Danny Butt’s stopped blogging, partly because he finds that blogging encourages him to write too fast, almost as though he’s part of the media he does not trust – “my ìprivateî is thoroughly colonised by the ìpublicî”, he writes, and also notes that “because I grew up a smartarse white Australian male,” (he writes) “I am well versed in the art of having important-sounding opinions about things without any real experience or knowledge.”

I do think blogs have a very important role as a tactical media form. Theyíre very useful in a) building community, b) being a direct information source of views excluded from organised media, or c) an informal view into organisations or structures of power. These are all processes that feed into longer-run, more strategic questions of situated political action of the type Iím trying to foster. But my writing does not provide any of these great bloggy traits. I already fail to make the most of the communities I belong to – I donít need to meet any more people! And I donít really represent a collective voice that needs to be heard all the time. And Iím not working within a structure whose internal workings I can break down for those outside it.

Anyway, an interesting post with somewhat different ideas for people thinking about why blogging’s good and why sometimes it mightn’t be.