Thursday three time

In a way, I think this list of question ties in very nicely with Jordana's post about postmodernism. There's something so Deconstructionist about using blogs to explore the reasons for blogging. I imagine there's a PhD to be written in here somewhere, but I'll leave that to the incomprehensible babblers to assemble so no one (including their mothers) will read it.

Anyway...

1) If you have a blog, why did you start it? If you don’t have one, do you think you might start one? Why or why not?

Do I have a blog? Do I have a blog? That's a tough one, hmmm.

I have a blog, in fact, and I imagine at least one person is reading it. Besides me, I mean. I started it because somehow or the other I ended up at Terry's place and decided it was a neat place to be. Terry and Jim noodged me over the edge into starting my own. I had toyed with the idea, and couldn't really decided if there was any point. Why would anyone read it. I swiftly learned that there's no reason to worry about that in the blogworld - most blogs are there for no reason at all. So why not contribute to the dreck out there?

2) What blogs do you read most often?

Terry's & Jordana's. I check out the others on my roll semi-regularly. During election season I was reading the National Review 7-8 times a day. I've given up on it as my interest in politics has diminished, and I need to work a littlebit. I don't have the energy to get too deep into other blogs.

3) Finally, what do you consider to be the greatest strength(s) and most profound weakness(es) of blogging?

For me the purpose of my blogging & blogreading is social. I clam up at cocktail-party type social events, but I can get a lot of the same interaction online, and I can express myself better with strangers by writing than by speaking. With that in mind, one strength for me is the ability to find like-minded people to socialize with. I don't need to hang around blogs with people I don't care for - I can always find another place with a more appropriate crowd.

Another is the wide variety of opinions and perspectives out there. It's a great place if you really want to see how other people are thinking and understand how the other side of whatever believes. It can also serve as the check on the media that I think this country needs. You've got millions of tinfoil hat brigaders for every successful Bush National Guard Records events, but those few successes are a useful check.

I'll agree with Terry on the negatives - too many trolls and troglodytes for anyone's taste. It's much easier and safer to be a putz, call someone names, and act like a fourteen year old when you can do it anonymously. The blogosphere simply gives the neanderthals a new space to act stupid.