Blogging

Blogging is a relatively new phenomenon. Although writers have tried various forms of expression of thought in print, and speeches intended to be given orally, it is fairly recent to express oneself in such a non-literary form over the Internet.
Blogging is truly a postmodern method of expression that involves little forethought, analysis of content, or attempts at fairness. The thoughts that are expressed can be quickly and easily read, comprehended, replied to, challenged, or agreed with. The interaction between writer and reader evens the playing field so that often foolishness is portrayed as wisdom and wise words that have been written are challenged and seem to appear foolish. We in America especially enjoy “Freedom of Speech.” We are guaranteed this by the First Amendment to The U. S. Constitution.
However, some (may I dare say many) bloggers overstep their bounds and without showing any sense of accountability for their words – slander or libel others. Many have never learned, don’t even understand, and cannot comprehend the moral or ethical responsibilities of free speech. Educators may want to consider offering a course on Blogging or Texting. If we are not soon educated, there will eventually be lawsuits over what he said or she said, or what they did… you get my point. If what is written is an outright lie resulting in defamation of character, the one defamed has every right to defend himself or herself.
We have seen this in the November 2008 Election process as bloggers and emailers have made all sorts of accusations about candidates, parties, and their associations – much of which is baseless at best or at least comprised of distortions to truth. The half-truths and untruths are difficult to counter without the candidate appearing to be defensive or defenseless; and the whole truth may never be known. Elections are won or lost these days by public opinion – some of which is expressed through Blogging or text messaging.
As I began to write earlier, Blogging is a spontaneous expression of thought – usually not intended to be stored or even read more than once. Many of the blogs distributed through Facebook, MySpace, and Blogspot are read by thousands instantaneously. Some blog page strings grow at the rate of two to five pages a minute – making it nearly impossible for a reader to keep up with the flow of thought. The implications of this phenomenon have yet to be totally comprehended.
We know that the word “blog” was coined from a conflagration of two words Web and Log. Together the blog becomes a type of journal that can be read by the public over the Internet rather than kept private as a personal journal or diary was kept. Traditionally such diaries provided accountability and a record over time of events, times, and personal accounts during a person’s life or journey. It was a method of preserving history, expressing truth, and waxing poetic over life’s joys, sorrows, memories, and just plain facts. Since there were no videotape recorders or cameras to document “reality” for thousands of years – until this last 60 or 70 years, journals and diaries served a useful purpose. Some were published into hardbound books. Others remained handwritten. Most were kept private. Presidents and world leaders wrote their memoirs to share their views and express wisdom gleaned, knowledge learned, and appreciation for life as moments captured from throughout their entire lifetimes.
Most of these diaries that eventually became public occurred after the writer had passed away. Some autobiographies win the hearts of millions whose individual stories are told and retold. They are appreciated for what they represent – the sum of one’s life.
I can remember when I first got online about five or six years ago and decided to have an online presence. It didn’t start out as a blog but rather as an expression of e-journalism or e-publication. I “published” chapters of books I had written, sermons I had preached, lessons I as a teacher had taught to others, or as in-depth word studies on various subjects. Eventually I published these written logs on MySpace, Xanga, and other similar sites. It was sort of a personal column as a writer might submit to a magazine for publication. Of course in traditional writing and publication there is an extensive editing process that also involved proof-reading, corrections, reviews by others in many cases, and delays to getting the message out. In that sense I appreciated the electronic news media – primarily LIVE news and commentary, half-hour teaching programs, radio talk shows, and the like. These “writings” whether in print or spoken aloud had immediacy to them, a relevance that traditional print did not. And as we all know, newspapers and magazines usually do not offer much opportunity for lengthy discourses – with the exception of Reader’s Digest and a few literary or medical journal publications.
My Blogging evolved from lengthy writings whereby I had drawn on my experience as an author of published books, as a magazine and newsletter editor, and as a public speaker, to one involving short paragraphs and phrases that could quickly and easily be added as a suffix to an email.
Of course, when writing for television and doing ad copy for :30 commercials and promotional announcements, I already had experience getting straight to the point and sharing the “Who, What, Where, When and sometimes the How or Why” in a brief format. And it was based upon truth – facts – or at least was material that had been reviewed by many people prior to its publication and distribution.
Blogging, however, is a whole other animal. It is revolutionary because it provides opportunity for the masses, little-known and even totally unknown individuals to speak their minds instantly and to a global audience. Through Babylon and other translation software, thoughts expressed locally can be deciphered by many readers in many languages simultaneously.
Furthermore, there are no safeguards regarding what is being shared. In fact the immediacy and harshness of responses by those disagreeing with what has been written in the blog in some cases incite verbal tirades and the writer may become subjected to castigation, false accusations, and ridicule. It shouldn’t be so surprising that these types of posts happen almost instantaneously from total strangers in chance meetings because we come from different cultures, have varying mindsets and world views, are of different religions – or have no particular beliefs, and opposing political parties.
However, the fact that unless you are their “friend,” you probably will never have a personal face-to-face encounter with those in the dialogue or chatroom and most likely will never again have another interaction with them as long as you live gives one pause as to the impact and value of your own blogging. Being on the receiving end of brutal feedback is not a picnic. Finding yourself in n unexpected defensive position may also come at a surprise. We must be ready for these things. It goes with the territory.
No longer are our writings in the form of a column or a monologue to be ignored with no way for readers to reply without the masses having to wait for the next edition for commentary or responses to be published. It is this instantaneous communication with little forethought that has some professional writers concerned. Additionally, since there are few safeguards in place, as photos and other descriptions and accounts of one’s life are shared, the Blogger may inadvertently actually jeopardize his or her personal safety or that of family or friends.
In any case, what bloggers write is immediately subject to scrutiny of one sort or another.
And when the Blogger has been sloppy, or inaccurate, or offensive in his writings, the blog is subject to the masses’ corrections, commentary, and sometimes humiliation or ridicule. And if ignored, some readers would eventually abandon such chat rooms, threads, and Blogspots.
This article (or treatise as some may call it) does not work well as a blog. Blogs value immediacy and brevity. Conversations are the norm – not one-way tirades. Blogs are filled with emotions, temper tantrums, and expressions of outrage.
Let’s move on to the subject of Instant Messages (IM) or Texting which is an online language of itself that started with today’s youth generation using mobile devices such as cellphones, iPhones, and Blackberrys, and the like – to write in what appears at first glance to be in code using characters and abbreviations and symbols in a new form of expression of American English. Texting is really a language all its own - an online language of shortcuts that enables the sender to type more information in their message in less time. Really texting is conversational writing that has now filtered down to students’ homework and, of course, online blogs and chatrooms. It is now being accepted by teens around the worldand is quickly becoming universal.Texting raises questions of cultural implications of online communication in general. Initially it was thought that this “sub-culture of youth” would not have an impact and that it would eventually die out. But according to Nielson/Net ratings, 60% of the online population under age 17 uses text messages primarily to socialize and communicate for recreation.
We all must recognize the need to differentiate between formal writing and conversational writing. They need to know where to draw the line between formal English and using this new language in the workplace and in society in general. This type of shorthand could actually spark creativity that has yet to be seen or fully appreciated.
But, we must wonder where all of this is headed. Emails and even blogs themselves cannot often keep up with IMs and Texting devices for immediacy – although it is more wall-to-wall and personal in nature.
We must ask ourselves of how much value is all of this opinion and expression of human individuality? What can we learn about the character of the writer or the authority and believability of what is being proposed or expressed in an IM or a blog? Will anything that is written in such a form endure over time? Can it be recorded and used against the sender? The answer is a resounding “YES!” and this is a scary thought.
Could such interaction with humanity as a whole in the blogosphere bring a Blogger or Texter to popularity as a politician, or a poet, or a public speaker? I suppose this could happen just like “Joe the Plumber” sprang up as an overnight sensation in the November 2008 Election on the campaign trail and mainstream electronic media.
And what is our reaction to be? Do we just passively read blogs and attempt to decipher IMs, or do we engage in conversation with others on a deeper level? More and more bloggers will jump right in and share more than they probably should with little forethought.
The good thing is that among all classes, races, nationalities, religions, and education levels, we who blog or text are learning about the value and significance of all types of words – we place value upon others’ words and the opportunity for ourselves to be heard in the same way. We have a wonderful opportunity to hear others’ viewpoints and expressions of flitting thoughts and whims – some of which are filled with amazing truths – coming from the most unlikely sources.
Undoubtedly improvisational Blogging and Text Messaging is here to stay so long as the Internet (and electricity to power our devices) are available. Long live the BLOG and IM!

Gene Steiner
September, 2008