Rhetoric of Blogging (Part VI): Once more, with feeling

Let's talk about comments. To me, the overriding rhetorical appeal of blogging is the possibility or actuality of COMMENTS. Call me a wuss. Call me a wimp. But I write in fear, in dread, in hope of generating comments. I contacted each of the blogs that I wrote about, and emailed back and forth with all but Daily Kos. I wrote each post with the desire to be clear, balanced, and genuine with my analysis. However, there was a little voice in my head as I typed saying, "What will happen when they read this? Will they like it? Will they agree? Will they get mad? Will I hurt their feelings?"

I feel the emotional pull. Maybe it's that I have an overriding desire to have people like me, I don't know. But mostly, I don't want to make anyone feel BAD. I don't want to hurt their feelings. So I try to say things correctly -- but nicely. So tell me THAT doesn't affect my writing...

Then I get comments, and actually, that's great. I love the back and forth, because the informal nature just begs people to lower their guard and turn off their filter. You know how we are in cars? When someone cuts us off, we curse, we honk, we give them the finger. I venture that most of us would NEVER tell the old lady who wanders in front of us in the bank line to go f- herself, punctuated by the bird. And yet, from the protective bubble of our cars, we lose all our inhibitions and our manners. That's how I see blogging. We speak from the protective comfort of our chairs through a key board. We get to be freer, because no one can see us, no one can challenge us in person, and we don't have to watch the recipient react to our words. So we're more angry, more passionate, more loving, more emotive, more everything on a blog. So I brace myself for comments, but I'm delighted when they come. I'm not afraid of a challenge. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but I like enlightened discourse. With comments, we can let 'em rip. So we go at it, usually with civility, but not with the usual discussion group disclaimers: "Don't take this personally, but..." "I hear you, and you make some good points, but..."

Once again we come back to the constraints of conversation and the joy of uninhibited writing. Somehow the blogdom has created a unique forum for communication because we have nearly instantaneous dialogue in a stream-of-consciousness format. It's compelling. It draws you in. It's happened to this class!

Not everyone may feel the pull of comments. Coffey claims she doesn't care, as does Marc. I say again, is that not caring, or is that rejecting? But for me, and for many of us, I think the comments are the unique feature, because of the way they foster the one-of-a-kind blog rhetoric, its unique pathos appeal. Without comments, I'm just another wolf baying at the moon. But then someone answers, and I answer back, and then we're talking about my stuff, and their stuff, and your stuff. And because of the way it all unfolds, in a less filtered, less edited, less defensive way (write-click-send-read-respond), I realize we're mostly alike in so many ways. Thanks for letting me in.

Update: I've got to add this from Glenn Reynolds' interview:

"Why is blogging important?

It's a conversation. It's self-expression (my wife started blogging recently and has found it really therapeutic). And it gives us practice at self-organizing spontaneously, which we're likely to need in the future."

It explains so much of what's happened in our class.