At the recently-ended yearly Nutroots Convention the loony Left stretched out and reached a new level of vacuousness. From Yahoo:
In a move that might make some people scratch their heads, a loosely formed coalition of left-leaning bloggers are trying to band together to form a labor union they hope will help them receive health insurance, conduct collective bargaining or even set professional standards.
Organizers hope a bloggers’ labor group will not only showcase the growing professionalism of the Web-based writers, but also the importance of their roles in candidates’ campaigns.
In a world as diverse, vocal and unwieldy as the blogosphere, there’s no consensus about what type of organization is needed and who should be included. Some argue for a free-standing association for activist bloggers while others suggest a guild open to any blogger — from knitting fans to video gamers — that could be created within established labor groups.
Others see a blogger coalition as a way to find health insurance discounts, fight for press credentials or even establish guidelines for dealing with advertising and presenting data on page views.
“The reason I like blogging is that it’s very anarchistic. I can do whatever I want whenever I want, and oh my God, you’re not going to tell me what to do,” said Curt Hopkins, the founder of the Committee to Protect Bloggers.
“The blogosphere is such a weird term and such a weird idea. It’s anyone who wants to do it,” Hopkins said. “There’s absolutely no commonality there. How will they find a commonality to go on? I think it’s doomed to failure on any sort of large scale.”
While bloggers work to organize their own labor movement, their growing numbers are already being courted by some unions.
“Bloggers are on our radar screen right now for approaching and recruiting into the union,” said Gerry Colby, president of the National Writers Union, a local of the United Auto Workers. “We’re trying to develop strategies to reach bloggers and encourage them to join.”
Sitting at a panel titled “A Union for Bloggers: It’s Time to Organize” at this week’s YearlyKos Convention for bloggers in Chicago, Burgard said she’d welcome a chance to join a unionized blogging community.
Huh?
You mean that if I’m a blogger and I don’t belong to a union … what? I get fired? If I don’t belong (and pay dues) to a particular union does this mean no one is allowed to read my stuff, or link to me? If I don’t join a certain union does this mean I cannot guest write for other blogs?
But any perceived importance of their roles in candidates’ campaigns is something the Nutroots is wanting more than life itself. The problem is that most voters and candidates understand that bloggers amount to less than 5% of the votes – a marginal group at best.
“Maybe we could get more jobs, bona fide jobs,”? Geez, maybe they should get bona fide jobs OUTSIDE of internet writing to start with, huh?
“Their growing numbers are already being courted by some unions.” Uh, yeah, they’re seeing another million dollars of union dues paid for my mindless myrmidons.
I don’t like unions and I will not be a member of any union. Please, just go away.
blogger, blogosphere, blogging, labor movement, unions, YearlyKos
