Why does Andrew Sullivan blog?
Apparently he is addicted. To
paraphrase, being able to self-publish your words, hassle-free is like a
narcotic.
Andrew likes to blog because its
allows writers to forgo all the red tape of writing for a publication – the editing,
source checking, cutting – and get straight to the readers. This immediacy is
attractive. The blogger and the reader can experience things together, in real
time. This creates an intimacy and allows the “humanness” of the blogger to
come through. If you can comment on something, right as it is happening, there
is no way to prevent the emotions you are feeling to seep into the piece.
Andrew likes to blog because it
creates a conversation. Because of the necessity to get something out there,
blogs are not polished, and this exposes to them to a wide range of critics. As
Andrew put it, blogging is more “accident prone,” it is the extreme sport of
the athletic world, it’s “writing out loud.” The emails that are sent can
include anything – corrections, different arguments, and links to more
information – and that is what gets the conversation rolling. The trade-off
back and forth between author and reader creates an informed blog. Andrew
compared it to a Wikipedia page.
Andrew likes to blog because it
actually allows readers to become more informed. On a blog, when a quote is
used or a fact cited, the original source can be directly linked to. Bloggers
can show their legitimacy while readers get more information over all. No
printed publication can do that.
Andrew just likes to blog.
Rebecca:
ReplyDeleteI do agree with most of your points, however, I think Andrew Sullivan also blogs for a more personal reason. It allows him to freely, and easily express his opinions without the hassle of going through 3rd parties. He is able to directly write to his readers. Furthermore, like a journal, he is able to read his previous writings and get a sense of how he felt.
Yes, I actually mentioned those personal reasons in my second paragraph. I like your second point; Andrew Sullivan probably does blog for that reason as well. I think I'll enjoy it too. Being able to have one site with all your written work on it is kind of satisfying and also more convenient than having to open a bunch of Word documents.
ReplyDelete