P.J. O'Rourke on blogging: The views of a Gonzo journalist

P.J. was sharp and funny - the Gonzo journalist once defined a bike as "...a donkey cart without the cart, where you do the work of the donkey".

What did he say about blogging in 2010? 

To start: 

Very little that gets blogged is of very much worth.

P.J. saw blog posts as "undigested thinking". 

I do see one pernicious trend, which is blogging. I don't care much for blogging because it is undigested thinking, because it comes straight from the heart, or the lizard brain, or the mouth without due consideration.

Adding later. 

Blogging is very selfish. I mean, if you want a true picture of what somebody's thinking at a moment, kick them and see what they say. You'll get a blog. You'll get a tweet. You'll get a brief expression of how somebody feels at a given moment. But communication is all about the other person. It's not about the person who is communicating. It's about the person who is listening, or receiving, or viewing. And blogging is very self-indulgent. It's all about me.

The guy took blogging too seriously. 

Blogs come from online communities and diaries - the times when bloggers were diarists and journalers, names that lasted until Jorn Barger coined "weblog" and Peter Merholz split the word into "we blog" later. 

How can you take them seriously?  

"Undigested thoughts" are at the core of old-style blogging. And let's keep it that way, because for "digested thoughts" we have plenty of newspapers and magazines. 

Don't you agree? 

(Source of the quotes here.)

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