The Laughing Wolf

What Hath Blogs Wrought?

Yesterday’s interview with People Magazine derailed what I had planned for today, and set in motion an entirely new train of thought. The more I thought about the article, the less I care for the idea behind it. That idea being, ultimately, what amounts to an attack on blogging.

The article itself seems like a good one, a cautionary tale, on the surface. It has to do with people who have suffered real hardships because of their blogging. So, what is being sought out are the people who have suffered real harm from this: lost jobs, stalking, attacks, etc. One would expect that such stories would be commonplace, after all as Eric Francis and I discussed, there are so many people – particularly female – that put up all sorts of information and data that should make it easy to find them. There are trolls and flame wars reminiscent of usenet and such. So, by logical extension, there should be all sorts of stories where blogging had ruined someone’s life.

I can only think of about two cases that qualify, and apparently Eric was having fun trying to find too many. He told me about the case of the microshaft employee fired over posting a picture of some Macs arriving at Redmond. I could only think of the Moxie incident in terms of firing, and did remember the CPS call-in on a blogger. Do I remember flames and sundering of so-called friendships? Yep. But where they truly earth-shattering, life destroying events for all concerned? Nope, not from what I had read. The more I thought, the more I did not like what ultimately lay behind the story.

So, this got me to thinking. What hath blogs wrought?

On the macro scale of events, blogs are truly evil: if you are a member of the Old Media or the Terrorists and Tyrants club. Blogs have allowed the disclosure of information on a scale and at a speed undreamt in human history. It has made everyone a reporter, such that information, pictures, and sounds of an event can be shared from almost anywhere in the world in near real-time. It has allowed the marketplace of ideas to flourish beyond the wildest dreams of those radical youth known as the Founding Fathers. The party voice, the gatekeepers of the media, and all those who would control the news are confounded. Even in the most repressive states extant, people of courage have found ways to post openly and anonymously, to share news and ideas, and to challenge the status quo and openly dream of something better for themselves, and all mankind.

You have individual blogs, you have group blogs, and you have groupings of blogs on almost any conceivable subject. You have blogs like The Command Post that deserve great praise at a year of age, for outdoing the bastions of the Old Media at their own game and providing an invaluable asset to all in the process. You have blogs like Winds of Change, that routinely provide overviews of the different corners of the world and the major issues in same. The list does indeed go on, and is left as an exercise for the student.

On the micro scale, truly blogging has ruined my life. Courtesy of the Machiavellian plotting of John Ringo (I’ll get you yet John!), I have fallen under the evil influence of Joe Katzman who tempted me down the path such that I obtained Movable Type and hosting at Hosting Matters and began my descent into the pit. He has guided and helped me along the way, ensuring that I may never turn back. In the course of this last year I have gotten to know a number of bloggers via e-mail and phone, and have even been fortunate enough to begin meeting some in person. It is just horrible, horrible I say, that my life has been reduced to this! The very idea of meeting neat and interesting people, learning about them, sharing ideas, and even meeting them in the flesh – oh, the humanity!

Yes, it is a true horror to write about topics of interest every day: space, technology, journalism, military, and more. All those things that were denied me for years, now able to be indulged at whim. Debates, honest-to-goodness debates here and there, with people using real facts and giving consideration to new ideas and viewpoints! The horror with which I now have to live!! People actually expect me to write daily and write well. Oh, will the nightmare ever end?

Blogging is indeed evil and has destroyed lives. I joke not when I say that I give thanks that it destroyed my old life, and given me this new start. That it has allowed me to return to a form of writing long denied, and let me grow in so many new ways. That it has exposed me to so much, and so many, and may even lead to so much more.

Yes, blogging has destroyed my life. If it has destroyed yours as it has mine, then join me in giving thanks, and let the phoenix rise from the pyres.

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