Sameness and Difference in the Blogosphere

The world of weblogs can be the propagandist’s dream world, a place where his talking points, simplistic narratives, and manufactured emotions find seemingly infinite repetition and affirmation. People repeat ideas and display emotions they find attractive but do not understand; their unique voices become lost as they speak only as a conduit for the propagandist. Blogs written by very different people nonetheless appear very much the same, full of the same phrases, buzzwords, and feelings.

I’m still a fan of the medium, though. For while the blogosphere can be home to the ugly sameness of hateful emotions and unthinking repetition, it also affords people the opportunity to speak as many, to share their uniqueness, their differences. Blogging can be a very personal activity. The best bloggers, in my opinion, have not only something to say and say it well, they also speak as no one else does. They communicate who they are in what they say. They may repeat, but they do so with understanding and with personal uniqueness. (MC)