Posted by
The SCSIBug on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 3:22:00 PM
To be honest, I'm a web log skeptic. I always have been; I always will be. There are far too many people getting far too much credence with far too little accountability. Everyone on the Internet is a philosopher journalist; no education, certification, experience, or verified sources necessary. In weblogs, circumlocution is staid; pontification, a common trait.
Blogs have always struck me as little more than valueless, effortless, digital vanity press. Anyone with US$5/mo. and some free time can boast and bombast and bloviate and boister their digits off. Less, if a blogger is willing to have someone else's ads frame his writing. Once instantiated, the typical blogger is free to make any claim his little heart desires, regardless of how misinformed, out of context, ignorant, or downright libelous it might be. His readers have no recourse in the world, except for that which he grants them. The average blogger is the king of a very small hill, and he's more than willing to remind you of his nobility.
But it is that self-same vanity — and an overdeveloped sense of justice — which has finally moved me from the realm of commentator to the reigns of a blogger. I have too often trolled the DrugeReports, the DailyKOSes, and the YouTubes of the world wide web, looking to clarify the muck and recycle the mire of this signal-to-noise ratio we call...
...THE INTERNET. Period.
So I've decided to put up or shut up. Expose myself to the kind of challenges I expect others to weather from me. I pursue a reasoned and civil exchange of ideas in all I write. All criticism is welcome, as long as it is logical, conditional, and rhetorically reasonable. It is my hope (or perhaps my foolish optimism) that I can still find an overall sense of civility in the wild and wooly world of wide webs.
What better place to pursue that vision than a radically political site such as Townhall.com? None that I can think of. Or at least none that could toss me more directly into the fires of Internet flamebaiting. In my opinion, one must face the heat to best extinguish the flames.
To be entirely honest, I have many reservations still reserved within, reservedly. After all, how much could I really know? How experienced can I really be? How often can I really be right? How many people can really give two shakes about what I think? How interesting can what I write truly be? And, most importantly, how much fulfillment can I really expect from my thoughts and musings being published (or should I say "passively displayed") in a kitchy little format on a kitchy little website?
I suppose all those questions are subject to how quickly I draw down the fury of the TownHall ops. And here is my first volley directly into their sides...
Hi! I'm a liberal on the Internet, and I don't care who knows it.