"It's more like pissing out of my ass than anything else." -Hank Moody on blogging (Californication)
Does anyone else feel this way? That blogging is nothing more than bitching and moaning (which I am about to do) and calling it journalism (which I don't). I mean this entire class is blogging just as an assignment. Granted it is not as professional as some blogs might be, but it is ultimately the same thing. People are paid to put their Op Ed online, daily, in less formal writing than it would be in a newspaper. I think of blogging as a glorified myspace entry or mass e-mail. Even the word blog contributes to its image as a less-than-serious form of writing. It's not a word! Actually, it is in Webster's, alongside crunk, ginormous, and smackdown (those literally were added to Webster's). Thankfully, all of those words still have a dotted red line underneath them. But back to the point, what else do we do on here besides bitch and moan? Maybe once every ten posts there will be an actual news story, but they are almost always viewed subjectively. The fact that comments are posted in response to articles practically makes the whole process devoid of objectivity. Is that not what we're taught journalists are supposed to strive for? I love the internet, it has revolutionized life as we know it. But ultimately it is just as detrimental to society as it is beneficial. Here is another quote from Californication. The quote is overly dramatic, but it is not without some validity.
"We have all this amazing technology and yet computers have turned into basically four figure wank machines. The internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us, but all it's really given us is Howard Dean's aborted candidacy and 24 hour a day access to kiddie porn. People... they don't write anymore, they blog. Instead of talking, they text, no punctuation, no grammar: LOL this and LMFAO that. You know, it just seems to me it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto-language that resembles more what cavemen used to speak than the King's English."
I agree with you, Chris. I've noticed the percentage of quality and creative writing among my peers has decreased since this pseudo-communication has become so popular. I am interested to see what the next generation's style of formal writing will look like. I wonder how long it will take for the advancements in technology, paired with its lingo which is making its way into Webster will change writing comprehensibility as we know it.