LOST IN 'BLOGISTAN': Alex Beam of the "Boston Globe" wanders into the world of blogs, takes a look around and decides it's not fit for the likes of a serious journalist such as himself. Unfortunately for Beam, he dissed James Lileks. Bad idea.

The main problem I have with this piece is the writer's lack of knowledge of his subject. Noting blogger Bjorn Staerk's "bizarre recommitment to left-wing raving," he fails to realize that it was an April Fools' Day joke. And he fails to acknowledge that there's already a blog called Blogistan. (Pardon me while I wander into the "echo chamber of self-regard," but thanks for the perma-link, Justin. I don't think you're "outre," no matter what Beam says. In fact, one of the reasons I like you is because you and other bloggers would never use the word "outre.")

One of Beam's bravest lines is the very last. After sarcastically naming a couple of bloggers who expressed some jumping-on-the-bandwagon sentiments, he writes this:

Maybe you will even be mocked in a medium that people actually read.

Is Beam referrring to the rapidly declining print medium, which fewer people are actually reading, or the Web? Echoing a recent piece in the "Weekly Standard," It seems to me that blogs are going to help newspapers, including ones that publish tripe such as this. The circulation of this link among the blogosphere will increase Beam's Web readership, undeserved as it is.

I found this link over at Romenesko, but I see that Glenn "Tha Bloggfatha" Reynolds saw it, too. I would say go check it out, but I'm sure that you already have. After all, Beam nailed us on this, too:

Another cloying attribute of bloggers is their intense admiration for other bloggers.

And a cloying attribute of snide, elitist opinion columnists is their casual dismissal of any grass-roots challenge to their perceived authority. Bloggers may be unaware of a lot of things, but they've been all over that.