Unreasoned Blog

The following is the result of my attempt to provide a submission for the "Why We Blog" issue of Reconstruction.

Why blog?


Hmmm... interesting question. I haven't examined my reasons for blogging for a long time, if ever, so perhaps I could review the last few years, find some patterns, offer some insights...but I found my incentive to blog has changed since I first started- in fact, my motives change from day to day, post to post...as I pondered, I realized that the question: "Why do you blog?" is not as easy to answer as , say, "Why do you eat?"

You eat because you are hungry, right?
Well, yeah.
But why do you eat what you eat? Where and when do you choose to eat and with whom do you prefer to share meals?
Do you use your hands or a fork?
Do you use utensils because you prefer them, or is a matter of decorum?
The answers change from meal-to-meal, don't they?

So maybe it is that easy to answer after all.

As an autodidact, I'm ill-at-ease in the world of academe, as I'm quite aware of how much I don't know and how little I actually understand.
I was unsure as to how I should present myself- I chose one of my favorite methods: a lengthy email, this one addressed to 'Thivai' at Dialogic.
(My original idea was to concentrate on the dynamics of comments, but I soon lost sight of that...)

Thivai asked that I post my actual letter.
So here it is, with a few minor edits...

- - - - - - - - - -

[Thivai],
As I started writing that post I realized I couldn't do so without using actual comments as examples- no problem, right?
Wrong.
It hadn't occurred to me, but I consider some of my fellow bloggers as friends, and though I might occasionally critique their comments , I would never speculate in a public forum as to their motivations. [I don't have to- bloggers usually respond when asked about blogging ]


Bloggers do talk about each other's blogs and personalities 'off-blog' ( no real surprise) ; sometimes it's in laudatory terms, occasionally spitefully- the usual methods are employed: emails , IM and even phone calls, but [ lately] I prefer to make my attacks direct and political rather than oblique and personal.
[I have already lost at least one cherished blog-pal due to a misunderstood comment and do not wish to repeat that]

As to the 'Why' of blog, that's a harder question than I thought- fortunately, a voice from the distant past summed up the reason why I personally blog.

They did it with one word, but it took me quite a few to explain.

I envy the concise.

Here, I'll bloviate to demonstrate the sincerity of my envy:

- I find that I enjoy blogging more if I don't use the same critical approach I would if I were reading a novel or proofing semi-literate workplace memos...on blog, it's OK for people to just be whatever they want.

- I've noticed that some commenters seem to only read the first and last paragraph of a given post, while a few seem to mainly read the comments, which they then comment upon... sometimes I think of these as ego-driven readers, carrying around comments, looking for a place to put them, regardless of context. (Not very generous of me, I'm afraid, but it's something I've been guilty of myself, so I know it to be true.)

-Many bloggers are working, changing diapers, watching TV ( no shit, it's true) etc. while they read, so pacing and brevity seem to really matter when it comes to garnering comments and comprehension.

-[my] stat tracker tells me that most commenters return to the scene within 24 hrs. of leaving a comment, experience shows that leaving a comment on another blog almost always results in a reciprocal visit- again, no surprise.

- I was almost surprised that some of my blogpals who profess to harbor no prejudice or racism in their hearts and minds disparaged the intellect of the 'character' in this 'story' merely because of his speech, completely overlooking his deeds and thoughts. I found the comments on this post a bit disappointing until I realized that we are all guilty of unconscious, unwanted prejudice at one time or another...something about hurling stones and glass houses comes to mind.

- Sit down for this one, it's a double whammy, a real shocker:
With an authoritative tone and a few hyperlinks you can convince a significant number of people that anything, no matter how absurd ,is true...
...AND- if you are convincing enough (or not) you WILL be plagiarized... who woulda guessed?
...as Susanne and others noted in the comments of these posts, there were no 'Whalanol' Google hits before I wrote that obviously bunko post.
I have the rare and dubious honor of inventing something that Google had never previously heard of - if it wasn't for the search-engine singularity of the word 'Whalanol' I would never have known my [crap] was being stolen and passed off as fact.
If it happened once, I imagine it happens all the time, to almost every blogger...I pity the student who turns in a paper that references 'facts' found on my blog!

Thus, I'd like to contribute "Whalanol" to the glossary of the US of Amnesia :
Whalanol : " brazenly false information, i.e., bullshit, given undue credibility by a media (esp. Internet) presence."

Anyway, I hope you find some of this useful. Such a simple question, such a lengthy non-answer ! For me, pinning down my reasons to blog is like trying to water flowers in zero-gravity- it's hard to get to the roots.
best,
[ABC]