Why do it?

Really, when you think about it, blogging is kinda weird. (If you don't think about it, it's not weird. Sorta like a Schrödinger's cat sorta thing.) Before the internet, did anyone do anything similar? Or could they, even? How would you be able to share what you're thinking with people all over the world? To share what you're thinking requires either someone hearing you, or someone reading what you have written. (I'm discounting telepathy for now.)

To have someone hear you, before the internet, would either require that person to be in your presence, talk on the phone with you, or to have a recording of your voice. While having someone in your presence is probably the most effective way to tell them what you are thinking, it has limits. Probably the most significant limit is the number of people who can be physically with you at any given time. The same basic thought applies to listening over the telephone. Although you can have talk to more than one person at a time on the phone, there is a limit as to how many can be on at a time. If your voice is recorded, you can make as many copies as you want (theoretically), and therefore have an unlimited number of people who can hear your ideas. This, however, is not instant. You cannot clarify what you mean. You cannot decide you don't like what your idea was and get back all the copies you made from everyone (theoretically) in the world.

Writing.* (Before the internet, in case your attention wandered and you have forgotten what this is about.) This is also a very effective way to spread your ideas. There are some obvious benefits of writing over speaking. Writing lasts a lot longer. Writing, once forgotten, can be read again and remembered. Writing can be done to either a specific person or small group of people (as in a letter) or to a large diverse group of people (such as a newspaper). If you write a letter to someone, it takes time to arrive. It can only be read by a limited number of people at a time. It can be copied to allow others to read it, but that, again, takes time and effort. To share your ideas in a newspaper, you most likely need to work for the newspaper. They (newspapers in general) do not publish random members of the public thoughts and ideas. There is also the aforementioned problem with the time it takes to arrive. Writing also has the additional problem, as with speech, of not being able to clarify or correct what you wrote. You cannot instantly tell someone what you meant to say. It just takes time.

And now we have the internet. Anyone can share their ideas with anyone in the entire world (theoretically). It doesn't cost money (to just write). It doesn't take time, other than the time to actually think of something to write and write it. You don't even really have to say what you meant the first time. If someone asks you a question about what you wrote, or points out that you have made a mistake, you can correct the mistake so that no one in the future will even know that you have made a mistake. You can correct and refine for as long as you want, with no addition charge (other than time writing), and no additional time to again 'publish' what you have written. Someone can see it ten seconds after it was written. Say what you will about the evils of the internet (but if you do, why are you even online to read this?), but it makes the distribution of ideas (however wrong or boring or whatever) incredibly easy. It's almost a little bit magical.



*Or pictures, since pictures are worth a thousand words.**

**What is the exchange rate from pictures to dollars, and why is the word to picture ratio is not at 100 to 1 like most of the world's currencies?***

***Yes, I realize I'm just making this post look a lot longer by using footnotes, but you'll get over it.****

****Eventually.****... Okay, fine, I'm done.

Once upon a time...

...there was a blog. And the blog was not expected to last very long. The blog knew this from the moment of its birth. And the blog was okay with that. It knew that it served a very small purpose. It was aware that it would most likely be forgotten within a week. It had heard the stories of other blogs, the vast majority of blogs, who had been started with grand intentions and aspirations, only to be lost in the shuffle of normal life. Yet the blog was content. It had no aspirations. It had no dreams. No hopes. Not even any plans to speak of. It merely was. And the blog was fairly sure that it was good. Not the blog itself, but its existence.* Although the blog itself had a chance be good. It had not yet existed long enough to be able to say with any sort of certainty whether it was good or not. It figured it might also be bad. It thought it may just plain cease to exist before any sort of determination about its good/bad ratio/leanings/tendencies come into being. And the blog was still okay with all of this. ** The blog also realized that there were a lot of other blogs out there. Bigger blogs. Meaner blogs. Blogs with big spiky collars and chains connecting them to their houses. After all, it was a blog eat... The blog realized that it could not with good conscious continue with that line of thinking. Although it was a small blog, with no one currently in sight, it realized that someone someday (possibly) may see what it contained and be horrified at such a cliché-although-not-quite-used-enough-to-technically-be-cliché sentence. After noticing how far its own quality of life had dropped, in the mere minutes of its existence, particularly in the arranging of letters into words and words into sentences, not to mention the mutilation of all proper grammar rules, although it did try to always use proper spelling, the blog decided to quit while it was ahead. If it was ahead. It couldn't quite be sure. It was sure, however, that it did not have a head. So it wasn't sure if it was possible for it to be ahead, when it didn't have a head, or what there even was for it to be ahead of. Upon this thought, the blog became confused and retired for the night.




* It must be said, however, that the blog had no other experiences (other than existing) to compare its current experience with.
**It must also be said that the blog had no real choice in the matter as it was an inanimate object, existing only in the almost-magical, a-little-bit-ethereal, not-quite-fantastical-but-pretty-close-to-fantastical land known as 'The Internets'.