Blogging is real and I think that's what Andrew Sullivan is talking about in his blog "Why I Blog." You can't hide behind your editor when someone gets mad at what you said, the blame is all on you. "They
provided accountability to a ship’s owners and traders. They were designed to
be as immune to faking as possible." While in this quote Sullivan is talking about logs on ships before radio and satellites I understand the resemblance that he is portraying. This comparison I thought summed it up perfectly. He talks a lot about how blogging is in the moment. He doesn't have to get it read by people before getting it published. It's what he was thinking at that exact moment. He doesn't sit there and reflect on what happened he writes it. When he was talking about 9/11 and saying he can go back to the exact time and see what he wrote, that's when I really understood just how real it is. There's no time to cover up emotions he just exposes himself. He compares blogging to narcotics. You're so free to say whatever you desire. With freedom comes the vulnerability that Sullivan also talks about. The "willingness
to fall off the trapeze rather than fail to make the leap." The realness of it. The connection with the readers. I found it interesting that his blog readers in the street call him Andrew while print readers call him Mr. Sullivan. Blogging is getting to know the real person and what they really feel. He says blogging is the "spontaneous expression of thought" and it's "borders are extremely porous and its truth inherently transitory."
My favorite part about his blog was when he talked about reading on a monitor versus reading print because it was so accurate. I was reading the blog on my computer and every few paragraphs or so I found myself checking my phone and, as always, I did have Facebook open in the background while also listening to music.
I really enjoyed several examples you wrote here, especially 9/11. As you said, I, too, wrote that blogging is all about being real and simple, and 9/11 example clearly shows blogger's emotion at the moment. I liked your understanding of blog, "moment". Yes, blog truly reflects a moment of blogger's life, and I believe that's why it is so narcotic.
ReplyDeleteI liked your interpretation of why Andrew Sullivan blogged. The analogy about how accountable the logs kept on ships were to the ship's owners and traders and how accountable the author of a blog is to his readers really caught my attention as well. I also agree with the part about blogging about 9/11, that too helped me understand what blogging really is, expressing your emotions in real time.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned the part about being distracted while reading things on a monitor because I do the same thing and I know a lot of people have that problem. There is definitely a difference between reading something on a computer and reading it in print, and I think most people feel that way.
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