Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Blogs

After making a tirade yesterday about personal blog entries, one could surmise that I have a quam against individuals freedom of speech, this is certainly not the point I was trying to assert. My intentions were to reflect the epitome of what a blog entry, in reality, represents. Often times through reading them I find that people often use the space as an opportunity to "air" public sentiment towards popular trends. I stand behind the words I used yesterday about blogs being likened to the phrase, "blaahhgs," in that they are often written in a personal diary form, which provided the illusion that one is tapping into someone else's personal thoughts. I feel that if one is writing in such a context they might as well write a memoir, and hopefully for those reading, they are in the least, interesting. 

It seems to me that if someone enjoys airing their personal dialogue on the web they are seeking attention in some fashion. It seems so easy to observe that statement as a negative inference, as if seeking attention is far too uncool to do, and that we should seek it in more of a indiscrete fashion. Well that's my opinion on it, at least. It just seems like desperation to observers if someone is trying to hard to get attention. Of course all of this is referring strictly to people's personal blogs. There are blogs that I enjoy reading but usually they are directed towards a particular subject, or a variety of subjects, or speak to a category of people that think similarly. Such include; slate.com, 3quarksdaily.com, and viceland.com. 

These website seem to house, attract, and cater to a community of visitors whom all think, vote, dress, and critique life in the same manor. These online communities allow people to keep up with trends, get the most progressive information, and provide entertainment to individuals all sharing the same tastes. In this manor they provide reinforcement for the individual reading and perhaps even act as a "homebase."

1 comment:

MHofsommer said...

I found the Blood Article very interesting. It seems to me that the way she describes the emergence of the blogging community came about not because of a change in the community or mentality but rather because of the development of programs which allowed for easy access to contributing to and building one's own blog. I seriously doubt that before people had the easy access to mass communication like blogging that people had less of a desire to express their opinions, ideas, or experiences to other members of their community. Blogging has simply provided the avenue or outlet to expressing these opinions and has not created the desire.