I'm sure everyone is going to go after Eugene in a different way.  Nothing Euege said struck me as surprising.  However, as usual, I found him to be very hypocritical.  Basically, he spent the entire column talking about how bloggers are not important, have no impact on anything, pretend to be something they're not, and shouldn't be taken seriously.  Then he lamented about how there isn't enough diversity among us.

Way to encourage more African Americans to blog Euege.  You have a large megaphone.  Many African Americans read your column, I'm sure for some kind of inspiration.  Many would I'm sure like to take up writing, and have opinions that they would like to be shared.  Blogging is an excellent way to do that.  For those of us who may not want to be journalists full time like you, but have that bug to write, blogging is a fantastic outlet.  I'm sure there are just as many black people who would do the same.  Dasha Kelly mentioned several times about how she has only grown to enjoy blogging as she's done it more and more.  Renee Crawford mentioned how she had to almost be begged to blog by someone, and now she does it all the time, and seems to enjoy it very much.

During the Blog Summit, you talked about how mainstream media still doesn't have enough black writers, and how that needs to be encouraged.  What better way is there for a young black writer to practice the craft, gain experience, and perhaps get exposure, than through blogging?  And yet all you can do is look down on us, and discourage us.  Why would anyone reading your column who thought about blogging, but hadn't started yet, want to take it up after finishing your rant?

If you think there needs to be more diversity in the blogosphere, then you need to be active in promoting it, not dismissing it.  If you think there should be more African American writers, then I would think that encouraging black writers to blog would be a good means to that end.  Or do you enjoy your place as a black columnist for the Journal too much for a little competition?