The Vision Thing



It’s Day 21 of my blogging existence, and I’m still learning a lot about this fascinating, kind of scary, new world. I know that many who visit here are new to blogs in general and/or are new to this blog in particular and I look for opportunities to share the things I’m learning and my own vision for what I’d like to accomplish.



Today Deacon at Powerline offered this post that gives me an opportunity to do just that. Deacon participated in a media and blogging forum as part of The Week Opinion Awards (and congratulations to Powerline for garnering “Blog of the Year” to complement the rest of the well-deserved titles and recognition they’ve received). Some of the questions raised in the forum and addressed by Deacon in his post are ones that I’ve been pondering myself. In particular:



Some Forum members described bloggers as partisan shouters and bar room screamers (they must have been at Keegan’s for a trivia night). Ok, and the blog world is different from the rest of the world how? There is no one who has ever written or edited anything – newspaper, book, hymnal or graffiti – that doesn’t bring a certain perspective to the process. Even someone dedicated to being even-handed still has to decide what to leave in and what to leave out and by simple ignorance (different from stupidity – malicious or otherwise) may not even have the whole story.



Likewise, readers themselves have a bias, choosing what to read and what to ignore. Better that agendas are out in the open, regardless of what they are, so the readers can take these into account and gravitate to those they like and/or trust the most. Yes, this means some people may not get a “balanced” diet – just as some people prefer ice cream to vegetables. The thing is, most people eventually adopt eating habits that, despite excesses in certain areas, are mainly healthy.



The one thing that everyone should object to is being fed a constant diet of predigested mush and being told “trust us, it’s good for you.” Most folks want a smorgasbord they can keep going back to and where they can sample and experiment and even see their tastes change over time. Naturally the ones peddling the mush aren’t going to like this, and will warn you that you’ll burn your tongue or get indigestion, but it’s really their own heartburn they’re worried about.



Also, there’s a big difference between a blog and a bar room screamer. No matter how big a font I use, or how many words I TYPE IN ALL CAPS, I can’t make my voice heard unless someone chooses to visit or link to this site. A loud-mouth in a bar inflicts himself on all around him whether they like it or not, just like the TVs in the same bar. Sayyy…just which media do you find on those TVs anyway?



I do have a concern that people tend to stay in their silos, but that’s human nature, not just blogs. Righties tend to read righties and lefties tend to read lefties, and as a result some good arguments – and the opportunity to discard an old opinion or acquire a new one – are missed on both sides. One of my objectives with this blog, however, is to have occasional guest bloggers with views significantly different from my own make their case (hopefully without profanity and name-calling). You might turn up your nose like my daughter eyeing a new dish, but you might also gain an insight that helps you make your own case more convincingly.



Another criticism leveled during the Forum is that bloggers have to write quickly and therefore don’t necessarily think deeply. Well, I do want to keep this site fresh and I am trying to learn to write shorter posts, but I’ve found that if I write off of the top of my head you’ll end up with the equivalent of dandruff – just another flaky annoyance. Most things I write, I hope, will come from a little deeper in. Also, I know there are a couple of topics I really want to write about that I’m just not well enough informed yet to offer a thoughtful post. I’ll try to resist the temptation to post anyway.



And if I can’t…this is a two-way medium. Feel free to use the Comment box. I moderate the comments, but only for profanity and abuse, not for differences in opinion.