Have you ever considered the composition of the self-selected group of people who visit and/or write for a given blog on a regular basis? The audience of various blogs on AlterNet.org, for instance, is probably quite different from the writers and readers of a blog featured on, say, the National Review website.

Undoubtedly, the similarities between the readers and writers of each of these blogs — as well as the differences between the audiences and writers of these two blogs as collective groups — become the basis for ”citizenship“ in their respective virtual communities. And in the process certain groups, perspectives, and identities get excluded or marginalized in the discussions that the blog features and facilitates.

Not surprisingly, such exclusion and marginalization produce a fair number of ”isms“ (yes, even members of the PULSE team and our readers are guilty of a case of the ”isms,“ even if it is primarily anti-Bushism). As Brooklyn writer John Lee recently divulged in ”Blogging While (Anti) Black,“ blogs such as Gawker and Wonkette seek to sustain an aura of hipness by joking about non-whites being second-class citizens. He writes:

Gawker is run by a New York Observer contributor named Choire Sicha … In an article covering the New Yorker Magazine Festival, Sicha reports that, ”around me the audience is white,“ although he also says that he sees people like ZZ Packer and Edwidge Danticat (of whom he says ”Edwidge is also adorable — you want to drive around with her in a giant Haitian-mobile and smoke a little weed“). Both of these women writers appear, at least to casual inspection, not to be white. In truth, there were several people at the three-day event who aren’t white, despite his claims, and whom he characterizes suspiciously by ethnicity. Sicha’s descriptions of non-whites seem to fall into the usual pattern of one part paternalism and two parts Maplethorpeian admiration.

Ana Marie Cox, a.k.a. Wonkette, is Sicha’s DC counterpart. Her mission: to plumb the DC gossip scene for any signs of life in a town where getting invited to a Beltway power party is harder than getting a reservation at Nobu during a Mad Cow Disease scare. For a city that arguably controls the fate of the known world, DC has a social scene that is only slightly more interesting than life on an Alaskan oil field — this city’s idea of a velvet rope is ten secret service guys standing in a row. Cox’s current main source of stories seems to be blog-refusnik Matt Drudge (oddly, she’s simultaneously constantly plugging rumors that Drudge is gay) …

Like Sicha, Cox injects ethnicity into even the most mundane occurrences. After a VH-1 Pop Quiz given to Democratic candidates about various music, sports and film icons, she declares ”Wes Clark: The whitest candidate in a very, very white field.“ Evidently, not knowing who starred in Total Recall or who wrote the Harry Potter books makes you white. Both sites seem obsessed with the eugenics of not just people, but ideas. But you don’t have to take my word for it, let’s examine some actual entries from the websites:

Proof Of Strife

Gawker: Jan 19: Media Bubble: Something Going On In Iowa?

Evidently there’s some sort of national holiday today? Also some election thing is going on in Nebraska or Iowa or some flat state. I didn’t really catch it.

There are many things one can say about Martin Luther King, and it’s fair game (though kind of poor taste) to poke fun at his alleged infidelity, but denying the holiday even exists is worse than marginalizing the event. He gave his life for what he believed in and there are still states and cities that refuse to recognize this federal holiday to make a direct statement about their politics. Gawker cast down its gauntlet in questionable company …

Wonkette: Feb 06:

Russell Simmons: Bothering the White Folks Again #

Lloyd Grove reports on Wednesday night’s Victory Campaign 2004: A bunch of liberal celebrities got together to bash Bush and showed PowerPoint presentations. Is there anything more politically inspiring? Way to excite the base, guys. Then hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons harshed everyone’s mellow, saying ”The shit y’all doing is corny“ and ”We are not included!“ That’s no way to get invited to the after-party, Russell. Can someone give him some ”bling-bling“ or whatever those people call it and tell him to be quiet?

Laughing at Russell Simmons is easy — he’s got that lisp, and a trophy wife who by our estimates costs him about $50,000 a day. However, there is a huge chasm between humor that’s good-humored and the wink-nudge barb that seems hip, but in fact serves to divide.

Gawker: Feb 6.

Too Black, Too Strong

Hey! It’s Black History Month! And it’s leap year, too, so we get a special extra day of blackness in the media. Here’s an in-depth report that I like to call ”Black History Month: What’s Up With Black People These Days?“ ….

… Well, looks like those are all the black people in the news today — one presentation of a marketing scheme in the paper of record and one gossip item painting an incredibly successful (if highly annoying) businessman as a buffoon. Okay, we’ll look for more black people tomorrow! Maybe Nicole Richie will slice someone up at fashion week.

Ummm, yeah. So next time someone tries to convince you that the internet is increasing our interconnectedness, think again. The internet may just be contributing to the maintenance of the barriers and stereotypes that keep us apart — though those barriers may now be more easily accessible to a larger number of people.

Laura Nathan-Garner