After reviewing Nick's material about blogs, I especially liked Teemu Arina's perspective about how blogs are a way for people to connect and reflect on their experiences with others. It's not only a place for people to express themselves but it also has potential to teach others. If only there were peace and love groups who would take advantage of blogging like hate groups have but in all honesty, who would read their blogs? Blogging isn't just expressing your ideas but it's also entertainment and sometimes enlightenment. I think blogging should be a way to relate beyond our prejudices and see what a person has to say without preconcieved notions.
I've read an assortment of blogs from various Native Americans on my local newpaper's website and I was astonished at the different posts. Many people had responded to the recent news of the ASU incident in condolences to the victim. However other posts attacked the Navajo Nation and our local government for what happened. My hometown was also made out to be a violent place with crazy people because the individual who committed the crime was from there. It was frustrating to read the blogs because it was all blown out of proportion but it was really just a group of people making a connection and reflecting on their experiences. Blogging is really sorting through the junk and the bogus information to build connections.
3 comments:
I wholly agree with you that more blogs should be used for peaceful means instead of for spreading anger. In the case of hate groups I believe that the reason people read these things and post on them is because it gives them validation. Blogs provide people whose views may be too extreme to be easily shared in public with anonymity and a community of people who share the same views.
I have read those blogs about that incident that happened last semester. I was shocked that people would blame the Navajo government for what happened. I also don't know why people are judging a town and its people just because one person who was from there did something bad. One person does not represent the whole. People just need to know all the facts and get all the answers before they say something like that.
I liked what you said about blogs being a place to move past our prejudices and get rid of our preconceived notions. People sometimes write other people off for stupid reasons when if they just listened to them, they might learn something. The same anonymity that lets people read someone’s ideas without prejudice, also contributes to the kind of hate speech you are talking about. People feel like they can say anything online and there are no consequences.
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