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Why Blog?

C Wess Daniels

Dec 9, 2005 • 1 min read

Its funny that there tends to be the need to do an apology for blogging; this fact is evidence that we are still a part of something that is very new – something that hasn’t become widely understood or accepted. Not that its not acceptable to blog, but just that for some peopel there seems to be”little use.”I’ve found that blogging for me takes on more than just journaling, in fact I try to do very little of that, at least in the sense of the old “dear diary” kind of journaling. On the other hand, writing out my thoughts, whether they are theological, personal, critical or just making observations, I am logging what’s happening in my life and in the lives of those around me. Further this is what makes blogging important – it tracks the changes, the misunderstandings, and the interpretations of real people in change and in encounters with others.

It is also a conversation, or this is how I see it. Not only do I have to deal with every word I put onto the blog editor as a real part of my own thinking, but I also have to be willing to allow those thoughts to be formed, challenged, and/or encouraged by those who have for one reason or another decided to be a part of my online community. It gives me the opportunity to test and/or work out ideas.

Another aspect of blogging is that it is undercutting journalism – this is the central premise to the book called “blog” by Hugh Hewitt. Blogging gives way to news being dispensed much quicker, from multiple perspectives and from the “front line.” It is interesting how much NPR has begun to cite different bloggers during their various news shows also.