Yesterday, a number of us congregated in an office at SLAC and did some hard earned slacking off. One of the issues that came up was the egotistical masturbation called “blogging”. The statement was made, in effect, that everybody who blogs should be lined up and asked to get a life, to find something useful to do with their time.
I took some offense at this, for the obvious reasons and the not-so-obvious reasons. The obvious one is pride. I blog, and to be told I should find something better to do with my time hurts my pride. I haven’t kept a journal in years, and even though I know that my blog is hidden here on cooleysekula.net, it can’t hurt to have a physicist writing down their thoughts and experiences (like a normal person). The other reason I took offense was because there is a social contract in something like blogging: I write, you read. If people didn’t read blogs, then the time-wasting of the writers wouldn’t be an issue, because no one would know and no one would care. It’s somewhat the same argument as pornography: as long as the industry doesn’t exploit the people who star in the films, then the only way to be offended is to watch it. If you don’t watch it, you can’t be offended, and you shouldn’t tell other people how to live their lives. Of course, that industry does take advantage of all involved, introducing all kinds of moral correlations. I can’t remember the last time I had to blog to maintain my raging crack habit.
A blog is an end-product. You don’t have to read it if you don’t like bloggers. Go do something better with your time. In fact, why don’t you do setup a blog, and write about how much you hate bloggers. I’m sure there are lots of people who’d like to read that, and complain.
Why do I blog? Because it avoids the problem of having to break into my house, go through my stuff, and break the lock, just to read my diary.
