One of my favorite bloggers, Cecily, just got back from the Blogher conference in California. In giving her impressions of the conference she wrote about blogging and about the popular blog writer Dooce:
I’ve read her blog for almost five years, and I’ve watched her become more private over that time, less willing to do what they called at BlogHer “naked” blogging. Sure, she’s been compensated for her blog, but she’s lost a great deal too.
I am a “naked” blogger; when Heather said that she doesn’t blog about 95% of her life, I thought, wow: I am the total opposite. I don’t blog about more like 5%. I really do put it all out here.
This was interesting for me to read. I have just been thoroughly chastized (again ) in other parts of the blogosphere for speaking up when other bloggers “blogged naked” and put some of their more controversial stuff out there. I’ve even read from some mommy bloggers that they consider their blogs to be their personal little spaces on the web, like a pretty front porches. So naturally, just like at home, they don’t welcome intruders or nay sayers, even courteous ones!
The entire thing has made me think not so much about Catholic blogging, but more about Catholic blog reading! As a Catholic blog readers, I think we always carry around the obligation to speak the truth, (in love certainly) when we are confronted with immoral or even sinful actions. Indeed the catechism tells us:
1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:
– by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
– by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
Catholics it seems then have a little problem. It’s fine to be a faithful follower of a blog, but when that blogger “lays it out there” and we know that “out there” is wrong, in good conscience can we be silent?
qui tacet consentire videtur or
He who is silent appears to consent.
And as someone who has been around the blogosphere a couple of times with a dissenting voice, I know first hand it can be a brutal experience getting reamed in the com boxes by other blog readers.
It can be an insidious thing too. Long-time readers might remember that a number of years back a popular Catholic pro-life blogger changed sides abruptly. So those of us who thought we WERE on a friendly front porch found ourselves chased off with all the rhetorical slings and arrows.
So what does this all mean?
If your neighbor has a tendancy to walk around the house in the buff drinking coffee and reading the paper, it might be wise to keep the shades down on that side of the house! Likewise, after four years or so in the blogosphere I think for the most part it’s best to keep to blogs and blog rolls where you can know what to expect and what will make the best use of your time.
Elizabeth Foss has an amazing article about discerning the best use of time online and with blogging in general. She writes:
Make sure it’s (time on the internet ) making you a better wife, a better mother, a better Christian. Your time is so precious and your time alone is so scarce. Make it count. Make it matter.
That doesn’t mean you can’t visit blogs with views that differ from yours. (I enjoy Cecily’s blog but we are 180 degrees from each other on almost everything!) But there might be a price to be paid for doing so. If you’re comfortable with that, great!
But if your time and energy is only up for visits to friendly front porches, then the 4RealLearning Blogs, and the Catholic Mom Blogs are the best bet for busy wives, mothers and Catholic women. Proper attire required!
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