Full Of Sap

I am sappy. I'll admit it. I cry at hokey movies. I smile at little children. I try not to write mean, scathing posts on my blog. There is plenty enough of that, especially in an election year.

In a recent (Sept 29) column, Blogged down in Web fantasy, Minneapolis Star-Tribune columnist Nick Coleman trashes bloggers. Repeatedly. Indiscriminately. Now I know that Nick is writing about irresponsible political sites. (The old fashioned word for those people is LIARS). But Nick’s repeated use of the word "bloggers" in a derogatory fashion is mean. It is unfair. It shows how out of touch Nick is with what is a new, still changing phenomenon. Do you want to know what someone in Korea, Iceland, Kenya or Baghdad is thinking? You won't find it in his newspaper. You won't find it on television. You will find it in a blog. Sure, most blogs are dumb, mundane and silly. But most bloggers are sincere, and if you can put up with less-than-perfect English, you might actually learn something about other people in the world. The ability to receive the thoughts of ordinary people around the world, almost immediately and exchange ideas with these people is an absolute revolution in human consciousness.

Blogging is far from perfect, but has such potential that it should not be dismissed in such a cavalier fashion. So I will continue to write my hopeful, naive, sappy blog. If I am a fool for this - so be it. Tap me for syrup and serve me on pancakes. But if this world is to ever get any better, it won’t be because of a war of guns, or even a war of words. It will be because people can honestly communicate with each other.