YouTube Owes the Blogosphere an Apology

It was a great idea in theory. CNN was teaming with YouTube for a Democrat Presidential debate on the 23rd, and instead of having a moderator or journalists asking questions, the questions came directly from YouTube members.

And it sucked. Out loud. "Gigli"-level suckitude.

Take the example of the person who dressed up like a snowman to ask a question about global warming. Or the YouTuber who asked Barack Obama if he was "black enough." And those were just the memorable questions. This experiment was a combination of "Meet the Press" and the first round of "American Idol."

As much as I'd like to chalk this up to just the silliness of the faux left, there's a part of me that wonders if this wasn't a set-up from the word go. Granted, this is black helicopter...sorry, African-American helicopter stuff, but it is at least worth some consideration.

CNN represents one of the "old media" that has been losing audience to the "new media," which includes the Internet. And what's the hottest site on the Internet...well aside from LiveNudeMomsWithBigT...well, you get the idea? It's YouTube. Since CNN used to be the big dog on the political block, it's entirely possible that they planned to use the latest Democrat debate as a means to marginalize the "new media" all at once by putting on some of the lamest video questions they could find. That way, CNN comes off looking more serious, and the "new media" is left with images of grown people dressed up like snowmen as the standard bearers that the "old media" painted the "new media" to be.

Even if CNN wasn't plotting against the "new media" to the extent that I just posed they did, the YouTube people owe the blogosphere an apology. Granted, there are blogs and websites out there that don't elevate the grander elements of the Internet (like mine, for instance), but there are some hard-working people out there who really do as good if not a better job than the "old media" have done in the past 20 years. You guys had an opportunity to showcase the best we in the "new media" have to offer.

And you treated the opportunity like crap.

But at least an adult got to ask a question about global warming dressed up like a snowman, right?