The idea behind the (new) Muckrakers blog is for the authors to present relatively short, edgy, blog articles that will be engaging for the readers. This is not to say that the regular editorials are to move towards a format, which is overly wordy and monotonous, but rather that these short pieces will act as catalysts, which will provoke the reader’s thoughts, rather than acting as a guiding voice, which the editorials should tend to do.

However, I must confess that I generally detest the increasingly common attempts to deal with substantial societal issues in a, seemingly, ever decreasing number of words. This is not to say that the state of political and social discourse is getting worse across the board. I’m not a complete decadent (or nihilist for that matter). Some of the discussions which are had in our media (primarily newspapers and public radio) are remarkably thoughtful and well-written (or well-spoken). The vast amount of thoughtless discourse to which we are subjected seems to be a consequence of more people being allowed into the media. Cable news networks need to pass the day away somehow, and so they often instigate contrived and unedifying discourse rather than calling it a day. The internet has allowed everyone the chance to be in “the media”, which is not a bad thing by any means, but has resulted in an unspeakable quantity of worthless material.

At this point it seems that a short, edgy blog might not be worth writing. Indeed, it could easily turn out to be a pursuit of little value if one was careless in writing such a thing. Nonetheless, there is promise for creating valuable discourse through this medium. The University community is ripe with brilliant and creative minds, and perhaps blogs such as these are an excellent way by which to engage them. Indeed, many of the op-ed articles posted on The Badger Herald website attract diverse, creative, and most importantly, thoughtful responses (although this is not a steadfast rule). These responses add to the original articles, even when critical of them, in a remarkably constructive way. Thus, out of the spirit of experimentalism and constructive discourse, I will write this blog in the follow way…

Every week, I will aim to write short and engaging blog entries on recurring themes, rather than taking up a new issue with every post. The goal will be to draw out responses from the readers so that, over time, a more diverse and thorough understanding of the topics might be achieved. The focus of the blog will be on issues facing Wisconsin. However, being that so many of the issues facing Wisconsin are the same issues facing the world as a whole, I will not make an attempt to limit the scope of readers responses. To start out, the recurring issues will be environmental problems and education. Both problems are of particular interest here in Wisconsin, which has historically been progressively minded with respect to both. However, given the increasingly urgent nature of environmental problems and the new challenges of maintaining and improving the public education system in a declining economy, these issues deserve fresh investigation. I certainly hope that you will keep reading, and moreover, that we can create something valuable together.

auf wiedersehen,

Karl