The thing is, people blog. People read. Where were we before blogging? Diaries? Journals? For the select few, newspaper editorials. For the even more select few, autobiographies. And it seems to me that there isn't much to blog about anymore. I mean, obviously you can't write out everything. Privacy blah blah. Plus, my conclusion from personal experience is that there is a large drop in quality when you write about your own life. Don't ask me why. You just have a more organized and objective (duh!) thought process when it isn't to do with your life.
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So then what is your audience when you are writing about your own life? You resort to weird metaphors to protect your privacy, which result in the people who know you to go "is that really how she felt *$&@(&$" and the people who don't to go "what again? (puzzled frown)" (Case in point : Onkar's befuddled comment to me putting down selling electricity as something I hated!).
Maybe I'll rephrase this. I am a cynic of journal-style blogging. I'll leave that for my diary. Perhaps a blog should be limited to only those fragments of thought that are completely removed from your day-to-day life.
To me, writing has two big payoffs - one, creative outlet (scary at times how much you need it and how much putting it down empties you of whatever negative feelings you have and redoubles the positives). Second, someone who's day is improved by reading it - maybe just as an escape from 3 hours of debugging or as a person who, hey awesomeness, was feeling the same way and is relieved that someone feels the same way.
My reason for cynicism is this. Blogging is too much about too less. Yes, its fantastic to put down your thoughts and know that anyone can read it. Is that what we want? Out of a million opinions on so many blogs about the US election or even on something as simple as a frustrating day at work, what makes your stand out? How is your day/thought more valuable just cause you have a place to put it down or an audience who cares? How does it make you feel "unique"? What right do you have to get a voice when people who should don't? There are currently a hundred Kenyans who's opinions are a million times more valuable than mine. Even the thoughts of a bright student of politics would have a more heavyweight opinion. Yet, at least five people (hopefully) will read what I think about it, just cause I have a blog, and these people don't. Makes me feel like a bit of a hypocrite. So half way through the article, I just rewrote the title and signed out.
Is there an Attorney-General here? What happens when there are too many blogs and you have to select which ones to keep and which ones go? Do the ones that get the max readership automatically win? Will the celebrities get to keep theirs? Will Stephen Fry and Condelezza Rice get to keep theirs and a sweet 12 year old in Arkansas have to delete hers?
How does all this fit into the bigger scheme of things? Is there a bigger scheme of things when it comes to blogging? Does anyone agree with me here? Or is this just blog babble?