Freedom of Blogging

While I enjoyed the whole of the article "The Rebirth of the Feminist Manifesto," my favorite aspect of the article was the intriguing, individual lines that caught my attention throughout the piece. One such sentence described the atmosphere of blogging. "Freed from the boundaries of print, writers could blur the lines between formal and casual writing; between a call to arms, a confession, and a stand-up routine -- and this new looseness of form in turn emboldened readers to join in, to take risks in the safety of the shared spotlight." When I read this, I honestly thought of the beauty behind this idea of being able to combine so many varieties of writing from formal to casual. Such freedom of writing and style present in blogs makes this type of expression very attractive to anyone trying to put their own words and ideas out there. Blogs represent people's thought processes and personalities to a very believable extent. What I mean by this is that people's thinking can go from serious to humorous to emotional within the context of one topic and while some types of media may not allow all of those aspects to come out, a personal blog has the space and place for all of it.

Because blogs are so individualized, the writer can make their blog anything they want. That's why there is such a possibility for the wide range of emotions and attitudes on one topic in one blog or even a series of blogs. This type of writing is different from others because others may not allow for such a conversational form of expression. On the other hand, there are types of media that almost pressure for more casual attitudes. It seems to me that if someone makes very serious Facebook and Twitter posts, they may come across as having an overzealous point of view, and many times people that portray that attitude don't have enough knowledge on the subject to hold such a serious standpoint. With a blog, though, the writer has enough space that they can fully explain their argument and point of view, which allows for more in-depth discussion and the possibility for the writer to demonstrate that they know an accurate amount about the topic they're presenting. Or if they don't, the blog would probably make that pretty clear, too. The point being that a reader visiting someone's blog might be more prepared to read a long, opinionated blog entry than a Facebook user scrolling through their news feed.

Overall what really intrigues me about blogging is the ability of a writer to express their opinion to whatever extent over any topic and then share that opinion with anyone on the Internet. Just the immense freedom of this type of writing is incredible. In accordance with the article "Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?" it's a common belief that we have to portray a certain image on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. We have to uphold an identity supported by certain pictures and comments and statuses. But none of those features gives us quite the freedom and space that blogging does. In one blog, a writer can express their emotions and sense of humor to a point that far outreaches what any number of Facebook photos, comments, and statuses could achieve. To me, a blog represents more of a person than the mirage of a Facebook profile.