Sullivan's "Why I Blog"

Andrew Sullivan’s article, “Why I Blog,” offers a unique perspective to the role of blogs in our society that I had never quite considered. Living in this day and age, it’s hard to believe that illiteracy was once the standard. Even when the printing press came around in the 15th century, the general population couldn’t read the texts being printed. Now, with the presence of blogs in our world, it’s possible to press “post” and have one’s thoughts and opinions be available to anyone with a computer. 

Sullivan also points out that blogging is inherent with journalism, but in a much more immediate sense. Newspapers come out daily, or sometimes even less frequent than that, but with blogging, “we blog now--as news reaches us, as facts emerge.” It’s misguided to deny that newspapers are dying, and the internet and blogs are what’s pulling that trigger. Our society has become so accustomed to immediacy. If something of importance happens in the world, it only takes a matter of minutes for it to spread across the world wide web. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook... with all the reposts, retweets and shares, everyone already knows the news before the newspaper even hits the press. 

I never took a moment to consider the notion that with blogs, you are reading backwards in time. Sullivan states, “They amended for hindsight, for the ways in which human beings order and tidy and construct the story of their lives as they look back on them.” The idea that the reader knows the end before the writer is so intriguing to me, and that has made me appreciate blogs in a whole new light.