You heard it on Syntagma first. Many times, in fact. Blogs are hovering between life and death.

Now Paul Boutin, better known for his ribald stuff at Valleywag, gives blogs, blogging and bloggers a good old kicking on Conde Nast owned, Wired Magazine.

Here’s a little taster:

“Writing a weblog today isn’t the bright idea it was four years ago. The blogosphere, once a freshwater oasis of folksy self-expression and clever thought, has been flooded by a tsunami of paid bilge. Cut-rate journalists and underground marketing campaigns now drown out the authentic voices of amateur wordsmiths. It’s almost impossible to get noticed, except by hecklers. And why bother? The time it takes to craft sharp, witty blog prose is better spent expressing yourself on Flickr, Facebook, or Twitter.”

I can’t say I disagree, I’ve been writing the same thing for two years.

However, a Devil’s advocate is needed in the cause of balance. Enter Andrew Sullivan of Atlantic Magazine and the UK’s Sunday Times. In a long piece which oddly examines the nautical derivation of the word “log” — it really was a sliver of log — he explores “Why I blog” — a title I’ve come across a multitude of times, on every conceivable blog, over the past four years.

Here’s a snippet:

“… as blogging evolves as a literary form, it is generating a new and quintessentially postmodern idiom that’s enabling writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before. Its truths are provisional, and its ethos collective and messy. Yet the interaction it enables between writer and reader is unprecedented, visceral, and sometimes brutal. And make no mistake: it heralds a golden era for journalism.”

Yikes. Literary form? Quintessentially postmodern idiom?

Discerning Reader, sort it out yourself. Syntagma’s view can be found in the articles below.

John Evans

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