Blogging: ex mea sententia

Forget war. Never mind global warming. Problems with the country’s health or education systems; who cares? There’s nothing which excites people more than a chance for some navel gazing.

This of course is not aimed at those people who are fans and enthusiasts of the latest ship to sail out of the yards of the River Clyde – that would be naval gazing – but instead the chance to focus on an issue of great importance to one person but few others outwith their circle of friends.

So it has been for the Scottish blogging scene in recent weeks, a venue which is increasingly foreign and distant to me, such has been the infrequent nature of postings here.

The furore of recent times – not least the apparent ‘slaying of the Cybernats’ – has obviously not gone unnoticed by anyone who chooses to electronically surf through such locations. In broader terms this is a chance to consider what this might mean in future for blogging, what the recent antics say about those across the political and media spectrum and, last and certainly least importantly, to say what the future of this blog is.

Appearances in Sunday newspapers aside blogging remains a minority pursuit. The notion of blogging as a mainstream campaigning persuader seems far-fetched, all the less likely given the content of some of the avowedly partisan sites which exist.

Discussing the darker side of online commentary is a well-worn path. Many stories found on The Scotsman website (in particular) still contain a degree of paranoia and insanity which must put off any sincere independents. In this regard it’s no surprise it eventually spilled over into blogging and then a wider domain.

It’s fair to say that some of the outrage has been slightly contrived. As unacceptable (and surely counterproductive) as the language on some of these sites was it’s unlikely anyone in politics was honestly so sheltered as to never have been exposed to it before.

That being said when politics moves beyond policy or even insults into the realms of lurid claims, written without any proof, it’s hardly surprising when people challenge this in the courts, or at least threaten it. Blogging is no more isolated from the law than mainstream media is, even if they too often push the boundaries.

It’s probably also worth noting that many now defending some of the closed-down sites would surely have been crying foul (to say the least) if the shoe was on the other foot. Hypocrisy in this regard is never too far away.

The worst of all this is that it allows all sides to engage in a ‘holier than thou’ battle which won’t change a single thing about life in Scotland. Not a single teacher will be hired, pupil taught to read or nurse trained as a result of these tawdry and ultimately tiresome battles.

What it may do is slightly curtail some of the worst excesses found online, at least for a short time. Or perhaps until people work out ways to stay genuinely anonymous (or pseudonymous).

As people move away from the mainstream media (something which is happening slowly but not nearly at the rate many believe) then something will replace it, as sites like Facebook and so on surely show. But that doesn’t mean it will be news or politics, it may simply be that the decline of community we see in the real world will be replicated online as people retreat further into their cyber-shells.

The recent story that most young people don’t know their neighbours is not a shock and reflects wider social changes which have taken place over the past two or three decades, not least around employment, religion, transport and housing.

Politics is heading this way too, as electoral turnout illustrates. And as we retreat into smaller communities and online communications perhaps blogging and such like will play a greater part; certainly the media and political parties are already interested and reading. That may of course be an example of professional navel gazing in action; surely nobody likes talking and reading about themselves more than those two groups?

Perhaps instead online fights – however they are phrased – are simply due to the fact that most people don’t like being disagreed with on any issue, and blogging has always been a place where this exists in abundance. The anonymous element simply helps fuel the extremes.

A quick look at political debates inside Holyrood or Westminster – or even newspaper coverage of these – gives lie to the notion that things are friendly and without problems elsewhere. For the reasons above blogging simply repeats this, but in a more controversial manner. And if the public really hate political bickering so much can blogging ever really expect to take off in a mainstream manner, certainly in its current guise?


AND AS FOR THIS BLOG... It's hard to say whether my growing divorce from blogging is due to changing personal circumstances or a reflection of a wider separation taking place. In the 18 months or so since this site was set up posts reached a peak of one per day but have somewhat dwindled in recent times, for various reasons. It's unlikely this will change any time soon.

There were various reasons for starting this blog, many of which are no longer the case. Not least spare time, to be frank. Believing that it can be seriously continued has an increasingly quixotic feeling to it, which makes enthusiasm difficult to come by.

That being said some of the posts linked to above sincerely believe blogging is a big part of the country's political future. We shall see about that but the option and potential is at least there for a renewed involvement for myself.

However for now watching, occasionally, from afar seems the most likely form of participation for me. So it's au revoir, rather than outright goodbye.