This is not a political essay. I wish it were—it would be more fun. As a right-leaning guy myself, I could probably have a cup of coffee with Matt Drudge and not have it end in a shouting match. But his news aggregation website is (unintentionally) probably the best money-making tool in the popular press.
I was first introduced to the Drudge Report back in 1998 or so. There were some real wingnuts I used to work with in the Coast Guard who spent all their time on the site, hitting the refresh button, looking for updates.
This was when the Clinton/Lewinsky affair was going on and it was widely recognized that “alternative media” was to be taken seriously, since the mainstream media were all in possession of information that the president was having an affair but refused to report it.
More information is almost always better. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. There is an essay in here, about openness.
So I’ve read the Drudge Report on and off for the last 17 years, up until the last year or two, when I quit. I will explain why in a second.
I always felt that Matt Drudge was linking to things I found important—things I wanted to read, particularly about surveillance/privacy, which is a hobby horse of his, and mine.
And then there were the “Headless Body Found in Topless Bar” headlines that always made their way into the mix.
As I write this, it’s Sunday, December 27. Let’s see what’s going on over at the Drudge Report.
• Headline, in all caps: ANTI-TECH MOVEMENT GROWS. Literally, an article about Luddism, people rejecting technology. Kaczynski must be proud to see his manifesto reworked in the Washington Post.
You can short technology if you want. You first.
• Another anti-technology headline: “Man distracted by cell phone walks off cliff.” You might recall the Drudge Report articles from 5-10 years ago about cell phones causing brain cancer. Never happened.