A Reflective Introspection on Blogging: Ethics, Us, and War Bloggers

"Reflections," BdwayDiva1 CC BY 2.0

The highest kind of rhetoric [is] that which deals with the greatest affairs and, while best displaying the ability of those who speak, brings most benefit to those who hear.

--Isocrates, Panegryicus, 4 qtd. in Poulakos, 2004, p. 76

Over the weekend/by today (March 31) you should have read a collection of articles related to the genre you're now becoming more and more accustomed to (or, so is the hope): Rebecca Blood's "Weblog Ethics," Kevin Kelly's "We Are the Web," and John Hockenberry's "The Blogs of War."

Last week you read Chapter 1 of Shamoon, I'd like to key into the point she makes about who does the writing in public writing:

Who does public writing? A lot of argumentative and informative public writing appears in newspapers and news magazines, and is spoken to us on television and radio. Legislative public writing occurs as a part of the process of government. Thus, public writing seems to be done primarily by journalists, politicians, officials and political pundits. In a democracy, however, “public” writing should also mean that any member of the public, including ordinary individuals like us, should be able to engage in public writing in a meaningful way. In fact, this textbook is predicated on the assumption that we ordinary individuals should use public writing to share our opinions on important political and social issues, and that such writing should have a significant effect on resolving a problem in our communities. Most of us, however, hold many doubts about the opportunities or efficacy of such writing. (2011, p. 14)

As Shamoon notes, the ethical dilemma we all face is the question of can I make a difference or will my writing be read? I'd like to extend this question into the other readings and try to synthesize some thematic connections across the readings as it relates to the genre of blogging. So, in other words, who does public writing and what risks,  fears, or challenges must they confront?

Specifically, I want to point to the following three strands of thought:

First, Blood notes, "the very things that make weblogs so valuable as alternative news sources — the lack of gatekeepers and the freedom from all consequences — may compromise their integrity and thus their value" (2002, n.p.). In doing so, Blood makes present the fact that even open forums such as blogs have gatekeepers, perhaps, even sometimes that inner-voice that tells us what we have to say isn't worth saying.

Second, Kelly keys into the fact that the scope of the web has grown so large it's somewhat of a phenomena something this large came into existence so fast:


How could we create so much, so fast, so well? In fewer than 4,000 days, we have encoded half a trillion versions of our collective story and put them in front of 1 billion people, or one-sixth of the world's population. That remarkable achievement was not in anyone's 10-year plan. The accretion of tiny marvels can numb us to the arrival of the stupendous. Today, at any Net terminal, you can get: an amazing variety of music and video, an evolving encyclopedia, weather forecasts, help wanted ads, satellite images of anyplace on Earth, up-to-the-minute news from around the globe, tax forms, TV guides, road maps with driving directions, real-time stock quotes, telephone numbers, real estate listings with virtual walk-throughs, pictures of just about anything, sports scores, places to buy almost anything, records of political contributions, library catalogs, appliance manuals, live traffic reports, archives to major newspapers - all wrapped up in an interactive index that really works. (2005, n.p.)

Consequential to Kelly's argument, then, is the question we might ask: will my writing, my voice, this topic get noticed?

And, last, I think it's interesting to see how people who comprise organizations that we tend to think of as cloistered, private, and secure use writing (blogs) to accomplish goals, acquire materials to fulfill needs, and draw public attention to issues such as under-armored Hummers:

The most widely read milbloggers engage in the 21st-century contact sport called punditry, and like their civilian counterparts, follow few rules of engagement. They mobilize sympathizers to ship body armor to reserve units in combat, raise funds for families of wounded soldiers, deliver shoes to barefoot Afghani kids, and even take aim at media big shots. It was milblogger pundits who helped bring down Eason Jordan, a senior executive at CNN who resigned earlier this year over remarks he made that US troops were targeting reporters in Iraq. (Hockenberry, 2005, n.p.)


Such an example seems to demonstrate the paradox between (1) the intensive force public writing can have for enacting change and producing measurable effects in the world and (2) the material conditions that may put limitations on how effective your writing may or could be. By Friday at 11 p.m., then, I ask you to compose a post that has two parts to the community blog. In the first part, I'd like for you to explain one of your ideas for making change in relation to the topic you've selected for the semester (this should be the same topic that you are writing your individual political blog about). In other words, provide an example of a type of writing you could do and how it relates to the topic you've selected.




Then, in the second part, use examples or evidence from any of the readings to come up with strategies about how to you could avoid the type of examples of doubt and challenge other public writers have faced as noted by Shamoon (p. 15). (Hint: Shamoon provides a list of strategic activities public writers may engage in to promote success on pages 19-25). Would you focus on these examples? Did the blog author's you read this week discuss doing any of these things? Why or why not?  What might you do to promote success for your blog, and your political cause?

"Food for thought"

During this past spring semester, I was enrolled in WRT 303 “Writing Culture.” Throughout this class we were required to create four “bundles,” a set of documents based on an assigned theme. Thinking back on the course and specific documents, each one could be considered “public writing.” The variety of possible documents was endless from press releases to fictitious event planning; each document could be categorized as “public writing.” While on the topic of public writing, the final bundle comes to mind. This assignment theme was public space. Public space was a difficult concept to wrap my head around and I found it the same for most of my classmates. What IS public space? What QUALIFIES as public space? How is public space DEFINED? When thinking about public writing, the same types of questions arise.

To start this post, I thought I would start by a simple Google search of “public writing,” under the image tab out of curiosity. To my surprise, I found an interesting image that sparked my interest. This image led me to an entertaining blog that can be found here.

Five key words that describe this public writing are bold, funny, creative, daring, and to some, rude. The writing, in addition to the thought process and actual act express the writers anger while illustrating creativity. It is left up to the readers’ interpretation of the act to decide the reader’s intention. Did they intend to be humorous or were they simply pissed off? Regardless, the writing was done in a public restaurant and available for the public to read. 

After surfing google for examples of public writing, I decided to switch it up and search YouTube for an interesting video on the “public sphere.” I came across a video of a young woman discussing Thomas Goodnights theory on the three spheres of argument. These include the personal, the technical, and the public. She explains that the personal sphere includes sites such as facebook, myspace, and youtube that include the general public, the technical sphere with sites that are used for specific careers. Finally, she discusses the public sphere explaining that blogs that cover a lot of information that the media does not include. Specifically, she stresses that the Internet is used for a variety of reasons but questions if there is an information overload due to disorganization. She suggests that there should be platforms that include all of these spheres to create knowledge from the extensive information provided.  

  

Passive, Modern, Accurate, Superficial, and Media-driven are all keywords that describe this cartoon and what it represents for public writing in today's society. Public writing has become increasingly popular over the past few years because of all the resources that the internet has to offer: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger, and the list goes on and on. With all these various social networking sites it has become possible for anyone to engage in public writing, by being both the writer and/or a follower of someone else's writing. I found this particular cartoon to be representative of public writing because blogging is an extremely common form of expression and a way for people to have their views and opinions shared with others. This cartoon portrays blogging as a somewhat passive and almost superficial form of public writing because it states that the blog was "actually read 3 times," meaning people might not take it as seriously because literally anyone is capable of blogging; perhaps it takes away some of the novelty of public writing. This cartoon is also suggesting that people are more interested in "tweeting" or simply commenting on writing, rather than actually engaging in the piece by reading it. I think blogging is a great way for people to practice public writing, but for comedic purposes, this cartoon is definitely accurate.

When I searched "public sphere" I came across this website, which seems like a very helpful resource when trying to understand the meaning of public sphere. It provides the definition of public sphere, the history of the public sphere, and also benefits, as well as drawbacks, to participating in a public sphere. This site essentially believes that a public sphere is a network for communicating information and sharing opinions and views, which is what public writing entails. In order to have a successful public sphere people have to be open minded and willing to listen to one another.

From English Bard to Bloggin' Hard: A Public Writer's Evolution

I thought this image was a creative and witty depiction of what a person may encounter in public writing. When a person writes privately and they are the only viewer, they are engaging in private writing. Public writing, on the other hand, is presented in a communal location where it can be accessed by outside viewers.

Showcasing the limbo between private and public writing, this cartoon also presents a union of old English literature with new-age media. With the Shakespearean reference, viewers are able to recognize how writing has evolved through the years. As a result, this cartoon is both multi-dimensional and transcendental within the world of public writing. The Shakespeare look-a-like's thoughts also describe what every writer considers before posting something online: Is it ready to be submitted? Should I actually post this? Are there any errors? How will it be received? There are most likely doubts that go along with publishing work online, and I feel that this image is a perfect representation of that uncertainty.

After searching through a few different sites regarding the "public sphere", I found this website to be very informative. Like a few others, the document I recommend contains work from Jürgen Habermas. Habermas presents the public sphere as a place in which all citizens are allowed to participate, and present their ideas through an array of different mediums. The public sphere enables members of society to utilize the power of a democracy, as they may use public writing to influence and inform readers. In essence, the public sphere acts as a referee between government actions and awareness of the general population.

Unethical? Insensitive? Inconsiderate? Life! Choices!

The image above describes a popular political issue on abortion. The image demonstrates a woman that is obviously pro-choice; attempting to abort a nearly full term baby because she believes that she is able to do whatever she wants to do with her body and should have the option to do so. The purpose of the image is to raise awareness of the issue on abortion in hopes to decrease the cases of women who choose pro-choice over pro-life. This demonstrates the idea that some women may wait until the fetus is fully developed and then decides to “get rid of the child”. The image displays the inconsideration and insensitivity to life because of the individual’s personal choice of unprotecting themselves and then the choice of refusing to deal with the consequences of their actions. I think this is a good example of public writing because the advocators for pro-life creatively presented the issue sort of from a pro-choice stand point. 

I found a webpage http://grammar.about.com/od/pq/g/publicsphereterm.htm that proposed what a public sphere is said to be and also introduced a well-known critic who have defined the term. On the site they have presented the fact that “a cultural critic Jurgen Habermas called 'the public sphere'--an area where citizens gather to generate opinions and attitudes that affirm or challenge the actions of the state.” The site also presented that a public sphere is also, described as a metaphorical term that describes the virtual space where people interact.” Furthermore, the article stated that blogging has become a popular component of that has enabled individuals to create, discuss, and expand the public sphere. The author has defined the public sphere as a virtual space in which people are able to “revitalize their democracies.”