Why Blog?
Ordinarily I avoid all things blog like the plague. It's not that I have any objections to a geek circle jerk where the sheer irrelevance of it all is just barely masked by the fog of self-importance. It's just that I don't want to jump on any bandwagon that would have me as a member.
Well, that, and the whole geek thing.
But something has happened to weaken my resolve. It seems that blogging is dead. I know, I know, it sure looks pretty vibrant for something that's supposed to be dead. Then again, so does Avril Lavigne's career, so what's your point? (if you were to read this in a year or two, this barb would appear particularly funny and ironic. Which in itself is ironic, seeing as irony is another dead thing that just won't shut the hell up already. But je digresse....)
So why the death knell for the blogosphere - that is, if you need any further proof than the coining of the term "blogosphere", an oh-so-cool catchy catch phrase everyone is just going to love and use every day, you betcha!
(information superhighway, anyone?)
Anyways, I'll tell you why...
Blogging died when the outside world started believing the hype. The first nail in the coffin was when both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention bent over backwards to please the bloggers this year. Hell, they even let them use the toilets and everything. (no big deal, but if I recall correctly, the Dems restricted the real journalists to porta-potties) No doubt about it, the bloggers were mollycoddled like nobody's business. Sure, bloggers may be unkempt lunatics, (so the reasoning goes), but they have a vast audience.
Unfortunately, the train of thought stopped short of the realisation that said vast audience is composed of like-minded unkempt lunatics. Political bloggers are all preaching to the choir. Ain't nothing new getting through the tinfoil hats of that audience. People are more likely to have their vote swayed by a particularly satisfying bowel movement or a sudden toothache, than by anything read on a blog.
And today, I came across an article entitled Triumph of the Bloggers on cnn.com, where blogs are credited with causing Dan Rather and CBS to cave on the whole are-the-Bush-documents-forged/aren't-they-forged affair. Woohoo! (thought I). Nothing spells the end of a trend like the notice of the mainstream media. If blogs are now news, and CNN is using words like "blogosphere" (did I mention I hate that term?), then blogging is dead as a doornail. Finished. Kaput. Gone the way of the hula-hoop and correct spelling. Buh-bye.
So where does that leave me, other than chortling in fake-mirth? Why, furiously blogging away, of course. And while everyone else deserts the whole premise like rats fleeing a sinking ship, I will remain a steadfast blogger. And when blogging enjoys a Renaissance in ten years, a sort of retro-hip chic much like disco enjoys here and now, I'll be smugly telling everyone that I was wise to the coolness of blogging before they were and how that makes me better than they are. For once in my life, I'll be ahead of the curve. And I'll still get ignored at parties. But at least I'll have my blog. And even if somehow they take my blog away from me, at least I'll still have my sanctimony. They can't ever take that away. Oh yeah, baby. Mine, all mine.
Well, that, and the whole geek thing.
But something has happened to weaken my resolve. It seems that blogging is dead. I know, I know, it sure looks pretty vibrant for something that's supposed to be dead. Then again, so does Avril Lavigne's career, so what's your point? (if you were to read this in a year or two, this barb would appear particularly funny and ironic. Which in itself is ironic, seeing as irony is another dead thing that just won't shut the hell up already. But je digresse....)
So why the death knell for the blogosphere - that is, if you need any further proof than the coining of the term "blogosphere", an oh-so-cool catchy catch phrase everyone is just going to love and use every day, you betcha!
(information superhighway, anyone?)
Anyways, I'll tell you why...
Blogging died when the outside world started believing the hype. The first nail in the coffin was when both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention bent over backwards to please the bloggers this year. Hell, they even let them use the toilets and everything. (no big deal, but if I recall correctly, the Dems restricted the real journalists to porta-potties) No doubt about it, the bloggers were mollycoddled like nobody's business. Sure, bloggers may be unkempt lunatics, (so the reasoning goes), but they have a vast audience.
Unfortunately, the train of thought stopped short of the realisation that said vast audience is composed of like-minded unkempt lunatics. Political bloggers are all preaching to the choir. Ain't nothing new getting through the tinfoil hats of that audience. People are more likely to have their vote swayed by a particularly satisfying bowel movement or a sudden toothache, than by anything read on a blog.
And today, I came across an article entitled Triumph of the Bloggers on cnn.com, where blogs are credited with causing Dan Rather and CBS to cave on the whole are-the-Bush-documents-forged/aren't-they-forged affair. Woohoo! (thought I). Nothing spells the end of a trend like the notice of the mainstream media. If blogs are now news, and CNN is using words like "blogosphere" (did I mention I hate that term?), then blogging is dead as a doornail. Finished. Kaput. Gone the way of the hula-hoop and correct spelling. Buh-bye.
So where does that leave me, other than chortling in fake-mirth? Why, furiously blogging away, of course. And while everyone else deserts the whole premise like rats fleeing a sinking ship, I will remain a steadfast blogger. And when blogging enjoys a Renaissance in ten years, a sort of retro-hip chic much like disco enjoys here and now, I'll be smugly telling everyone that I was wise to the coolness of blogging before they were and how that makes me better than they are. For once in my life, I'll be ahead of the curve. And I'll still get ignored at parties. But at least I'll have my blog. And even if somehow they take my blog away from me, at least I'll still have my sanctimony. They can't ever take that away. Oh yeah, baby. Mine, all mine.
posted by Foog at 12:57 a.m.
2 Comments:
You're mixing up the words for the device with the device itself. The word blogosphere is really lame, but the idea of a blog is not necessarily lame. Nobody ever says Information Superhighway anymore, but everyone uses the Thing that people gave the name to in the first place, right? Same with blogs. The hype will settle down, and maybe you'll be one of the people who sticks it out.
If you look at all the tools available to people to communicate that currently get grouped under the term "blogging", it's clear that there is some kind of revolution happening that affects how people talk to each other. It's unlike email, it's unlike the phone, but it fits in a niche that isn't full. Big niches are not as transient as cute, coined phrases.
It's the signal-to-noise ratio I'm worried about, Scott. Sure, blogging's unlike e-mail, and unlike the phone, (though maybe a little too like the heady optimism of the "information superhighway" days), but rest assured that it will grow to resemble the world of cold-call telemarketers and e-mail spammers.
(Say, is it gauche to respond this way in your own comment section?)
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