Blogging is dead. Long live blogging!
Rumor has it that blogs have become passe, and new-fangled formats like Twitter and Facebook are where all the cool kids share their thoughts and musings with the world. Although I keep up with friends and family on Facebook (and sometimes impart pearls of wisdom there), rest assured I save my “best” for my loyal readers here at LTG. Ha! You’ve no doubt never heard “best” used in that context before. To which I can only say “shut up!”
But things do change of course. As I’ve delved through the archives of my blogging history I’ve noticed that I moved away from writing about politics and evolved into more of an autobiographical mode. Hell, I’ll call this blog what it is–a personal diary. Which of course holds little interest to the world at large, but I’m a subject matter expert on the fascinating topic of me. So I reckon I’ll just keep on keeping on until I’m not.
I like what James Lileks had to say about the so-called death of blogging:
If blogs are dying I suppose I shall go with them, he said, using “shall” to put you in mind of someone tossing a scarf over his shoulder and facing the bracing wind. There’s been a few stories here and there about the expiration of the form, occasioned perhaps by Andrew Sullivan stepping away, and noting how everything is going Social and Sharable.
Am I worried about time and trends passing me by? Not at all. This has always been just what it is since the very first entry, and while it’s expanded in length and subject, I am not going to convert it to a series of sharable snacks for Facebook feeds. Perhaps that’s unwise. But I hate Facebook and have no desire to spend any time there, so tailoring the Bleat or lileks.com for Zuckerberg’s dull blue borg cube would be like spending a lot of time and money getting fitted for clothes I don’t like so I can blend in amongst people I don’t know in a country I don’t like.
Anyway: it worries me a little that “blogs are dying,” because if so we lose the idea of a place where people speak their piece, as oppose to speak in pieces.
While most blogs weren’t deathless examples of great writing, there was the opportunity for individualism, and you don’t get that from a Pinterest page. You don’t get it from a feed of things snipped and reblogged and pinned and shoveled into The Feed. The web turns into bushels of confetti shoveled into a jet engine, and while something does emerge out the other end, it’s usually made impressive by its velocity and volume, not the shape it makes.
Now, I don’t Twitter but I do on occasion read Tweets. Usually on Twitchy or on Kevin Kim’s sidebar. And I don’t hate Facebook, but quite a few folks do. I find it to be a useful tool for staying in touch with far flung friends. If you are not my “friend” on Facebook, look at what you’ve missed this week:
I don’t recall ever recovering from a nine mark. Until tonight. 3-0 in cricket singles.
Back to normal after the holidays, standing room only on the subway. A seat came open in front of me, but I offered it to the woman standing beside me. A couple of stops later the seat next to her opened up but as I was in the process of sitting down the train jerked throwing me off balance and I wound up stepping directly on her foot. I apologized profusely but if looks could kill I would not be here to write this post. I’m not sure there is a moral to this story but it wasn’t the greatest start to the day. I guess for either of us.
As usual, Mark Steyn nails it.
Mission accomplished! (if you only click one link, this is the one. Hilarious!)
So, the State Department asked for ideas on how to counter “violent extremism” by adherents of a religion that must not be named. Senator Tom Cotton’s response was beautiful. (Heh, I just realized that I found this link on Twitter, shared it on Facebook, and have now posted it on the blog. Fusion baby!
Anyway, you get the idea. It has been written that “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”. This time for blogging has come to an end because it is my purpose to now eat lunch!
Yep, Jee Yeun has prepared me one of her internationally famous “egga burgers”!