Andrew Sullivan and why he blogs...

Fine. You got me. I take back what I said before about blogging, and replace it with "Oh my gosh this is what I've been searching for". I think my bias was mainly due to my general dislike for technology. I always disliked people who did not truly live though a moment, but rather scrambled to document it (such as taking a picture of a sunset instead of just being there, witnessing it in that moment). Anyways, my apologies for hating on blogging so hard. I did not have a good understanding of it.

Andrew Sullivan hooked me with the history of ship logs, explaining that "[Logs] helped navigators surmise where they were and how far they had traveled and how much longer they had to stay at sea. They provided accountability to a ship’s owners and traders". I'm just now thinking how helpful a log would be to everyone in the entire world. It's so easy to forget where you are in comparison to this morning, yesterday, and last year.

I loved the advice "not to think too hard before writing" because then its raw and contains mistakes- it's  more human. I was also intrigued by the assertion that "blogging requires an embrace of such hazards, a willingness to fall off the trapeze rather than fail to make the leap". Sounds like a risk worth taking. It seems to put a dangerous edge on writing and publishing that I had never truly noticed before.

I had another duh! How did I not think of this moment when Sullivan brought up the point that "every writer since the printing press has longed for a means to publish himself and reach—instantly—any reader on Earth". I am just realizing how much I have taken the Internet for granted, how simple it is to reach everyone who I wish to reach.
I also enjoyed how feedback was instantaneous and from the readers, not the editors. Although I have not experienced the pain associated with publishing a work alongside an editor, I will take Sullivan's word for it, and be glad for blogging's revolutionary style of publication.

I easily grasped Sullivan's comparison to Montaigne's essays and the blog posts. They both show how a writer evolves, changes his mind, learns new things, shifts perspectives, and grows older, all the while creating their own "truth".
I was pretty blown away when he started talking about friendship found via the Internet. I had never ever thought that the people who comment and criticize and cause unnecessary ruckus on your posts could be considered friends. I'm still wrestling with the whole idea...

Why Andrew Sullivan blogs? I suppose because it is writing out loud. It is human combined with writing, rather than writing combined with human.It's a record of his thoughts.

Or at least that's what I caught onto.