Aside from the deletionism vs. inclusionism debate–which is, in fact, a face-off between two competing theories of knowledge rather than a mere spat over the purpose of Wikipedia per se.–maybe the most profound philosophical connundrum offered by this wired, interconnected world of ours is the one about whether blogging actually matters. Like, if you’re an “ethnic Ashkenazi against Zionist Israel” with a 22 on technorati, does it really matter that you want people to protest the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra during its upcoming midwestern swing? More to the point, what sort of Emersonian–or, dare I say it, objectivist–belief in the infinite capabilities of the individual makes you think it could, in fact, matter?

There’ s a little of the egomaniacal in every blog–hell, Glenn Reynolds doesn’t even allow comments on his. But that egomania can be channeled into ends both good and bad: I’d put Ivy Gate-style public shaming in the “bad” column, along with our “ethnic Ashkenazi” and the thousands of other people casting their anger and frustration into the infinite vacuum of the internet, where it usually dissipates without doing much harm to public discourse. To illustrate: if I go up to an anti-Zionist and start yelling at him hysterically, he can’t ignore me and I can’t help but do a terrible disservice both to myself and to the position I’m arguing. But the internet is so vast that provocations like this barely register. The anger is unfocused–it’s floating, wandering, fading away.

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But I really like this website, which is easily the best in the Columbia blogosphere. The Comm. is still this university’s only source of up-to-the minute opinion and commentary, but Pete and Rob are to the list what Basho was to the haiku, or, more appropriately, what Urban Meyer is to the spread offense. PaRMLoT isn’t quite up to Opinion Journal status, but it’s at least as trustworthy as those awful Slate blogs…

…One blog of suspect trustworthiness if Marty Peretz’s little patch of internet over at TNR. Last November the Spine generated discussion when it reported that Joseph Massad had been denied tenure; naturally, the vehemently pro-Israel Peretz has fixated on fair Alma’s conroversial record on the Middle East. Rightfully so: one wonders how intellectually disengaged we’d have to be not to question a place that’s deified Edward Said, invited Ahmadinejad to speak on campus (twice!), whitewashed an investigation into ethnically-motivated academic bullying and (maybe) given tenure to Joseph Massad.

But Peretz’s fixation on Columbia–and PrezBo in particular–seems due to a lazy inability to pass along blame where blame is due. The problem isn’t that Bollinger is “ignoring the obvious” in allegedly allowing the hiring of Timothy Mitchell–it’s that hiring power within individual departments still has as much to do with intellectual cronyism than it does with academic talent. It’s unconscionable to me that a person who is on the record as, essentially, treating Israeli scholars as if they don’t exist  would be put in charge of graduate studies within any department at an Ivy League university. But PrezBo’s opposition to that boycott goes to show just how little control he has–and by extension, how little the institution has–over the intellectual life of the university. Debating the obviously broken system of checks-and-balances within academia seems more constructive than regurgitated condemnation of a single school, even if that condemnation is, in some sense, wholly warranted. He’s picking on too easy of a target.

In case the awesome reportorial powers of the Columbia student journalism corps isn’t satisfying your Obamacain fix (sorry; it’s just really great shorthand), this blog is here to help. And wow does it have everyone else beat: those J-school students unearthed one useful or interesting tidbit after another, the most useful and interesting of which is this guest list of celebrities, dignitaries and Middle Eastern monarchs. In case James Franco didn’t satisfy your inner stalker, today you’ll have the chance to hunt down:

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Ok, so how post-ironic is this? I’m blogging about an article about blogging! Even more entangled, I’m about to blog about the online comments of an article about the online comments on blogs. My thoughts about Emily Gould’s front page article, titled, “Exposed,” for this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, posted on NYTimes.com Thursday morning, can be summarized by bits and pieces of the 727 readers’ comments so far amassed.
First, from “ML:”

Why is this article on the top of the times home page??

The comments of one “Joseph” echoes the sentiment.

I expect more from the New York Times.

His comment has so far been “recommended” by 183 other readers. The comments range from the annoyed and angry to the philosophical. “von” from detroit writes one of my favorites:

It sounds to me, Emily, that perhaps it’s time to dust off your Sartre…is not blogging but a modern version of the personal hue and cry of the self for meaning, for some sort of proportion to the obliterating anonymity of being one solipsistic bag of goo in the anthill among the vacuum of the cosmos?

(A side note: an interesting variety of uses of everyone’s favorite prefix: “post.” “von” refers to his “post-New York friends,” and another commenter to “today’s post-teens.” I wonder whether they have reverted the prefix back to its pre-ironic, temperal meaning, or if they know something I don’t about New York and teenhood.)

The article in question will apparently grace that pedestal of New York journalism; nay, any journalism, on Sunday: the cover of the Magazine. In it, former Gawker editor Emily Gould laments about her years spent under a magnifying glass of her own creation. Rather than using her personal narrative as a starting point to probe into the interesting, if already explored phenomenon of our generation’s obsession with posting their lives online, she drones on for 10 online pages about herself. Gould bemoans the internet culture of “oversharing” in an article that contains lines like:

On our last day, I congratulated myself on having made it through the trip without letting these jokes turn into real betrayal. And then, 20 minutes outside the city on the Long Island Railroad on the way home, Josh kissed me.

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Name My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

Claim to fame: Part of the Columbia ‘11 network on Facebook.

Preferred swim test stroke? The survival stroke. Kind of like the front stroke, except instead of stretching your arms out to the front, you do it to not die.

What are three things you learned at Columbia? JJ’s Place is open on Sunday. Hungarian rocks. Tautological equivalence.

Justify your existence in 30 words or less: Once I’m officially regional manager, my first order of business will be to demote Jim Halpert. So I will need a new number two. My ideal choice? Jack Bauer. But he is unavailable. Fictional. And overqualified.

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Hey kids, if anyone actually reads what I write…

I’ve been literally racking my brain trying to write a both diplomatic and honest opinion piece on this upcoming election. Seeing as my editor has already posted his opinions, however, I think it is only fair for me to write a quick blurb to, well, balance out our personal opinions.

Joined by my editor, I met with both candidates for roughly an hour and a half, each. I really think both candidates listened to the questions Armin and I asked them and responded honestly. They really were both engaged in our conversations. However, with Alidad, I found that I was asking more questions and addressing more topics he really hadn’t thought about before our interview. I think this is because he is more of a technocrat and, well, George is just a “power to the people” type of dude.

Side note: George has also been my friend for a while now, whereas Alidad and I just became acquainted because I reached out to him for an interview.

George’s main concern regarding the past failings of student councils was the hunger strikers and the fact that they were willing to put their bodies on their line for a cause that was by no means worth starving over.  FYI, KIDS: The Core Curriculum is ALWAYS being reviewed by both students and faculty–ANY students and faculty willing to try to revise it can do so.

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So I thought to counter-balance that negative Nancy hit list post, I’d share a heartwarming story about a ditzy blonde and a former Soviet Union nation.

And here I was, thinking the U.S. had good taste when I found out ye good ole Americans snubbed our favorite down home Goldie Locks. I am shocked and appalled that Jessica Simpson’s new movie, “Blonde Amtition” went straight to DVD, except for making like five bucks at the handful of Texan theaters it was shown at. However, my first reaction to this devastating news was HOLD OUT FOR THE UKRAINIANS, JESSICA! Not all hope is lost!

And boy was I right! This shit opened #1 and made $253,008 at the box office its opening weekend. The Box Office Mojo tried to explain this miraculous windfall, saying, “The former Soviet nations have a sweet tooth for straight-up comedies. When these comedies have big name celebrities like Jessica Simpson’s, that’s all that’s needed to sell the movie. Russian and Ukrainian audiences have an even bigger urge for escapism than Americans. So, films like “Blonde Ambition” will gross more than “No Country for Old Men.”‘

Hot damn. The Ukrainian department of Tourism but be shitting itself right now. “Escape to the Ukraine! The land that nobody wants to live in!” Seriously, that really insults the Ukrainian I.Q..  At least compare “Blonde Ambition” to a movie that wasn’t Oscar-nominated to make it a fair comparison. Also, they should not advertise that they’ll buy anything or you know Paris Hilton is going to build herself a Polly Pocket palace up in there and sell some more perfume and a translated autobiography and they’ll regret every having announced their love of awful C-list movies.  Also, I’m no geography expert, but isn’t the Ukraine pretty damn close to Russia, aka the land that invented Vodka?!  Cross the border for some escapism, guys!  It’s what underage American kids do!

Like these guys. The SIPA blog’s running a little thin at the moment, but it looks like it’s got potential. Once Jagdish Bhagwadi wins his Nobel, it’ll be the only Oslo-approved outlet in the entire Columbia blogosphere. He’s a huge talent, Morningside Post-ers. Don’t waste him.

Looks like those GSers are smarter than you all give them credit for. For the past three weeks our campus has looked more like Columbia, Missouri than Columbia University–and the recent lull in activity offers the perfect opportunity to thrust pet issues upon a rapt and controversy-starved student public. And that’s what the GSSC will hopefully do at tonight’s town hall meeting on finance.

The GSers’ gripes about financial aid are both long-standing and legitimate. Contrary to popular belief, GS is not a continuing education or professional school–GSers are studying for undergraduate degrees that require the same number of credits as the ones awarded to CC students, and the differences between the GS and CC academic programs aren’t as meaningful as snobbish CCers make them out to be.

GS financial aid has always been a thorny issue, as it carries huge implications for GS’s survival as a distinct undergraduate school. Without a huge, rich alumni base (remember that most GSers graduate well into adulthood) there’s very little money laying around for scholarships; meanwhile the school’s unique application process all but disallows the awarding of need-based financial aid. One solution is instituting need-based aid and slashing the number of available application slots; another is to merge CC and GS so that they each draw from the same financial aid pool.

The better solution is for the Columbia administration to set aside more money for “merit-based” GS aid–to make GS giving a line item in the Columbia Campaign, and to solicit donations from CC alumni who understand the benefits of preserving GS as a unique and distinct undergraduate school.

Could GS financial aid turn into a big campus cause? Probably not. But hopefully tonight’s meeting and Chima’s article will get people talking.

ZEN: And now the Larry Johnson rant on the Khalidi-Obama connection is on the Huffington Post, Technorati authority: 2019832109832. Great. Juuuuust great.