Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic has an insightful essay in this month’s issue about why he became a blogger and what means in the context of journalism and the future of writing.
He notes,
To blog is therefore to let go of your writing in a way, to hold it at arm’s length, open it to scrutiny, allow it to float in the ether for a while, and to let others, as Montaigne did, pivot you toward relative truth. A blogger will notice this almost immediately upon starting. Some e-mailers, unsurprisingly, know more about a subject than the blogger does. They will send links, stories, and facts, challenging the blogger’s view of the world, sometimes outright refuting it, but more frequently adding context and nuance and complexity to an idea. The role of a blogger is not to defend against this but to embrace it. He is similar in this way to the host of a dinner party. He can provoke discussion or take a position, even passionately, but he also must create an atmosphere in which others want to participate.
UPDATE: Thanks to blogs.com “Best in Blogs” for the link.
[...] sneak-peeked. Andrew Sullivan’s “Why I Blog” piece for The Atlantic has bloggers linking away, though without a lot of commentary. MTV and Harmonix–makers of the Rock Band video [...]