Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan "Why I Blog"

Sullivan's Argument for Blogs: 1. Blogs thrive off of democratic ideas--that is, blogs are shaped to a large degree by the readership. A blogger uploads writing to the Internet. The readership of the blog reflects on the thoughts of the blogger and posts ideas for revision and ideas for expansion. The blogger is forced by the very nature of the reactions to his/her text to discuss the postings (or at least to consider the postings) in future blog posts. 2. Blogs are immediate reactions to life, news, etc. Therefore, blogs are authentic representations of feelings--unedited reproductions of gut reactions. 3. Blogs are linked to other blogs that reflect similar and sometimes not so similar viewpoints. As such, one finds out where they are in the discourse of a particular topic. 4. Blogs reflect truths. The very nature of a blog is not about the answer; instead a variety of answers are posited. 5. Blogs provide a record of one's life journey. Sullivan mentions that he can go back and look at this 9/11 blogs and see what his reactions were to this event. 6. Blogs are brief and detailed as they provide a variety of hyperlinks for readers to follow. As such, they are rich sources of information. 7. Blogs are less formal and far removed from the typical publishing industry. The writing for a blog is, therefore, "I" centered and more genuine.

Other Important Thoughts: 1. Blogs are subjective and, therefore, postmodernist renderings. Sullivan recognizes this as an issue that bloggers must learn to understand. 2. Blogs are part of the journalistic tradition--perhaps even highlighting the need for traditional journalists to change their own ways of distributing content. 3. Blogs and traditional printing outlets are not mutually exclusive. Both have their places. 4. This is the age of journalism--the citizen journalist.