Andrew Sullivan: Why He Blogs

As I was reading through Sullivan's article, "Why I Blog", I found that a lot of his reasons for writing and publishing online were similar to my own. As Sullivan says in page 3 of his article, "Every writer since the printing press has longed for a means to publish himself and reach—instantly—any reader on Earth". Blogs are revolutionary in the way that they accomplish this, not only in an accessible and simple manner, but in a practically free manner as well. Anyone can blog, and because of this the blogging community has grown quickly and exponentially, each new blogger sharing it with their colleagues. And as the blogging community grows, so does the mass of critiques. "... before the blogosphere, reporters and columnists were largely shielded from this kind of direct hazing". The direct, often brutal reviews of anonymous readers on the internet is a different world from the "gentle nurturing of the editors" that most writers receive. It allows for quick of review of your most raw writing, since blogs often come out of a flash of emotion and aren't carefully read through. However, this quick expression of one's thoughts is another thing that makes blogging special, in Sullivan's opinion. When reflecting on reading his posts that were dated on 9/11, he states that, "there is a vividness to this immediacy that cannot be rivaled by print". This immediacy brings along with it the spontaneous, unchecked emotion that makes blogging special. Unlike revised, factual articles in a newspaper, blogs express the personal, emotional thoughts of the writer. As Sullivan puts it, " whatever authority a blogger has is derived not from the institution he works for but from the humanness he conveys". Sometimes, as Sullivan says, the brevity of a blog is sometimes more powerful than a long article, or journal. As all of Sullivan's reasons show, blogging makes for a unique experience that combines the entry-like style of a diary with the publicity of a radio cast. It's no wonder that the blogging world is exploding.