I get a lot of crap for being a blogger, but to actually be put in close proximity to crap is another story. Jean Remy von Matt, one of the architects of the infamously schmaltzy ad campaign "Du bist Deutschland," had this to say about bloggers in a mass e-mail:

"Two weeks ago, 'You are Germany' ('Du bist Deutschland') was launched, the biggest non-profit campaign of all times and a huge present...

"The aim: to fight grumpyness.

"The thanks: grumpyness. Which, fortunately, came only from the groups you wouldn't expect anything else from...

"Weblogs, the toilet walls of the internet. (What on earth gives every computer owner the right to exude their opinion, unasked for? And most bloggers really just exude. This new, lowest level of opinion-forming becomes evident when you search for "Du bist Deutschland" on www.technorati.com.)"

(read the whole e-mail at Jens Schultz's blog)

Of course, von Matt reserves his most caustic language for bloggers. Is this a passive-aggressive attack on the internet counterpart of the Deutschland he so ardently wishes to bring back to life, if only they would listen? Or is it just desserts for the blogosphere, which only understands the vitriol it spits out?

Because von Matt is not the first to voice this distaste, and in this manner. For as many intelligent, well-written blogs as I've discovered since I started this game, we all still get the hate. I think I finally know why. Blogs can quickly provide commentary on the scene in a way newspapers and magazines cannot, blogs are often as well-written or moreso than their print counterparts. But, most enviably, blogs are popular, and they have the gall to do it cheaply. Where in the past, reserves of cash and advertising were necessary to gain readership -- in von Matt's case, €35 million -- blogs do it by word of mouth and an unexplainably durable community. In this way, a blog can score thousands of unique readers without spending a dime (cough, cough). And if you're not in that community and still doing things analog, you're bound to be a little peeved.

(check out the Ich bin Klowand ("I am a toilet wall") community through the Newsrack blog, by way of Plus Eins.)