First of all, let me make myself clear. I would NEVER come NEAR this site if we were not required to by a class. When this class is done, I will be gone and I will delete every trace of this. I am so incredibly embarassed by the existance of this blog that I do not even tell my parents what I am doing in English class. It makes me sick. But rant posts don't make good grades.
A theoretical web log seems like another decent contribution that the Internet has to offer modern society. Anyone can make their own blog and post whatever they want for the whole web to see. It allows special interest groups a way to be heard. Commenting and inter-blog trackbacks allow for open discussion on issues ranging from last night's party to the next Presidential election. For someone who wants to share their mind without forging backroom
connections with a major media syndicate, a blog seems like a great solution.
Unfortunately, theory is not the topic of discussion here. There is a huge difference between having a web log and "blogging". Blogging is the self-indulgent pastime of millions worldwide that, for most, involves feeling fulfilled over rearranging the day's events on a pre-made web page. It has nothing to do with altruistic concerns over "the little man being heard". Blogging is so popular because it's such a simple-and wasteful-hobby. You don't need skill or determination; all you need is Google or your memory of the day's events. Pick a random topic-life is an easy one, because it has the advantage that you don't even need to research-and start hammering out those posts. Soon you will have a web site filled with text and images that you can tell all your friends about. In turn, they will probably already have their own and ask you to read theirs.
And so begins the idea of "blogging" as a hobby. You read others' blogs and write your own. Free time is consumed with this back-and-forth of "creativity" that is really nothing but playing tag with your friends and fellow readers across comment boards. Among many casual bloggers, web logs are just an opportunity to gossip and chat about the latest goings-on at their respective academic facilities-under the laughable guise that they are doing something "constructive" like blogging. And for more "intelligent" blogs, you might even be competing with your fellow bloggers to get to a story before anyone else does. I once was asked to read a story that an online friend tried to "Digg". He wrote a pretty good piece in his blog on the story. But instead of
complimenting him, a storm of readers attacked him for doing a "repeat" story-and none too kindly, either!
As restrained as I am at the moment, all I can say is that the idea of "blogging" is nothing more than a glorified renewal of chatrooms with fancy text and graphics. People gab pointlessly with one another, fight for rights to "who said it first", and of course, vie for attention. The fact that it is legitimatized by society as some kind of "creative" art sickens me. Now, let me be clear: I realize that there are many out there who use blogs as an outlet for their real creativity, and this IS NOT against them. I know many who have blogs that tell stories in serial fashion, show off drawings, or even as programming dev logs. But that isn't blogging; that's real creativity. Creativity is about creation, not making fancy transitions between whatever comes up on the news and your own random experiences in the past week. I do not believe that blogging should be considered as a legitimate hobby; it is a waste of time just like listening to music and television and should be thought of as such.
In all (or at least some) fairness, I've told this view to some and received a number of complaints that I will not just brush off or ignore. Here are my responses to a few of them.:
"With almost no exception, academic research is done by taking past work and putting it all together in a new form with the author's addition on top. Does this make academic research a 'waste of time'?"
Absolutely not. Academic papers are written for the purpose of furthering some field of study. "Furthering" entails that you must build on what has already been done in order to go farther. Blogging, on the other hand, is not designed to further anything. Like any other form of media, blogs are just trying to attract attention to themselves. For those that would deny this, let me ask this. Would you still write if you knew no one was reading your blog? I don't think so. Unless, of course, it was for a grade...
"Despite all you've said, you still can't deny your earlier statement that blogs are a place where normally invisible people get their chance to be heard.
How can you denounce something that allows something close to the universal equality of all opinions?"
Remember, there is a difference between a web log and the idea of blogging itself. Having a web log to share your interests and opinions is fine (although I personally would not care to do so myself), but considering that web log a hobby and pastime in and of itself promotes the self-indulgence that is blogging. And if it is actually possible to separate the two, please let me know.
"Whatever you think, blogs are what some people read as the truth. Hatred of blogging will not change the fact that the blogging community is a fertile ground to spread ideas, and God calls Christians to plant His truth wherever they can. You can't deny the existence of the mission field, can you?"
Okay, actually, nobody said that to me, but I made it up (which is why it sounds so bad) so I could get around to answering the last two questions on the assignment. Yes, I agree that no matter what, blogging is probably not going to be thrown out like the trash that I think it is. More likely, this new medium is going to play an increasing role in determining what people think and believe about the world. In other words, as long as people can get away with being bloggers, they will. However, throwing aside my personal opinions, the blogging community does represent a huge audience for Christian ideas. All it needs is a speaker-and since it's a blogging community, ANYBODY can be that speaker! I won't deny that God will probably call many Christians to be His witnesses in that community. God is more powerful than all of my petty desires, whether they be about hating blogs or music or anything of that sort, and if He wants that community to be used for His glory, than I am in no place to argue with Him. I've stated my personal opinions, but His opinion overrides whatever we puny humans think.
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2 comments:
Very, interesting. In response i ask this. When a farmer goes to the county fair and enters his livestock in competition, which of his animals are judged? Are the sickly, mangy animals the ones by which he is ranked? Obviously no. He is judged by the best he has to offer. I hope you will do the same in regard to blogging.
Another thing I noticed is that most of your objections are focused on the bloggers themselves and not the actual medium of blogging. "Blogging is the self-indulgent pastime of millions worldwide." It is not the blogging that is self-indulgent, but the people behind it.
Remember that just because through blogs both a little teeny-bopper raves about her newest crush and a syndicated newspaper columnist argues current political issues does not mean that they deserve to be thrown into the same category. I agree that blogging allows already annoying people to become more annoying, but I also believe it has an esteemed place for serious, intellectual discussion.
I agree that blogs aren’t an ideal medium for expression, but the fact is that they are a medium for expression that people are using. I agree strongly with your last section. (In fact, I bring up the questions you made up, so other people are thinking those things as well.) The Internet is a huge mission field, and it would be conceited for us to think that we are too good for it.
Oh, I also found it interesting that you obviously consider art a positive thing (since you point that out as a good use for blogs) but you condemn movies, TV, and music. Aren’t those forms of art? Do you believe in just creating art and not viewing art? I don’t think I’m following your thought process.
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