Mass media is involved in selling and forming perception. Perception influences decisions and world opinion is almost always formed solely by perception.

There's a ton of good stuff happening in the world. Even homeland security is paying off in small unexpected ways. People saving lives, families reunited and missing children recovered. For every Abu Ghraib there are thousands of humanitarian efforts that exist which never get mainstream press.

The internet has allowed for more data flow than in the days of the network lockdown on information. Blogs are a major tool for dissemination of information. Of course one must use one's own filter and cross reference many blogs, as there are those who use the medium even more viciously and pander to the lowest common denominator. However, besides reading just the Iraq blogs or the conservatives it can be often more educational to twist your mind around a leftist agenda and visit Eschaton or dkos. The heavy traffic at these two sites makes HZ appear conservative, Lindy, Bowser and all. Tacitus is a blog with consistently high quality posters and a new blog Redstate.org (yes it sounds and looks like a communist propaganda site) will be online July 7 as a high traffic conservative counterpart to offset dkos (which raises funds for dem candidates and pushes local races) and the rest.

The tribes bit is fascinating. Very reminiscent of Afghanistan. Somehow, I have a feeling Colin Powell and Co. are doing a lot more in the State Department than anyone really knows.