Rant: The Evil, Blogs

Why do people hate blogs? I hear this from people and it's in the same tone people used to have back in the 80s when they talked about answering machines. While I don't feel old, I realize that because I grew up in the transition time between in the years between when virtually all phones were corded (and many rotary! glad that died a swift death), and when people reacted strongly to leaving a message on an impersonal machine.

As I've mentioned before, while we don't have our flying cars in the 21th Century (yet), we have made enormous mind-boggling futuristic advances in communication and computing technology. But no flying cars. I'm actually happier to have my palm tero - wireless phone/Internet/color computer - which is probably more powerful than the system that launched the Apollo missions.

Anyway, this was supposed to be about blogs. Right, OK. So, people hate blogs. Who hates? So far the resistance has come from two groups:

1. Politicians and Old Media Employees
   
2. Old People (anyone above 60)

The latter group hates blogs for the same reason they hated answering machines. They have no idea what blogs are, so let's hate it! It's a stupid word to begin with (any decent word that starts with the B-L diphthong? Colors don't count). And it's a synecdoche for everything bad in new technology. And because info-technology is evolving very very fast, there's a lot to feel uncomfortable about. A blog is seen as just a way to waste time on the tube-ridden internet, and bloggers are the punk ruffians who have made the internets - and by extension the outside world outside of Archie Bunker's living room - a bad place.

We can ignore this group. They will soon pass into irrelevancy.

It's the first group - Politicians and Old Media Employees - who actually know (a bit) what blogs are, and don't like 'em. Back in 2006 my comments on this matter would have been prescient and interesting. Now, they're just a post-mortem. Because in the past 18 months, The Man has gone from fear to acceptance on blogs. They use 'em (badly, usually) and have gotten to understand that blogs are the newest incarnation of the technology tidal wave.

Sadly, this has led to many blaming blogs for early deaths - an epidemic, like Satanism in the 70s and comic-book-fuelled-child-delinquency in the 50s - without recognizing that blogging is no different from the 24/7 news stations. Except that CNN/FOX et al. have stopped doing actual news and have gone to entertainment while blogs have the chance to be the real 24/7 news that TV can't manage. Because TV costs a lot, requires made-up bimbos to read cue-cards, and is seen as a medium of entertainment and not information.

If anything, I hope blogs will finally kill off 24 hour news stations. Everything started going downhill (culminating with Chris Matthews) when news was perceived as 'profitable.' Viva la blog.

Backpost finished 4/11/08. I had just the first line (bolded). I've expanded it... all over the place. That's why it's now a 'rant.' And as far as I know, I've said much of this before as well.