"Whose afraid of bloggers?" asks Jason Riley. The emergence of countless reporters, writers, and pundits who post their thoughts online in web logs is a healthy development he says, and unlikely to render traditional journalists obsolete. "Professional journalists seem to be really worried about these guys. Either they're intimidated by them, or they just feel they are encroaching on their turf. To the extent that these guys are out there and they are keeping mainstream journalists on their toes, double checking their sources, punching holes in their weak arguments, I think it's a good thing for the industry."
Being an "environmentalist" is more than calling yourself one, says Kim Strassel. "Over the years organizations like the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife have been able to say, by taking this word, 'If you don't agree with our policies, which are very heavily based on regulation and litigation, then you are an anti-environmentalist.' By definition all you need to do to be an environmentalist is to care about improving your natural surroundings. Most Americans do. It so happens that many have very different views than the Sierra Club on how to accomplish that, whether it be through the free market or through working with private groups, rather than government, or just volunteering on the weekend to pick up trash in our local parks. I encourage all of them to take back the word, if for no other reason than that they deserve it."
When new technologies start wasting more time than they are saving, it is time to hop off the train of Progress, says Daniel Henninger. "I am not a Luddite, but, this stuff is turning me into a Neo-Luddite. I'm spending too many hours of my life either fixing software glitches, rebooting my computer, or re-reading manuals for things like cell phones and DVD players. My whole life is being sucked into the world of engineers. They like to deal with this Mickey Mouse stuff and solve these little problems. I don't. I'm trying to escape from their world. Does that make me a Luddite? I don't think so. It makes me a sane person."
