In Defense of Blogging

As I sit and stare at the title I've just written, I'm starting to realize that I may just be out of my depth. After all, the blog outbreak has encompassed the entire world. I doubt there's one geographical location, obtuse ideology or obscure hobby left unrepresented. At the moment, Technorati lists over 3,265,509 blogs watched. Any minute now, I expect blogging to supplant porn as the number one Internet pastime. Blogging is built on self-reflection, and given the sheer number of online journals and such there have been countless number of posts discussing the Worthiness of the Blog. What can I add to this din that hasn't been said already? And a better question to ask is: Why should I bother? There's only one thing I can say to these admittedly apt questions: I blog, therefore I am.

Note: I don't understand it either, but it sounded good in my head, so it's staying.

Perhaps I'll begin with my own reasons for starting. I found my first online journal back in the balmy spring of 1999. After a brief period of bemusement (as in: Who the fuck wants to read this crap?) my mind changed to wanting to start one of own. However, I had an utter lack of knowledge concerning the logistics of web-publishing and a rather strong desire to not learn any of it. Fast-forward five years later, with my introduction to Blogger. Ah yes! Now you're playing with power! Thus, Our Names on a Marquee was born.

After making several posts, I started to reflect on my continued blogging career. Most bloggers do this after the initial thrill of having your random thoughts available to the masses is over. And while I was surfing one night, I came to the understanding that a lot of people don't think highly of the so-called self-publishing revolution. If you believed them, the web was soon going to be overrun by idiots who can barely work a keyboard. Quality content would be lost in a sea of meaningless information. Nothing less than the fate of humanity was on the line. But in spite of this invective, I resolved to contine my blogging efforts.

First of all, the web has always been a sea of meaningless information overrun by idiots. Take it from me, I've been here for ten years now. (Hey, wait a minute...) Considering the exponential growth of the Internet, the ratio of quality sites to pointless crap has never had a massive fluctuation for good or ill. Back in the day, we had pages devoted to people's cats. Now, we have blogs. It's not that a big of a difference, if you ask me. Number two, horrible blogs with no redeeming qualities aren't going to last. They'll soon be abandoned due to a lack of interest, personal or public. More digital detritus? Indubitably. But this is nothing new. Number three, and this is a bit more sticky. What about what the blogs are about? And I'll answer this with another question: Does it matter? There's millions of voices on the web right now. Some of them tackle politics. Some of them review the arts. Some of them talk about their love lives. Some of them discuss what brand of toothpaste they use. The weaving together of these voices into an ungainly yet mesmerizing mosiac is one of the reasons I've enjoyed the Internet ever since I was first introduced to it. I'll admit that some of these pursuits are loftier than others. But I'll be damned if I ever say that the lesser should make way for the more.

And that's why - despite the waves of elitist pontification - I'm a-keeping my new blog.

Note: If you're interested in reading another opinion - one which is hella more fleshed-out than mine - you should read this. He even has a section devoted to the classification of bloggers. In my continuing pursuit of greater forms of self-deprecation I've decided that I'm an Obsessive-Delusional Ranter. Which kind of blogger are you?