Andrew Sullivan on Blogging

Nicholas Carr Explains Himself

The purpose of College

The essential purpose of a 4 year degree at a university is simply to be competitive in the job hunting game. It will give you an edge over a 2 year community college degree and over a high school diploma, obviously. But it also gives a larger choice of careers to chose from, and usually higher paying. So in the end the basic 4 year degree college student, such as I, is here to be more competitive in the workplace. The college student that goes on to get a six year or eight year or however long degree mya have you, is to quench that thirst for knowledge and be in the college atmosphere as long as possible, and to go onto whatever scholarly postition they so chose.

Why I blog

Although I agree with Mr.Sullivan that blogging is an up and coming form of righting that is very popular to a loarge group of internet users, I still think that to be considered a national "writer" you need to have a hard physical published work.

why i blog

In Sullivan's "Why I Blog", he states very important key points. Blogging can be seen in several different perspectives which makes it unique and different from a published work or, even a book. There is more depth in blogging than most people think. It is definitely more personal than other types of reading, and it's raw. Some may see the rawness of a blog as shallow or superficial, but I think that it is justified. You should be able to pour your heart out on your blog without judgement. When I post on my personal blog, I feel that I epitomize Sullivan's quote: "There are times, in fact, when a blogger feels less like a writer than an online disc jockey, mixing samples of tunes and generating new melodies through mashups while also making his own music. He is both artist and producer...".

Blogging and the Depth of It

To start off, I very much liked Sullivan's style of writing. It was written how a blog might be written, which I'm sure is intentional.
I thought "Why I Blog" related to the main theme of the Google essay, shallowness and depth.
Sullivan's stance on the issue was mainly towards that blogging has certain depth to it, but it was also shallow in some aspects.
On page 280, Sullivan mentions that blogs remained a superficial medium, in that blogging leaned more towards brevity and immediacy. But he added on that while blogging may have its superficiality, it also has depth in its medium that publications can't reproduce.
On page 282, Sullivan emphasizes the intimacy and personality that blogs can have, which, I think, implies depth in blogs.
Overall, I agreed with Sullivan, in that blogging can be very superficial in that you just briefly touch the surface and not dig deep, but that blogging is very personal and emotional. And that blogs can be the writing that we can relate to the most because of the intimacy it inspires.

Blogging is a new form of writing medium and one of countless outcomes of the Web. I see it as a similar category as social networking, in that it is another way to connect and share thoughts with others. And that blogging can also be shallow, just as we don't actually have 500 or 1000 friends outside Facebook.

Why I Blog

Sullivan states that blogging is a freelance writer's dream, the ability to write and reach people all over the world instantly. At the same time though, blogging is a public matter, where as "a diary is almost always a private matter. Its raw honesty," Just like people on facebook today, bloggers use the mask of the internet to create a persona for themselves. Users try to portray only their best sides through a blog or profile, to gain people's approval.
At the same time though, live blogging big news story's can reveal the truth about oneself, its hard to keep it secretive during those situations. over time, those followers of yours become, friends (there's no other way to put it).