Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Both blogger and I have been disfunctionally slow today.
But i'll note a few things.
There's a discussion going on in the mainstreammedia and the blogosphere about gender and race - is blogging a white male gig? I'll have a few thoughts on that.
The transcripts from Kelo and Lingle are up. I found those interesting.
Kelo gets most of the press, because it's an IJ case, and IJ is all about the propaganda war for the hearts and minds of the people, in a way that Chevron isn't.
Kelo v New London CT is about must a taking be for public use.
Lingle (gov. of Hawaii) v Chevron is about a gas station rent control law that doesn't accomplish what it was meant to do. So the argument there is about the standard of review. Can the government take property when doing so doesn't advance any government interest? If so, need just compensation be paid?
The government kept arguing for "rational basis review" which the justices were pretty open about admitting needn't actually be rational at all.
The comeback was that rational basis is a due process concept, but, although footnote 4 of carolene products wasn't mentioned, the court tends to use a higher standard when specific textual rights-confering clauses of the bill of rights are invoked.
The door is opened here to a whole new boutique of wonderful fifth amendment litigation, a new lochner era premised on the takings clause.
I haven't read epstein's amicus brief for the cato institute; it might speak to that potential.
I'm not saying the court will walk through that door.
These cases might end up being interesting only for dissents by Thomas.
But that they are hearing cases like this, is a good thing. That IJ has gotten two of its cases heard this term is real progress toward their agenda of bringing back economic privileges and immunities.
Ok, now about those white male bloggers.
I've identified four of the factors that go into this statistic.
1 Chimp factor.
2 Focus.
3 Blogs v other media.
4 Historical factors.
Chimp factor - male baboons compete by being bigger and meaner. baboons are like linebackers. male chimps compete by being smarter and funnier. chimps are like...bloggers. it's all about, look at me, look at me.
This is why I don't listen to rap.
Focus - there are 4 million bloggers. 2 million are women. the male bloggers link to
instapundit and kos and volokh. the female bloggers link to their coworkers and cousins and old roommates and livejournal friends.
It's like the old cartoon. He makes the important decisions, like how they stand on NAFTA or Kyoto. She makes the unimportant decisions, like what they'll have for dinner, what color to paint the house, where they'll go on vacation...
Women bloggers tend to have a different focus. This is because women are practical and reality-based, where men are romantic dreamers.
Other media- Once upon a time, there was digital divide. And then the local library here in the ghetto got online, and the hoodrats are online, tieing up all the computers, whenever the library's open, but they aren't reading blogs. They are watching music videos and chatting to their buddies on blackplanet.
The people who read blogs are the people who used to read newspapers and books.
Historical factors - blogging is pretty easy. But for a lot of us who blog, it's because we've been online for years and already feel comfortable with the technology.
And in the old days, that was mostly geeks, and geeks were mostly white males, from a social class that could afford a computer.
Now pretty much every high school and college kid has a computer or access to one, so that aspect should change over time. I'm not sure I know any way-successful blogger under 18, but it'll happen more and more.
Factor 5 would have to with a correlation between white male privilege and the big block of mostly unpaid time that blogging takes up. It's easier to blog between law school classes than in breaks from the assembly line or plowing the back 40...
although I'm sure there's tractor-based blogging going on if you know where to look for it. This was another day I didn't get my chores done - for me blogging is a form of escapism - it's something I do when I'm avoiding work.
But i'll note a few things.
There's a discussion going on in the mainstreammedia and the blogosphere about gender and race - is blogging a white male gig? I'll have a few thoughts on that.
The transcripts from Kelo and Lingle are up. I found those interesting.
Kelo gets most of the press, because it's an IJ case, and IJ is all about the propaganda war for the hearts and minds of the people, in a way that Chevron isn't.
Kelo v New London CT is about must a taking be for public use.
Lingle (gov. of Hawaii) v Chevron is about a gas station rent control law that doesn't accomplish what it was meant to do. So the argument there is about the standard of review. Can the government take property when doing so doesn't advance any government interest? If so, need just compensation be paid?
The government kept arguing for "rational basis review" which the justices were pretty open about admitting needn't actually be rational at all.
The comeback was that rational basis is a due process concept, but, although footnote 4 of carolene products wasn't mentioned, the court tends to use a higher standard when specific textual rights-confering clauses of the bill of rights are invoked.
The door is opened here to a whole new boutique of wonderful fifth amendment litigation, a new lochner era premised on the takings clause.
I haven't read epstein's amicus brief for the cato institute; it might speak to that potential.
I'm not saying the court will walk through that door.
These cases might end up being interesting only for dissents by Thomas.
But that they are hearing cases like this, is a good thing. That IJ has gotten two of its cases heard this term is real progress toward their agenda of bringing back economic privileges and immunities.
Ok, now about those white male bloggers.
I've identified four of the factors that go into this statistic.
1 Chimp factor.
2 Focus.
3 Blogs v other media.
4 Historical factors.
Chimp factor - male baboons compete by being bigger and meaner. baboons are like linebackers. male chimps compete by being smarter and funnier. chimps are like...bloggers. it's all about, look at me, look at me.
This is why I don't listen to rap.
Focus - there are 4 million bloggers. 2 million are women. the male bloggers link to
instapundit and kos and volokh. the female bloggers link to their coworkers and cousins and old roommates and livejournal friends.
It's like the old cartoon. He makes the important decisions, like how they stand on NAFTA or Kyoto. She makes the unimportant decisions, like what they'll have for dinner, what color to paint the house, where they'll go on vacation...
Women bloggers tend to have a different focus. This is because women are practical and reality-based, where men are romantic dreamers.
Other media- Once upon a time, there was digital divide. And then the local library here in the ghetto got online, and the hoodrats are online, tieing up all the computers, whenever the library's open, but they aren't reading blogs. They are watching music videos and chatting to their buddies on blackplanet.
The people who read blogs are the people who used to read newspapers and books.
Historical factors - blogging is pretty easy. But for a lot of us who blog, it's because we've been online for years and already feel comfortable with the technology.
And in the old days, that was mostly geeks, and geeks were mostly white males, from a social class that could afford a computer.
Now pretty much every high school and college kid has a computer or access to one, so that aspect should change over time. I'm not sure I know any way-successful blogger under 18, but it'll happen more and more.
Factor 5 would have to with a correlation between white male privilege and the big block of mostly unpaid time that blogging takes up. It's easier to blog between law school classes than in breaks from the assembly line or plowing the back 40...
although I'm sure there's tractor-based blogging going on if you know where to look for it. This was another day I didn't get my chores done - for me blogging is a form of escapism - it's something I do when I'm avoiding work.
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