Blogs Are Not Good Things

OK, so now I have a blog.

I'm sure this is supposed to be a moment of great anticipation, and even a little excitement.  But my feeling on this launch are decidedly mixed.  Because I firmly believe that blogs are not good things.  Nor, however, are they bad things.  They're just things.

People have suggested I start a blog in the past, and I've toyed with the idea off and on for a few years.  But I kept getting caught up in the nonsensical zeitgeist (and the equally ridiculous backlash) that seems to swirl around the blogosphere.  "Blogs are great!" cry the proponents, "The wave of the future!"  They argue that if the Founding Fathers were alive today, they would be major online players.  "Not so!" respond the naysayers, "Blogs are lowering the level of verbal discourse, and drowning legitimate journalism in a sea of pedantic drivel and piano-playing cats."  Perez Hilton, they maintain, is not Thomas Jefferson.  The truth, of course, is neither of these.

A blog is a tool, no different than a hammer or a shovel.  Join me on an extended metaphor:  As I drive down the street, I may see a man with a shovel planting a tree with the local Cub Scout troop.  This is clearly a good thing.  On the next block, I may see man with a shovel bashing in the windows of an orphanage.  This is obviously a bad thing.  Down the road even further, I might see a baker using a shovel to precariously pluck cupcakes from the oven.  This, I estimate, is pointless, inefficient and weird.  A trip down the information superhighway can offer the same perspective.  I run into many blogs that are written by people I know and respect, people who offer insights I value and perspectives I'd otherwise miss.  I also find blogs that publish spurious facts and espouse ideas that I find abhorrent.  And, sadly, a growing inventory of blogs that seem to make no sense, and serve no purpose other than to clutter up my Google search results.

So why then have I chosen now to take up my blog/shovel?  I wish I could tie it to some lofty ambition, or bold philosphical calling.  But the truth is significantly more mundane.  My new job is more data driven than previous ones, and I'm not writing as much (and consequently not as well).  Furthermore, I miss the creative outlet that my old radio show used to provide.  So the plan is to use this blog to get a few things off my mind and off my chest, and maybe throw around the occaisional elegant turn of phrase, just to keep my chops sharp.  I'll let you decide if I'm planting trees or bashing windows.

I just hope I'm not baking cupcakes.