HW 5b: I Blog, Therefore I Am

Throughout the book, Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business, and Culture, authors David Kline and Dan Burstein celebrate the fact that the photosphere has taken off. They believe that blogging is an uncontrollable force that cannot be stopped. After reading Kline’s essay, “ I Blog, Therefore I Am,” I became outraged with one of his paragraphs. I normally am not too critical of others’ work, but Kline really got me steaming this time. He argues “Finally, many bloggers are far more open and forthright about their mistakes…than is the mainstream media. In fact, despite the addition of ombudsmen and public editors, most major newspapers continue to bury reports of error in a small corrections box on an inside page” (Kline, 240). Kline has been advocating blogging throughout his essay, and takes numerous shots at the media. He believes that the media tries to cover up their mistakes by disregarding them. They don’t accept that they’re wrong. In contrast, Kline endorses bloggers because he believes that they are very accepting people. They take ownership to their mistakes, and are open to criticism. This statement is arguably the worst argument I’ve ever heard. Even Kline himself can’t fully agree with this statement he made. He writes “ the photosphere sometimes seems populated with an endless army of critics well equipped to carp and stab at minute flaws in their betters,” (Kline, 13). With so much jealousy and the fact the most bloggers try to one-up their critics, it’s hard to believe that most are open to judgments. I disagree fully with Kline that bloggers are “far more open and forthright about their mistakes.” How can Kline even state that after previously stating the second quote? This had me confused and annoyed to the fullest extent.