the subject they write about, which in turn provides readers with obscure knowledge about what is really happening behind the scenes.