Why I Blog and Read Blogs
Because I have had some technical difficulties blogging lately (hopefully fully resolved now), I thought I needed to reestablish why I bother to blog at all.
The truth is, there are some very well written, insightful and amusing blogs out there. Of course there is a lot of trash too.
I don't mind sloshing through adolescent angst, and the slurry of product promotions. Family blogs can make me feel guilty that I am not a better sister, aunt or cousin, and some soldiers' blogs make me cry. I pass quickly over homework assignments and soccer results but get strange comfort in knowing that someone cares about the scores. Sometimes I am embarrassed by the intimacies revealed in photos and text but with the click of my mouse, I remove myself. In other words I've found the blogosphere both foreign and familiar, comforting and concerning.
Before I really started to blog crawl, I would read all the comments at my favorite websites and before long I started recognizing the same names over and over again. This core of contributors and readers would engage in lively repartee, answering questions, posing problems and making suggestions. If I listened very carefully (regularly read all the posts), I could discover things, like where they worked and where they lived. I was fascinated. But never once did I participate. No matter how much I enjoyed the witty banter, I was just a lurker.
Years passed.
I don't remember what or whom finally prompted my first comment but I was instantly hooked. I'm thinking now it was in response to some event the mainstream media had either misconstrued or totally ignored. To my surprise another person actually shared my concern. Wow! This was much more satisfying than writing a letter to "The Editor".
Truthfully, bloggers have given me much more than I have returned. They have inspired and provoked me, awed and disgusted me, enlightened and informed me. I wouldn't have it any other way.
So at this time when Newsweek publishes information that can only harm, regardless of the accuracy (and as it turns out was frankly false,) I turn to the bloggers (and the internet) who may not have the "credentials" or the historical standards of mainstream journalists, but thankfully don't share their insouciant, irresponsible arrogance.
The truth is, there are some very well written, insightful and amusing blogs out there. Of course there is a lot of trash too.
I don't mind sloshing through adolescent angst, and the slurry of product promotions. Family blogs can make me feel guilty that I am not a better sister, aunt or cousin, and some soldiers' blogs make me cry. I pass quickly over homework assignments and soccer results but get strange comfort in knowing that someone cares about the scores. Sometimes I am embarrassed by the intimacies revealed in photos and text but with the click of my mouse, I remove myself. In other words I've found the blogosphere both foreign and familiar, comforting and concerning.
Before I really started to blog crawl, I would read all the comments at my favorite websites and before long I started recognizing the same names over and over again. This core of contributors and readers would engage in lively repartee, answering questions, posing problems and making suggestions. If I listened very carefully (regularly read all the posts), I could discover things, like where they worked and where they lived. I was fascinated. But never once did I participate. No matter how much I enjoyed the witty banter, I was just a lurker.
Years passed.
I don't remember what or whom finally prompted my first comment but I was instantly hooked. I'm thinking now it was in response to some event the mainstream media had either misconstrued or totally ignored. To my surprise another person actually shared my concern. Wow! This was much more satisfying than writing a letter to "The Editor".
Truthfully, bloggers have given me much more than I have returned. They have inspired and provoked me, awed and disgusted me, enlightened and informed me. I wouldn't have it any other way.
So at this time when Newsweek publishes information that can only harm, regardless of the accuracy (and as it turns out was frankly false,) I turn to the bloggers (and the internet) who may not have the "credentials" or the historical standards of mainstream journalists, but thankfully don't share their insouciant, irresponsible arrogance.
posted by ljmcinnis at 8:40 AM
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