Blogging today
Some of you might have thought I was silent today in solitary with Michelle Malkin, Ace of Spades, and other bloggers who have gone dark to remind everyone what happens if people such as Brett Kimberlin, or entities such as our own government, silence bloggers, either through active malevolence or from non-benign neglect in the face of that active malevolence.
The truth is, though, that I was silent, not out of principle, but becauase this his has been a very busy day for me. This is the first moment I’ve had to sit down at my computer. I toyed with the idea of making a virtue of necessity, and holding myself out as a blogger who is making a symbolic protest, but I couldn’t do it.
Bloggers are all about speech — written speech. While I appreciate and respect those who want to remind the world what it would be like if bloggers were not active, I prefer to exercise my speech, rather than to stifle myself. So here I am, un-stifled.
My self-imposed responsibilities as a blogger are many and varied: I blog to amuse myself and, I hope, to amuse you. I blog to disseminate information. I blog in an effort to make people think about important and picayune issues of our day, in ways that can be fresh or repetitive, depending on my brain power. I blog because I write compulsively, and turning me off is pretty much like trying to stop that irritating leaking tap in your bathroom. I am not going to let the Brett Kimberlins of this world shut me up, even for a day. If I don’t blog on a given day, it’s because I don’t want to, not because they don’t want me to.
Having said all that, I’ll also freely acknowledge that, when my blog falls silent, that silence is about as impressive as the famous tree falling in an empty forest. When Michelle Malkin and Ace of Spades fall silent, people sit up and take notice. Their bully pulpit in the blogosphere makes the very fact of their silence tantamount to speech.
I don’t actually know if I’ll have anything else of note to say today. I kept having random thoughts pop into my head when I was driving around but, by the time I got to my destinations, I’d forgotten those thoughts before I could make a note to myself. I’m sure there were flashes of genius. Just as the biggest fish is always the one that got away, the most brilliant thought is the one you quickly forget. Just take my word for it: I would have dazzled you.
