Why I Blog

I don't give a damn about most of those bloody tag games. This one is different enough, so I'm playing along for once. Actually, the only reason why it interests me is because it's a question I've constantly asked myself: why do I blog?

Five reasons are required for this game, although that's excessive for me. BUT, I do have concrete answers as to what AREN'T my reasons, so I'll put that along.

So without further delay… 

1. I DON'T BLOG TO EARN PAGE RANKS (PR's). I recently read a blogger who claims not to care about PR, then proceeded to post page ranks there. Viva hypocrisy! Anything becoming a popularity contest loses its real purpose (and loses its appeal to me). Take Friendster: its real intention was to connect people, but because to many the number of friends they have is bragging rights, they'd not hesitate to add people they don't actually know and wouldn't bother exchanging messages with. Take music and blame its decline to reality TV's. Take jazz and DO NOT think of CURLY LOCKS. DO NOT.

Now take blogging: I can't stand bloggers whining about the clicks they get. I do like it if my friends read my blog, but that's another thing entirely (and anyway, I mostly just send my blog posts directly to their mail. It's up to them if they come here or not!) PR's don't dictate the quality of your site. And, you know, porno sites get high page ranks too. Screw those (Err, yeah, that's the point)! If you want to be widely read, LEARN TO WRITE. And if you want to exchange links with me, make your blog impressive and STOP WHORING IT!

2. I DON'T BLOG TO IMITATE. What I do is I put my thoughts down on paper/form and let it flow as naturally as I could. My writing style may have been influenced by some people that I read, but I do not deliberately open another blog in a different window then write in the exact same way. Perhaps some readers may not have a clue what I'm talking about, so allow me to cite an example (but I won't explicitly name names): there's this "emerging" person who's getting all the credit for dissing everything. Now if you've ever read that blog with www.somethingawful.com opened on another window then you'd find them strikingly plagiaristic. It's sad that these days someone can get all high brow by copying another's work.

3. I DON'T BLOG TO DISS. Allow me to spell the difference between criticizing and dissing. Criticizing is when you find flaws. Dissing is simply an act of disrespecting. All dissers criticize, but not all critics diss. And sometimes dissers do not even need to explicitly find flaws; they only need to speak or act rude to another.

I don't make it a secret that I like to criticize. I do it because I want to voice my opinion and to encourage change. I don't do it just for kicks. Occasionally, I'd diss, but I don't dedicate my blog to that act alone. Now if you recall, I mentioned this blogger who imitates somethingawful. That blogger also happens to be one of the most notorious dissers of the "blogosphere". Like all dissers, that blogger laughs at others to validate own ego, and has NOTHING to contribute to the society. And people are totally sucking up to that person just for that, engaging in comment-box ranting/genuflecting whenever they could. I just don't get it. Schadenfreude is fun but if that's all you do, if that's all you can teach, then shut yer trap!

4. I DON'T BLOG TO BECOME PART OF THE BLOGOSPHERE. I started blogging just before it became all the rage. While I'm at it, allow me to tell you I fervidly HATE that buzzword. Th4nKs 2 w3b 2.0 3v3ry1 H4S 4 Fr34K1N 0P1N10n! And because of that, people with no respect for sensibilities, languages and truths (particularly truths) CAN WRITE FOR THE PUBLIC! Back in the days, writers have to research to know and to have any platforms for their writings. Now all they need is to rest their burden of proof on ANOTHER BLOG, so if their credibilities are attacked, they can say "I SAY SO BECAUSE THE BLOGOSPHERE SAYS SO SO BLAME THEM NOT ME"! I love freedom of speech but for the love of all that is holy, I do not need people without credibility WRITING and COMMENTING on topics THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT! And if you factor Web 2.0 by popularity-driven mentality, the culprit of why certain celebrities, websites, blogs, movies and governments emerge/endure becomes lucid: a lot of people have bad taste, and they'd use everything in their power to suppress those that disagree with them. Mob mentality at its finest.

5. I BLOG. JUST BECAUSE. Not to belong. Not to shout. Not to validate my ego. Not to pander. I blog, because I enjoy this space, and I'm just savoring every minute of it. Call it boredom, call it love, call it "too much spare time", whatever.

And now I'm out to tag someone. Watch your comment box.