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What is the purpose of a blog? I return to this question each and every time I wish to hit the "delete" button on this damn thing. Not that it really matters anyway. But, I marvel at the popularity of "blogs" these days which simply rehearse/repost a news item, followed by a bunch of anonymous armchair cultural critics, posting their missives for all to see, waiting for the next flame war to ignite. The power of anonymity. Everyone is in on the game. For every crappy news item about Paris, Scooter, Nicole, Cheney, Iraq you can "post a comment." If you want a taste of virulent racism, sexism, classism, go to the "comments" section at the end of a "news" item and read to your heart's content. In reaction to a news item posted about the return of Venus and Serena to Wimbledon, someone repeatedly used "savages" and "tribe" to describe the Williams family. On Culture Kitchen, there was a recent post about the horror of eating food at Bob Evans Restaurants. Accompanying this post was a grainy photo (I'm sure shot with a trendy PDA phone) of a salad which had a mysterious dressing that distressed this dear, "liberal", blogger. The classism, evidenced in the judgemental tone and observations of the blogger (noting that every diner in Bob Evans was overweight), was so fucking blatant it made my skin crawl. Oh, to be a NYC blogger, with all the hip toys of the digital community, completely removed from the world, save for a few adventures into "rural" America. Hypocrites.

Feminists have made an impact on the progressive blogosphere, rankling the deep-seated conservatism of 10-65 year old men who have nothing better to do at the office then whip out some of the most disturbing mysoginistic messages. To claim we have "moved on" in terms of systemic oppression is to ignore the world of the blogs . . . where all the reactionaries converge, concealed and comforted by the anonymous world of electronic communication. Still, even these feminist blogs leave me wanting for more. It's tiresome to discuss gender and sexuality in a vacuum . . . sometimes accompanied by a penetrating analysis of race and class . . . only to be shot down by an "expert" on the comments section accusing one of hating white people and/or men. So simplistic are these analyses . . .

Today, I read a post discussing the current state of Katrina victims (yes, for those that did manage to live in one of those chemical filled, pressboard, toxic "trailers") who are still waiting for permanent housing and help from the federal government. Fat chance sucka. It didn't surprise me to see one of the very first posts accuse Katrina victims of not doing enough, individually and collectively, to survive. In other words, this person wondered why haven't they formed shopping cooperatives? Why haven't they formed collective day care units? Why haven't they done more dammit? Oh, I get it. Wow. What a fucking brilliant idea! Cooperatives! Maybe even an organic garden too . . . if only we could be assured that the soil won't make our skin peel off.

And what, exactly, is the purpose of all those little gadgets, annoying buttons (diggit, reddit, stumble, etc) that now grace the end of individual blog entries? What used to be a unique and innovative perspective, has now become so thoroughly commodified and homogenized, it's hard to determine the purpose these days.

Of course, I count this faltering little piece of e-real estate I founded 2 years ago, to be among the guilty.