Blogs Gone Dead

If there's anything I want to kick Mark Zuckerschmuck's ass about, it's the invention of Facebook. Oh sure, it's responsible for the Arab Spring, among other things, but it really is a dumbing down of the general public discourse. Don't argue with me, dammit -- you know I'm right.

Used to be, there was a pen, and people used to write with it. Now there's only a keyboard, and I still can only type with two fingers after forty years. Used to be, there was a blog, and people used to write interesting stuff that was Not The News, and other people used to read it.

I remember when Facebook was a college-student-only domain, with actual login requirements, where you had to be a bona-fide college student to "get in."

It's always comical to review the "that was in the good ol' days" thing but it's permissible to regret something that had real merit. Kind of like, writing a postcard instead of a letter. Shorthand is always good, but when it becomes the level of "tweet" you really, really have to admit that things have gone down the tubes.

Thus dieth the Blog. Don't know about you, but to me, Blog vs Facebook is kind of the equivalent of "Citizen Kane" vs. "Smokey and the Bandit II."

To someone who used to go on Usenet or IRC for a discussion, this is a dismaying development.

Day after day, I've seen blogs fall silent, and quite very good writers have lost their voice, or rather, chosen to lose their voice. I don't really know who reads this blog, but I know someone does, and even if that's only one or two people, they drop by pretty much every day and if I'm fulfilling some kind of need I'm always happy, no matter whether I'm just mouthing off or truly entertaining someone. (I like to think it's the latter, but it's more probably the former.)

But my plea is (a plea akin to blowing bubbles in a tornado) to not stop writing your blogs because of Facebook or Twitter. Even if it's only about what you had for breakfast last week.