Why Andrew Sullivan Blogs

In his article, “Why I Blog,” Andrew Sullivan reveals his reasons and desires for becoming a blogger. Sullivan admits he felt that he needed a presence on the Internet and sought out the help of a friend to create a website for him. Sullivan highlights the differences between blogging and other types of written media such as instant publication, spontaneity, raw truth, and a highly personal aspect. The blogger instantly posts so they are much more prone to error. The personal writings of each blogger are so immediately public and the interaction between the author and readers is far more dynamic.  I believe the one quote that truly highlights why Sullivan blogs is, “The simple experience of being able to directly broadcast my own words to readers was an exhilarating literary liberation.” Blogging awards all writers the opportunity to publish their own works instantly for anyone on the Internet to see. In this way blogging cuts out the middleman because the author can skip over, “waiting for an editor’s nod, or enduring a publisher’s incompetence, or being ground to literary dust by a legion of fact-checkers and copy editors.” All of the obstacles of an aspiring author disappear with the instant gratification of blogging.  But with this privilege also comes drawbacks. The readers can instantly comment harsh opinions of any blogger’s work. A blog holds the writers more directly accountable for their own work because the correction process is self-implemented. In the words of Sullivan, “there is nothing more conducive to professionalism than being publicly humiliated for sloppiness.” The blogger also has a sense of fearlessness that was not available to writers of the past. Because they are self-published their thoughts can be controversial and unpopular; essentially they have the freedom to say whatever they want. The blog is a combination of the writer’s thoughts, ideas, and research as well as his audience’s. Blogging possesses a conversational style that printed media does not have. Sullivan does not believe that blogging should replace traditional writing but he believes that there are many benefits of being involved in this postmodern form of media.