Blogging About Blogging

I'm going to take a step back this morning.

I'm going to refrain from commenting upon the latest raging political controversy. Instead I'd like to take a fast moment to reflect upon the role of bloggers and the blogsophere in this day and age.

Our numbers are small, certainly, but we've quickly been transformed from a triviality to a novelty in the eyes of the MSM over the past four years.

That being said...

I often wonder if we are as important or as influential as we think we are. Let's try to keep our egos and our ids at bay if we can, friends. After all, if you believe a few overzealous bloggers, our combined voices and keystrokes on a monitor were the sole voices directly responsible for electing a Democratic controlled House and Senate two years ago.

Not quite. We had a role, certainly, but we're not that influential. At least not yet. Our journals and blog entries merely mirrored the deep sense of dissatisfaction felt by a majority of Americans. So do they now.

The last batch of statistics I've read put our numbers at roughly 5% of the American population.

Blogging can often be a deeply cathartic exercise but I hasten to over-exaggerate our impact on any large scale. I am merely one person and one voice among many often disgruntled souls. As a netroots activist, I often express deep frustration at those who do not share my passion for agitation and rabble-rousing. This is, of course, the quandary of every hyper-political being.

My point in writing this is to remind us all that we shouldn't let a grandiose sense of self-importance distract us from our real role as citizen journalists and amateur op-ed writers.

As for me personally, I'm not interested in being a social climber or a name dropper, nor am I out to impress anyone.

I am grateful that we have an ability to speak our minds in a public forum such as this without being censored or thrown into jail. Though I am a thin-skinned individual who does not take criticism well, I recognize that a few of my opinions have touched a nerve with readers, although that outcome was never my goal. I'm not out to inflame or incense anyone.

In saying that, I do feel a sense of satisfaction that some of my words and ideas have made such a deep impact upon total strangers that they've felt compelled to respond. In my mind, if I've accomplished only this, then I have succeeded: I have been heard.