Thoughts on Blogdom
I've been reading more and more blogs lately - they're becoming harder and harder to avoid. A trend I'd like to address is 'the blog as fact,' and it's one I'm having a bit of a hard time with. Without getting too Roland Barthes on the subject, here is my problem.
You see, to me, visiting a blog is a bit like going to church - you visit; you're presented with information, which usually you have to take on faith since it's not cited; and you're presented with an opinion on said information. It's generally up to the reader to figure out whether or not the information on which the opinion is based is meritorious, and then whether or not the opinion is well founded. Most blogs then have some sort of place where you can comment after having digested the essay. Some, but not all, of these types of blogs have a disclaimer in small print somewhere that everything which is presented is the author's opinion, and he makes no claims to the verifiability of which is posted therein.
Here's where I think it gets messy. There are quite a few blogs out there that are written in the style that, on face value anyway, the articles look like real news, or real fact. To add on to the troubles, these blogs attract a dedicated following, ready to second anything posted on the blog as fact (to continue the church analogy, these folks are the choir to which the blogger is proverbailly preaching). So, leave a comment questioning the merit of a particular post, and wham! you're nailed to the cross in the forum by the dedicated readers who are outraged you dare question the posts of their leader.
I think if you're the author of this sort of a blog that's presenting this sort of infotainment, you have an ethical reponsibility to do away with the disclaimer, cite what's fact, and label opinions as such. The newspaper has an editorial/opinion page, and so should your blog, for the sake of your readers.
So, what to do? I guess you just leave the kool-aid drinkers to be misinformed and take a pass on the Internet infighting. Mostly, this is a warning to anyone who might come across this blog to take everything you read on the Internet with a grain of salt. Since this blog is mostly just a reflective journal for me, and not directly intended for a live studio audience, I haven't really felt a need to cite anything. I will cite anything I feel I need to, though, and hopefully you can take me at my word that I'm actually performing the races and training that I post about here. Chances are, if you've come across this site, you already know me and have passed judgement on whether or not I'm trustworthy. If you don't know me, well fell free to leave a comment and tell me I'm full of it. There aren't a whole lot of faithful readers around here to tell you you're wrong.
