Interview with Blogger Dylan Mathews

By The Pakistani Spectator • Jul 21st, 2008 • Category: Interviews • (3,471 views) • No Responses

Would you please tell us something about you and your site?

My name is Dylan Matthews, I’m 18, and I live in rural New Hampshire, near Dartmouth College. I just graduated from the public high school there, and I’ll be heading to Harvard next fall. I started reading blogs when I was 12 or 13, as a natural outgrowth of my reading Slate, and I started my own, originally under the pseudonym Minipundit, on my 14th birthday in 2004. I’ve been writing for it more or less ever since, give or take a few breaks.

Do you feel that you continue to grow in your writing the longer you write? Why is that important to you?

Certainly. It’s a cliché now, but the more you write, and the more good writing you read, the better writer you become. Being able to communicate well in words is important to me in and of itself, but it’s come in handy for school, application essays, etc.

I’m wondering what some of your memorable experiences are with blogging?

Where to start? I guess my first interesting experience was when this conservative blogger - who at this point was in his 30s, at least, while I was 15 - decided that I was his nemesis, and started responding to every post I wrote. His responses weren’t particularly coherent, but I did get a sense of how far the Internet can spread things. I got attacked from the other side in the summer of 2006, when this off-the-cuff post I wrote predicting a Lieberman victory in the Connecticut Senate primary got picked up by MyDD, and my site was flooded by readers after Lieberman lost to Lamont. It was a weird situation, in that I had actually reversed myself when Lamont started looking viable, and I certainly would have voted for Lamont had I lived in Connecticut.

What do you do in order to keep up your communication with other bloggers?

Well, I’m currently interning at The American Prospect, where communicating with other bloggers is a matter of peaking your head over the cubicle wall. But before that, regularly checking an RSS reader to keep up on what your favorite bloggers are writing, and not being afraid to email them, is very important. One of the most valuable things that’s happened to me recently has been the formation of an ad-hoc young liberal blogger coalition, including me, Matt Zeitlin, Ned Resnikoff, Mike Meginnis, Jamelle Bouie, and John Cain, among others. Having a group to bounce ideas off of in private, and to coordinate joint advocacy and such with, is just great.

What do you think is the most exciting or most innovative use of technology in politics right now?

I think the most underreported story of the 2008 cycle has been how seriously the Obama campaign takes its social networking site, My.BarackObama.com . When I worked for the campaign in 2007, everyone thought it was crazy how much of our work was focused on scheduling events on MyBO, getting MyBO friends, etc., etc. But in the end, we had a massive volunteer army at our fingertips because of that site, and it’s getting even bigger for the general election.

Do you think that these new technologies are effective in making people more responsive?

Definitely. Take what TPM Media is doing. Josh Marshall and his team broke the US Attorney firing scandal - period. No other news organization was looking into it. But because of this ragtag team of bloggers, it became national news, and eventually forced out a sitting Attorney General. That’s real power.

What do you think sets Your site apart from others?

I have a friend who likes to quote the old comic strip character Pogo as saying, “Don’t take life so serious, son. It ain’t no how permanent.” While this is serious stuff, I try to keep it in perspective, and to maintain an ability to laugh at the absurdity of it.

If you could choose one characteristic you have that brought you success in life, what would it be?

An ability to sit in front of a computer screen for hours and read. I’m not kidding.

What was the happiest and gloomiest moment of your life?

Whoa, getting a little personal now, are we? I was pretty happy when Obama won Iowa. I was pretty annoyed when Crash won Best Picture.

If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for - what would your top 3 choices be?

1) Brussels. The EU fascinates me.

2) Geneva. International organizations - is there really anything better?

3) Prague. I really don’t know why, but it’s Prague.

What is your favorite book and why?

The Twenty Years’ Crisis by E.H. Carr. In 200 pages, you learn how to think about international affairs, and have a hell of a good time doing it. Carr writes well, and thinks even better.

What’s the first thing you notice about a person (whether you know them or not)?

Hmm. Do you mean physically? I guess I maintain an excess degree of empathy for the bespectacled. When I talk to a person, I tend to note an ability to form coherent thoughts, and an interest in substantive concerns as opposed to smalltalk.

Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?

I think I may be the only person who doesn’t have a “you can’t do what your future career necessitates” story. But my third-grade teacher (hey, Ms. McCoy) told me and my parents that I was bad at math, because I didn’t follow the directions on her worksheets. And I’m glad I didn’t - if I spent my life following directions, I’d never get anywhere.

How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?

Ads. Landing a job at The Atlantic or Center for American Progress that’s financed by ads. Ads.

Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?

Well, yeah, but a successful painter or baller or musician does too, and no one judges them for it. I ‘d like to think that Kevin Drum serves the public interest at least as much as Kevin Garnett.

What role can bloggers of the world play to make this world more friendlier and less hostile?

I don’t know if that’s the relevant question. I think bloggers have shown an ability to make the world at least a little bit more just. That requires hostility at times; I don’t suspect the Obama campaign liked it when anti-FISA forces hijacked MyBO to fight for the fourth amendment. But it’s worth it in the end.

Who are your top five favourite bloggers?

I love the teen bloggers listed above to death, as well as TAPPED, the Prospect’s group blog, but given my lack of impartiality about those, I’m leaving them off the list.
1) Kevin Drum

2) Matt Yglesias

3) Ezra Klein

These three are exemplars of what Drum calls the “wonkosphere”. While MyDD and DailyKos focus on winning elections and fighting issue wars, Drum, Yglesias, and Klein debate policy for their livings. They love them some graphs and know more about Rawls than any non-academic should. They come as close to the platonic ideal of the blogosphere as a public forum for discussion as anyone.

4) Steve Benen

Steve writes The Carpetbagger Report, the most scarily comprehensive blog around. I have no idea how he produces the amount of writing he does on a daily basis, not to mention the amount of good writing he produces. He also gets special points for navigating the primary in a way that alienated neither side.

5) Josh Marshall

This really goes out not just to Josh but to his entire team - Greg Sargent, David Kurtz, Eric Kleefeld, etc. If Marc Brauchli, Bill Keller, or any other news media mogul is looking for a way for the newpaper to survive the age of the Internet, they’d better look at what Marshall’s doing.

Is there one observation or column or post that has gotten the most powerful reaction from people?

Writing about Israel always promises a fun comment section. Same with anything about rap, or music generally.

What is your perception about Pakistan and its people?

I get the sense that we, the US, have let Pakistan down. We supported military regimes in the Cold War against India and didn’t push for democracy. We supported Musharraf even as a democratic alternative existed. We haven’t secured Waziristan and destroyed the Taliban/al-Qaeda like we should. But Pakistan also strikes me as a country that doesn’t sit idly by and let history happen to it. If I have hope for anywhere in the Muslim world, I have hope for Pakistan.

Have you ever become stunned by the uniqueness of any blogger?

Two words: Reihan Salam.

What is the most striking difference between a developed country and a developing country?

Money.

What is the future of blogging?

The trend, not just since the advent of the Internet but since Gutenberg, has been toward a democratization of media, toward the ability of any regular citizen who wants to to create and to distribute their creations. Blogging’s just a step along that road. Maybe it’ll last another decade, maybe another century, maybe it’ll be dead in four years. I’d give it 20-30 if I had to guess, but whenever it does die out it’ll be replaced by something newer and better.

You have also got a blogging life, how has it directly affected both your personal and professional life?

Well, it’s created my professional life as I know it. I landed my jobs with Slate and the Prospect almost solely on the basis of my blogging career. I don’t think it hurt in applying to college either. Personally, it hasn’t had much of an impact. My friends like to tease me about it. So it goes.

What are your future plans?

College, in a word.

Any Message you want to give to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator?

I am in awe that I live in a world where I’m even capable to sending a message to the readers of The Pakistani Spectator. Good luck with your government, secure your nukes, fight the good fights.