Blogging: The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Ah, blogging. 

It's the average joe's lethal weapon -- an outlet for one's opinions of all shapes, sizes, and shades. It's a way for them to get their voice heard...by whomever cares enough to even read about it. 

But it can also be their kryptonite. There are millions of blogs out there also putting their voice out there, but only a handful have an active reader audience. Indeed, these blogs are often self-indulgent and self-perpetuating, attracting a crowd that shares similar opinions and usually repelling crowds that don't. Anonymity simply worsens the situation by allowing like-minded audience members to mercilessly bash on those with different opinions, sending them scurrying away. Driving away people with different perspective prevents said blogger to think politically, thus encouraging a sense of closed-mindedness. 

With an infinite supply of opinions circling around the blogosphere, it's easy to get caught in the vortex of insanity. Of course, one may stumble upon a blog with taste, thoughtful criticism, and accurate and factual reporting. But on the flip side, there's the radical, parasitic, stubborn blogs that pick and choose the most trivial of details on the news and twist it into incoherent thought that is the product of confirmation bias. 

Basically, there's the good, the bad, and the ugly. 

Not to say that all blogging is bad! You've got to sift through all the dirt to get to the gold. There's some juicy stuff in Politico, or you might be familiar with more commonly-known sources, such as The Huffington Post.

Despite blogging's bad rep, there's still some good material to find somewhere. You just have to look hard enough. But don't be a victim to confirmation bias! Objective news is probably often overlooked, so people settle on news sites and blogs that retain their sense of security and confirm their beliefs. Instead, read the news, read a magazine, watch TV...expose yourself to different information and other perspectives. 

So yes, Ferguson is spot on in many ways when he described blogs as "self-perpetuating, parasitic, news organisms."

But yeah, that's just, like, my opinion, man.

Gregory, Alex. The Cartoon Bank. Digital image. The Cartoon Bank. Conde Nast, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. <http://www.cartoonbank.com/>.