Parasites vs. Symbiotics

Dude:

Blog: The word "blog" is literally shorthand for "boring;" a vulgar, overused word that strikes your ear with the dull thud of a cudgel to the soft spot of a child. It's an abbreviation used by journalism drop outs to give legitimacy to their shallow opinions and amateur photography that seems to be permanently stuck in first draft hell. Looking in the archives of the blogs, one would expect someone who has been at it for years to slowly hone their craft and improve their writing and photographs, since it's usually safe to assume that if someone does something long enough, he or she will eventually not suck at it. Even with lowered expectations, you'll get a shotgun blast of disappointment in your face.

See, now normally I'd just be all pomo and ironic and laugh nervously and pretend I thought that you were refreshing and saying the things we all secretly thought. The problem is, that after due consideration, I've decided I don't think youre funny. And I've decided that you're not refreshing.

As I said a few months ago, I'm tired of the idea that one has to say something negative in order to be creative. And I'm even more tired of people who are indiscriminate enough to slag off whole genres, or worse: media, because they have had one or two bad experiences with it. Yes, there are bad blogs. Yes, there are bad comic books. Yes, there are bad Hollywood films. That doesn't mean that the whole medium/genre/format is somehow rotten. And frankly, I've grown tired of people who pull off a tired joke at the expense of the many, many people who are actually working - creatively, not parasitically - within it. Making sweeping judgements, even in jest, is by definition wrong, and even worse: it's just not funny.

You're more the literary equivalent to a parasite, where most bloggers try to be more symbiotic. That is to say: not just trying to bleed someone dry by feeding off their creativity for your own gain and amusement, but actually doing something with or about what is happening in culture.

(Though I do agree with you that the term blog is phonetically ugly. Like the president of the ALA once said, it sounds like something you'd find stuck in a drain.)