Let Freedom Blog
I was going to write something important and politically thoughtful today in honor of Independence Day. But I had nothing important and politically thoughtful to say. Then I thought I would just post one of those pictures that you can find all over the net of some hot guy with rippling abs, wearing stars and stripes man-panties. (You know….a Political Science major.) But posting gratuitous pictures of studs (as much as I enjoy seeing them) really isn’t my blog style.
That’s the cool thing about blogs. Everyone has their own style. You may not like my style, or maybe you do. But, that’s why it’s my style and not yours. And why your style is yours and not mine. A blog is whatever its author/ owner makes it. So I always find it interesting (and a little dismayed) when I see blogs with postings about what other people should or should not do with their own blogs.
Recently I have seen two or three blogs with lists or rules about blogging. I have even caught wind of a sort of blog war between two fairly popular bloggers, brought about because one used his own blog to post a criticism about the other guy. Other than the rules of human decency, that you should follow in all parts of your life, why do there need to be rules about blogging? There’s no need for arbiters and lawmakers. Who has time for all the drama and potential bad feelings? I’m lucky to get threee posts out in the same week, let alone take time out to dispense unsolicited advice. And I have no life.
The whole system of blogging is pretty much a self-regulating thing…and simple: If you don’t like someone’s blog - for whatever reason - stop reading it. Just close the browser window and move on. If you don’t like Burger King’s fries, stop eating them. I’m already breaking one of the rules I read, because I have sort of touched on this before. (Apparantly, in blogging, you’re not allowed to repeat yourself.)
There should be only one rule about blogging:
Don’t tell other people what to do with their own blogs.
That’s right. Keep your laws off my blog. I guess this turns out to be a post somewhat relavent for the day. Remember, we’re a country built on fighting for freedom and the rights to make our own choices. True, the freedom to do what you want in your blog is a minor thing compared to a lot of things we’re still fighting for. But that doesn’t make it an unnecessary freedom. The little battles win the great wars.
Whether it’s the freedomt to blog the way you want or to love the way you want, march to the front of the bus and fight the good fight. As a country we have acheived a lot in the last 230 years (and will more in the future) because we have the right to say what’s wrong. Just saying it generally isn’t enough to solve the problem, but it often prompts an action that will sow the seeds. Yeah, there’s a lot wrong with this country. I get discouraged about it a lot. But deep down I know that we have the power to make it right. We have the right to make it right. It won’t always be easy,and rarely ever is. But history has shown that we can.
And that bit about spacious skys, amber waves, mountain’s majesty?…I admit, I’m a sucker for it. I guess it just gets under my skin. I may not always like America. But I do love it. I’m a part of it, and it’s a part of me.
July 4th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
I’m right there w/ya. I’m of the same mind on links. Just because I link to you doesn’t mean you should have to link back in return. I encourage folks to link to me only if they wish to do so.
Happy 4th! (Its nuts for me at work)
July 4th, 2005 at 7:29 pm
HATS OFF TO TONY!!!!!!!
July 4th, 2005 at 8:14 pm
Wait! Rules? You mean there are rules…
July 7th, 2005 at 4:27 am
Hey buddy, I totally agree. Who the hell says there has to be rules about blogging. I think I know who you’re referring to on the subject of blog rules, and yeah I won’t mention who it is… but you just keep doing your shit the way you do it, because it’s beautiful and I love reading every entry stud…
You have one big fan here in the Pacific ;).
July 7th, 2005 at 10:58 am
I never ever suggested rules or “laws” for blogging. Stop taking everything so personally, you yo-yos. What I posted, was *my own* pledge about *my own* blog, using examples of lazy or uninspired blogging, that would make *my own* blog less interesting.
And it pains me (as it always does to explain my jokes) to point out that in my *personal* blogging manifesto, I purposely violated several of my edicts, within the post itself. For example, I promised that “once I say something, it stays said” and then I changed the wording of that headline several times a day for 3 days. And let’s not even get into the overall memeistic feel of a post that condemns memes? Hello, Tongue? Have you met Cheek?
Buried jokes aside, my silly little list is only my own promise (mostly to myself, perhaps) to try and keep things honest within my own four walls. The blogosphere is a wah-wah-wacky, uncontrolled and uncontrollable twitching Tourette’s patient. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t promise to abide by a few self-imposed rules, presented with a wink, in hopes of lending my words some integrity and reliability.
‘Course, I’ll keep reading all the rest of them. You never know when you may be asked what snack-food item you are. This Is My Truth, I Am A Ho-Ho American.