truvy
Wednesday, April 10, 2002
Blogging bout blogging
From Planet Out's news summary:
"[Andrew] Sullivan has launched a career in the brave new world of 'blogging,' or vanity Web sites. And while his site arouses a certain gruesome car-wreck fascination, it serves primarily as a reminder to writers of why we need editors. Andrewsullivan.com sets a standard for narcissistic egocentricity that makes Henry Kissinger look like St. Francis of Assisi. Readers are informed, for instance, that Andy's toilet recently overflowed; that he had a rollicking dinner chez Hitchens; that he might have seen Tina Brown across a hotel lobby, but he's not sure; and that, in separate, apparently unrelated incidents, he had a nightmare and ate a bad tuna-fish sandwich that upset his tummy, requiring many 'stomach evacuations.'"
-- Eric Alterman writing in The Nation, April 8.
It seems Mr. Alterman misses the point of blogging.
There's a point you ask?
Well, sort of - blogs can include whatever the author wants. Some are quite personal on-line diaries. Others are mostly social commentary. Others mix the two, in fact, most fall into this category in one way or another. Others serve as a method of publishing poetry, critiques, music & theater reviews: "real" writing in a literary sense.
To categorize blogs as mere "vanity websites" discounts the new type of literature they are: personal histories available immediately.
Someone once blogged/said that you shouldn't blog about blogging, but sometimes I can't resist.
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