Bloggers are what!?

As someone who has tweeted (twittered... I'm actually unsure of the past-tense of the verb 'to tweet' now I come to think of it) profusely for some time now, there is one thing I've noticed - twittering and blogging are, in more instances than not, things that go hand-in-hand - it is a shame then, that someone I had come to admire on the BBC has branded blogging as the "spewings and rantings of very drunk people late at night".

I'm sure that Andrew Marr did not mean all bloggers, but it is unfortunate that he did not seem to make much of a distinction in his statement. 
Yes, I agree that there are a lot of bloggers out there who tend to ramble about their own personal issues, and some have little in the way of value - but thankfully these blogs are usually updated rarely, and most people will gloss over this.  I have also been on the receiving end of a comment that had little substance, nothing to do with my blog post, and was as judgemental as they had accused me of being - rather than let this put me off blogging I just deleted the post.  Simple.
On the flip-side however, there are blogs which are of amazing value - even if they are not blogs on specific topics, they can be of tremendous service to others, providing a common ground for making friends, meeting new people, and generating a community spirit.  One of my very good friends has blogged for years, and starting out as a "community journalist" has now guest blogged for magazines and local newspapers and is also an advocate for local events, generates awareness of charities, local organisations and things to do within her local community. 

What I feel Andrew Marr has done with these statements is undermine blogging as a fantastic way of personal self expression at a time when getting into journalism in its normal form (newspapers, magazines etc...) is so difficult.  The only avenue that some creative writers have to express their views and write about what they really feel passionate about is through online web-logging, and there are some fantastically talented bloggers out there.  It is a shame that Marr feels the need to prefix his (to use his own turn of phrase) rant with the word 'most'.

I sincerely hope that Andrew Marr's comments do not put people off blogging, or commenting on what other people have written - however I do believe in some lights these views are valid.  Commenting and venting are two different things, and everyone views a statement - whether it be in a newspaper, or on a blog differently.  What people must understand is that just because this particular medium is private (as opposed to the public domain of a tabloid newspaper) does not mean that it is right to vent personal frustrations on it's author.

You can edit a blog, but once words are said it is hard to take them back.  I think if Marr's comments had been worded in a more sensitive, less generalised way, then they would not have been deemed newsworthy.

ST