Monday, February 9, 2009

The thing about blogs is...

Any yahoo can get online, and spout his/her random thoughts, and - especially if he/she is a pastor, or a public speaker, or a talking head of some sort - can get 20 or 30 comments per post from people agreeing with the blogger, and basically echoing how wise/well-spoken/righteous the blogger is for spouting off random thoughts.

Case in point: I read a blog tonight where the writer felt the need to point out President Obama's hypocrisy re: some of his comments about abortion. Fine - a fair criticism. But rather than provide an analysis of what is most likely an ongoing discussion about a difficult issue, the blogger resorted to straw man attacks and ad hominems.

What's worse, the responders leaving comments were more than happy to join in with the name-calling, accomplishing very little in the way of real discussion, but providing themselves an opportunity to be self-congratulatory for their opposition to Obama and "liberals" who are nothing more than "baby killers." But most frustrating was the repeated theme that they - in their little corner of the internet - were the true Christians, and those Christians who don't stand up and condemn Obama are nothing but hypocrites. Is it any wonder why Christianity often isn't seen as an attractive option!?

I just want to say thanks to my blogging friends/readers who, in fact, keep me humble by challenging what I say, instead of just mindlessly agreeing. I also want to thank them for being humble in their responses. Let's make sure this blog doesn't end up like the others. Of course, since only 3 people read it, that's not likely! ;-) hehe!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello! :)

Anonymous said...

Good points. I'll have to keep them in mind;-)

Anonymous said...

I disagree-- and not just because you said I should. It is easier to find a blog where one agrees with the author than to convince a disagreeable blogger to change his mind through arguments.

Anonymous said...

?? I thought that's what I was saying?

Just curious, Kevin, do you think there's a better way to change people's minds - in the blog world - than through reasoned arguments? (I mean, we can't really influence others by example in blog-dom, since we don't typically interact with them in person.) Or is trying to convince anyone of anything on a blog just a waste of time?

Geoff

(sorry, didn't log in!)