First I want to say Merry Christmas to everyone. I’m busy early on Christmas morning keeping tabs on what’s happening online. And just when I’m feeling good about what’s happening I end up getting angry and frustrated.

I know, it’s not really worth it but I’m a passionate person. I listen to songs like “My Way” and wake up at night thinking about the Rangers who scaled the cliffs at Normandy on D-day or soldiers manning checkpoints in Baghdad. There are sacrifices happening that we rarely think of and for that reason I stand on the soap box and am willing to take fire.

One of the reasons many people are disenchanted with mainstream media is the fact that they position themselves as elite in a world of simpletons. They talk at us as if we’re children who need to be schooled. They deliver stories that are so ridiculous and rehashed that it’s a stretch to call a lot of it news. Case in point. Every year the national news throws out some argument on what foods are good for you. Chocolate, Coffee, Pasta, Wine, etc. The answers are always the same but rather than go in depth and attempt to produce something meaningful they go the easy route and rehash. After all, most people are just plain stupid, right?

People like me have turned away from mainstream media because I’m fed up with it. I want news and opinion delivered from the gut in a non-elitist way. A way that speaks to people plainly and recognizes the individual. I’m not really sure what that means myself. It’s kind of like the old saying about porn. I know it when I see it.

Well the first videoblog on Amanda Congdon’s new channel ain’t it. I didn’t expect much here. I’m not a fan of Rocketboom and I never watch it. I used to watch it, but I got entangled in some nasty rhetoric over comments related to unsubstantiated allegations of police brutality. Wonder if they ever followed up to try to clear the names of the police that were accused on that episode? No matter, I stopped watching after that since I tend to avoid any entertainment with secret political agendas that go to the left or the right. Makes my head hurt when I’m trying to relax.

In any case, I thought I’d give Starring Amanda Congdon a try. Big mistake. The approach and the content in the first episode is condescending to the average individual. Amanda’s smart in that she speaks to her fans and makes them feel good about themselves. Like any good politician she panders to her base. I’m definitely not that base.

Amanda’s querying of people on the streets of New York amounts to nothing more than an exercise in proving what she already believed beforehand. The average person is clueless and unworthy of Time magazine’s award of Person of the Year as it relates to independently generated media. No, if you don’t know about what she’s talking about you’re not a Person Of The Year. As she says in her narration, “Not everyone participated in the media revolution.” In order to qualify you evidently need to publish a blog, podcast or video blog. That’s one way to look at it. That’s the elitist way.

Another way to look at it is that many people who never blogged, podcasted, video blogged or utilized YouTube, MySpace and a thousand other social networks that pop up like puppies in a kennel during breeding season are included in the ones who Time magazine was talking about.

They’re the cops who make sure you get to work safely and get home from nights of partying. They’re the firefighters who run into burning buildings and save people and computers from harm. They’re the bus and train drivers who get you to and from work so that the roads have less congestion and the environment improves. They’re the immigrants who come here to build something and don’t have time or money enough to spend on a high speed internet connection. They’re the soldiers who raise their right hand so that you don’t get a draft letter in the mail one day telling you to pack your bags for sunny Baghdad.

These and many more are the people that are invisible to elites. They’re worker bees buzzing in the background. And to some, they’re not a part of progress. It’s a shame they’re not a ’smart’ or ‘useful’ as the talking heads.

In my book, the people of the year are not just the podcasters, bloggers, video bloggers, youtubers, whatever. They’re also the ones that make sure you have the time, the right and the safety to do what you do. They are the people who grease the wheels of society in return for meager pay and shifts on Christmas Day.

I know what it’s like to be invisible like that. I loaded trucks with immigrants in Brooklyn to pay my way through college. I was a construction laborer with guys from Africa, Italy, Poland and Irleand for two summers in high school and college. I served four plus years in the Army (signed up after college) with people from small towns and big cities, spanning just about every race and religion we know. These types of people and those who respect them are my types of people. Because they’re the ones making all this happen.

If Katie Couric or Amanda Congdon or some blogger who loves to call himself an A-lister (or me for that matter) go away and do something else tomorrow what does the world really lose? How about a beat cop in Bed Stuy? Or a firefighter in the Bronx? Or the train conductors? What happens if the garbage collectors or truck loaders decide to spend all their time on MySpace and YouTube? I guess they then join a higher order of being.

Anyone who decides to start evaluating this person of the year thing in their own terms should think twice before arbitrarily reducing the cut. After all, I’m not telling anyone to go away or stop doing what they’re doing. What I am asking for, as my gift on this Christmas Day, is recognition for and respect of those who might not have what you have or know what you know.

People will likely call me ‘jealous’ for posting my opinion. Lord know Amanda is popular in the echo chamber. If you do say that then make sure you know what I’m jealous of. And don’t say anything related to money if you haven’t seen my tax returns for the last five years. I work hard and do well for myself. But I do the best I can to stick to my roots and remember where I’ve been.

So I’m here to say that more likely than not you (and many others who will never read this blog or listen to my podcasts) are a Person Of The Year. I just know you’ve done something to help this revolution along. There are some in this medium who want to hand it back to the mainstream press with their tendency to elitism. After all, they can read from a teleprompter and memorize short snippets from scripts.

My final thought is this. The real new media is about attitude and approach, not format. Because you can’t put wings on a cat and call it a bird.