Being Blind to Mutiny

In response to angry ortho-bloggers who felt slighted for not being mentioned in his Jewish Standard interview, Tzvee Zahavy said:

I think in general that Orthodox blogging is an oxymoron. (Same for most forms of conservative or reactionary blogging.) Blogs are subversive of authority by definition. They transfer the power of publication and expression to the grassroots and away from the power elite. Blogs are exceedingly democratic media.

Orthodox religion depends for its survival on a closed culture controlled by a rigid power elite. So why Orthodox blogs? Some Orthodox bloggers tend to use the medium as a bully pulpit for pseudo-hip sermonizing; some to sell books; some just to promote their own piety. I stop reading these sites when it becomes clear to me what they are after.

I would sooner apply Tzvee's description to civilization as a whole than to the limits of Orthodoxy. Is that because I am too threatened to view my own position objectively, or am I the predictable product of an exclusively Orthodox upbringing? As a teenager I used to worry a lot that I was being duped and that my entire faith depended on faith in those who taught me rather than belief in the content of the teachings. I've since come to terms with the subjugation that is implicit in being religious, but I still would like to believe that it's my choice. Therefore, as a voluntary participant, I always feel vindicated voicing a dissent (which might explain why I don't feel the tiniest inkling of rebelliousness against the supposed power elite by keeping this altogether meaningless little blog, despite the many irreverent things that are said here).

The method for stirring anarchy and insubordination has not changed since the advent of the printing press; blogging is a slight technological advancement in the speed of dissemination, but hardly much more. If orthodoxy is indeed facing a threat of mutiny, then it's nothing new. If, however, this venue has created a platform for new types of dissent, then I'm missing a revolution under my own nose.