What about blogging? Is it serious?

I give you Ann Althouse. I can't decide: is she an egomaniac ?  an alcoholic? Is she in a permanent state of panic?  Or perhaps all three of the above?  And how many times can she identify herself as a law professor in this short clip? And why does she have so many followers? What is the essence of her strange attraction? (to some--not of course to me, and not to her interviewer).

You will find nothing in her blog that would get her in trouble with state government or the University of Wisconsin, and yet she is terribly offensive about many serious people and worthy endeavors. It's almost an art to be so obnoxious, really.  Above all, her  comical sense of self importance is remarkable.

 

One thing Althouse shows clearly to me is how blogs are like comic strips. They have a single author. They can go on and on for years, often without changing much at all.  Each blog  is unique, but the genre has its limitations, such as a tendency among bloggers to write hastily. The problem here is that most of us bloggers don't have editors or fact checkers, and we post often.  The majority of us are not professional writers (Nancy Nall is a notable exception). And there is the perception that blogging (like cartooning) is not a serious medium.  And often  the fate of serious blogs is to go unread. Could it be that blogging and seriousness are not compatible? I ask, only. 

Listen to Althouse going on about how superior her blog is. Nonsense. She is a confused thinker, and her writing is hard to follow.  Sometimes she has nothing to say but says things anyway.  But there is a certain consistency in her written equivalent of blather that reassures her regular readers.

This is Ann Altmouse, a satire on her blog that was last updated in 2007.   Ann Althouse is a nonpartisan right wing reactionary.  Her blog is in essence the same now as it was then.

Comments

[Hank Chapin]

Nevah hoid of her. Interesting the way she would raise her voice whenever Mr. Wright tried to get a word in edgewise. It was almost like being caught in the middle of a family fight.

[Anne]

I certainly don't think much of the bits of Ann Althouse's blog I read. I agree it's carelessly written and pretty much devoid of interesting content. And mostly wrong. But I think blogs are like people and books and paintings and poetry, etc. Some good and original, some not. And within a blog there are more interesting and less interesting posts. We all have some days that are better than others.

[Hattie]

Hank: She is a strange boid. Her blog is one of the most successful personal blogs in spite of its low quality.
Anne: I've never read a dull or "off day" post on your blog. The thing is, not everyone who runs a blog is a good writer. Not everyone has your talent, that's for sure. I post a lot of stuff that catches my eye, and I always post on topics that are of interest to me. The nice thing about my blog is that it can be whatever I want it to be!

[Brandon]

It seems she was discussing the Trayvon Martin murder.

http://althouse.blogspot.com/search/label/Trayvon%20Martin

[Hattie]

What's she saying? Zimmerman has been defamed by the media? JEEZ. Well, she was just a horrible example I was using of blogging gone wrong.

[Kay Dennison]

Ms. Althouse puts me off. I don't understand what her point is in this video.

I don't take my blog or myself too seriously so I feel no need to justify its existence. I just like to write. And some days I write better than others.

[Hattie]

Kay: I'm the same way. I think the best blogs express the personality and point of view of the blogger. They don't all have to be the same. They can be serious or not, or serious some days and silly other days. I don't like blogs with hidden agendas. like Althouse's blog. She is a right wing tool and what passes for an intellectual among reactionary know-nothings.

[gigi-hawaii]

Aw, leave the poor woman alone. The more you point your finger at her, the more hits her blog gets. Let her sink into oblivion, instead. I bet she feeds on controversy.

[Hattie]

Gigi: You are right. You don't see her on my blogroll, do you?

[Z]

Some junky blogs are popular because people like junk reading!

[Henry "Hank" Chapin]

I feel I am betwixt and between on the blog situation. I have some favorites I go to and like to make what I feel are short and snappy comments, often with a twist of humor. Hatties' Web and Gigi-Hawaii are two favorites. They are not at all alike, and I am grateful to them for giving me something to react to, as coming up with ideas is always a problem. With writing on the internet and in e-mail lacking the gestures and nuance of face-to-face communication, humor can get lost in the shuffle and, I fear, is oft taken as mere snarkiness.

I like blogs that are interactive, that is, that at least some times my comment will be responded to. I believe interactivity is the key. I frequently write to authors of articles in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Those that answer back are the best. The newspapers will have to become interactive if they are to continue to exist.

At the moment, I have no blog, but I do have a Facebook site. Oddly enough, quite a few of my most tech-savvy acquaintances don't like Facebook at all. What gives? On Facebook I can post news items of importance and I can be a tad eccentric because it's my site. I can also post music that I like, usually snatched from YouTube. My comments tend to be of the short and snappy variety. This is the worst written comment I've made lately, but I wanted to get it all out on the table about blogs.

[Hattie]

Z: That is true. I do myself, sometimes. Or just silly stuff. Right wing ranting is something I avoid, though.
Hank: I am with you about the need for feedback. I tend to desert blogs where there is no interactivity.

[Scott M]

"Sometimes she has nothing to say but says things anyway."

Things like "Off to Seattle again. Talk to you later"? Or do you mean much longer screeds in which nothing meeting your stringent levels of discourse are reached?

[Quayle]

"What is the essence of her strange attraction?"

It is a rare and undervalued thing called intellectual honesty.

She doesn't change her level of analysis based on the party that will be hurt.

She doesn't bend or hide the facts to fit the narrative or the outcome she a priori desired.

As I said, rare and undervalued.

[Hattie]

To you previous two commenters, this is what I have to say: Oh poo!

[Rich Schultz]

What's she saying? Zimmerman has been defamed by the media? JEEZ. Well, she was just a horrible example I was using of blogging gone wrong.
Hattie April 9

Now that we know the media did defame Zimmerman who is the horrible example of blogging gone wrong?

[Hattie]

And poo to you, too.

[wyo sis]

I like her and I like her blog. She's never offended me, and she's often given me things to think about that I might not have seen otherwise.

[Pastafarian]

Hattie: "Oh poo!...And poo to you, too."

Now that's writing.

But seriously, of all the criticisms of Althouse I've read, yours: "She is a confused thinker, and her writing is hard to follow", is the silliest. Her writing is striking in its clarity. And this from me, a man of little brain, who has trouble reading traffic signs.

"Ann Althouse is a nonpartisan right wing reactionary."

The kind of right-wing reactionary who votes for Obama, and votes for Democrats 95% of the time, who favors gays in the military and abortion rights. What a Rethuglikkkan wing-nut.

[Jason]

I'm with Quayle and Scott. She is intellectually honest. And though she doesn't always cover serious topics, when she does, she's an extremely clear and disciplined thinker.

[Hattie]

From now on it's just Oh Poo ditto.

[Anna]

When I think of Ann Althouse as a contrarian with streaks of ambivalence and white resentment she makes sense to me. Sorry if that seems reductionist. She seems trapped in having to be judgmental and can't commit to anything but the beauty of the landscape, Meade (with whom she seems well matched), her son, and her identity as a universal critic. Even the frequent affectionate pictures of food seem ambivalent, given the fat phobia and looks-ism I've seen expressed by Meade and commenters on her blog, though not usually by Ann directly. For me she kind of personifies the "libertarian as crank" ideal.

Yet I confess to being strangely fascinated by her blog. I love the photos without qualification. I can't listen to the blogging heads bits though because I think I would find them too annoying. There's something about me that so wants to like her, and doesn't really, but keeps trying. I guess I have my own ambivalence issues.

[RonF]

Anyone who has read Ann's blog and finds it offensive is either someone whose intellect is so limited in scope as to be offended by the existence of opposing viewpoints, or someone who wants to silence opponents rather than debate them.

[Piotr Litovski]

Your posting certainly lends credence to your assertion that " there is the perception that blogging (like cartooning) is not a serious medium"; no matter. ms. althouse's blog remains firmly ensconced in my "favorites" folder (unlike yours).

[Anglelyne]

"You will find nothing in her blog that would get her in trouble with state government or the University of Wisconsin..."

But one day, comrades, one day...

"...and yet she is terribly offensive about many serious people and worthy endeavors.

And yet you can no more rationally articulate *why* you find her views so "offensive", than you could flap your arms and fly to the moon.

I realize that in your parochial little blog niche you can get validation by doing nothing more than relating the negative emotional states that someone's opinions arouse in you. But if you want to step out into the big wide world full of people with views fundamentally at odds with your own, who are not likely to be fascinated by the topic of your internal private emotional states, you're going to have to learn to stand and deliver. (Or, you can just stay in the kitchen and pout your little "poo!".)

[Hattie]

My my. I certainly seem to have struck a nerve.

[wyo sis]

You should thank Ann for this traffic, but you probably won't. Nothing I've seen here makes me want to come back, so enjoy your day.

[Moderate Mom]

"...yet she is terribly offensive about many serious people and worthy endeavors."

Examples please. Preferably ones not containing the word "poo".

[Hattie]

Hey, she put me up on her blog. I think she's the one who thinks any publicity is good publicity. She is on the make and I am not. I deeply do not care and merely run this blog to amuse myself and a few followers.

[Cassie]

I have been a regular Althouse reader for quite a while, but now I see the error of my ways, and will come here, where I can find keen and incisive commentary such as " Oh, poo". Didn't know what I've been missing.

[Mike Spehar]

Interesting. I often read Althouse, more for the back and forth to be found in the comments, rather than for any definitive positions of Althouse herself. She does what I'd call a good job of setting up issues and concepts, even if that means she must faithfully frame the arguments of people with whom she disagrees.

Perhaps someone who responds to disagreement by saying "poo" just might be a trifle lacking in the ability to judge a well-managed blog.

[Scott M]

"Poo"

Generally, the first person to throw poo loses the argument.

[baron zemo]

To know that you do not know is the best. To pretend to know when you do not know is a disease. Be careful of putting your hand in the honey pot as it can get very sticky and draw many flies.
The Tao of Poo

[Hattie]

How simple yet profound. I am moved to tears.
I have another simple yet profound suggestion: get lost.

[DEEBEE]

Ann Al envy?

[Hattie]

I know I should not be encouraging her and her fans, but her latest on how Elizabeth Warren is perhaps a native American had me in stitches.

[TC@LeatherPenguin]

"Aw, leave the poor woman alone. The more you point your finger at her, the more hits her blog gets. Let her sink into oblivion, instead."

Go take a gander at Alexa (or the ranking engine of your choice) The Althouse house stomps this joint into the dirt in every measurable category.

[Hattie]

No more comments accepted from Althouse fans. Run along and play now.

[Hattie]

Here is what I have to say to all you Althouse fans:
GOODBYE!!!!!