I’ve decided that (committed) bloggers are an insular lot - present company included, of course! Yes, yes, bloggers do reach out to others with whom they might otherwise not have associated. And yes, of course, bloggers do make (some) attempt at seeking alternative views. However, bloggers have a particular world-view about their activity.

After moderating the InfoSoc session on blogging, the impression I’ve formed, at least from the conversations that I’ve had both during and outside of the formal session is that bloggers, in general, see their pursuit of blogging as a crusade! It’s a crusade to right the wrath of the domineering traditional forms of communication and thus bloggers champion blogging with all their might and fury. Like all crusaders, it is a battle fought with passion, with evangelical wisdom and with strict adherence to principles and values.

What prompted me to write this tirade then? Well, my observation suggests that bloggers are of a “particular sort“. That they view their activity as some form of “social protest” and thus would give willingly and sacrificially to advance “the cause“. It would be anathema to suggest to a blogger that they embark on blogging with the objective of attracting site-visit-hits. Instead, blogging is to be embraced in and of itself and for no other purpose than to blog - to voice yourself and to communicate. It would also be anathema to suggest that bloggers initiate their website to make money. God forbid! Blogging is a penurious activity. Sacrifice is part of the experience. If you do not feel pain, you are not blogging!

Thus bloggers go about preaching the virtues and values of blogging. Blog! Make yourself heard! Communicate! Embrace your fellow bloggers in the greater blog-o-sphere! Consider this not as a commercial activity - for that you have a job! Here in blog-world, you are doing penance for the crimes of the communicative world. Here, you are on a pilgrimage to greater intellectual enlightenment. Think not of material gain. Think not of fame. Think only of the cause.

Now go forth, and blog!

Posted on June 23rd, 2003 by jl
Filed under: lost blah blah