The essay defines ones self, is backed up by educated opinions and is polished to
perfection. The blog, however, is the casual essay. Blogs allow for a few grammar
mistakes; they may even contain “racier” material. I value essays more than blogs,
not simply because they may have less grammatical errors but the opinion in most
essays is strong. The opinion is researched and thought over by the author many
times. Don’t get me wrong blog opinions are also researched and thought over but
honestly if one publishes a blog everyday- the opinion of the author has the tendency
to change more often than that of an essay that has been edited and edited for six
months. Blogs are casual displays of things. I love blogs, infact, I prefer reading
blogs more because I am more likely to read the real thoughts of the author before
they are thought over for months. Essays are to autobiographies as blogs are to
reality TV. Both are real however the autobiography has time to “ferment” and take
on the perfect bias of the person it is highlighting. Blogs are real they depict
the authors opinion on that day at that time there is no swaying- no editing- they
are the personal preference of the author here and now. Until the public is educated
fully on blogs and essays- the blog is always going to have “leeway” on content.
People expect essays to be professional. Take Thomas Paine’s essay Common Sense.
If Paine used incorrect grammar and forgot to site his sources the world would not
take him serious. Instead he wrote in essay form, in turn allowing political decisions
to be based upon his essay. What matters most about both essays and blogs, Susan Orlean says best, “…they convey the writer’s journey, and [do] it intelligently, gracefully, honestly, and with whatever voice or shape fit best."
perfection. The blog, however, is the casual essay. Blogs allow for a few grammar
mistakes; they may even contain “racier” material. I value essays more than blogs,
not simply because they may have less grammatical errors but the opinion in most
essays is strong. The opinion is researched and thought over by the author many
times. Don’t get me wrong blog opinions are also researched and thought over but
honestly if one publishes a blog everyday- the opinion of the author has the tendency
to change more often than that of an essay that has been edited and edited for six
months. Blogs are casual displays of things. I love blogs, infact, I prefer reading
blogs more because I am more likely to read the real thoughts of the author before
they are thought over for months. Essays are to autobiographies as blogs are to
reality TV. Both are real however the autobiography has time to “ferment” and take
on the perfect bias of the person it is highlighting. Blogs are real they depict
the authors opinion on that day at that time there is no swaying- no editing- they
are the personal preference of the author here and now. Until the public is educated
fully on blogs and essays- the blog is always going to have “leeway” on content.
People expect essays to be professional. Take Thomas Paine’s essay Common Sense.
If Paine used incorrect grammar and forgot to site his sources the world would not
take him serious. Instead he wrote in essay form, in turn allowing political decisions
to be based upon his essay. What matters most about both essays and blogs, Susan Orlean says best, “…they convey the writer’s journey, and [do] it intelligently, gracefully, honestly, and with whatever voice or shape fit best."
5 comments:
I like that you compared essays and blogs to autobiographies and reality TV. I think that it is a very unique way of looking at things. Also, the mentioning of Thomas Paine and Common Sense was a very nice touch. Blogs are fun and easy to read. Because of the casualness of the blog, many people do not take them seriously. In a blog, you are able to say pretty much whatever you want, whether there is substantial evidence to support your opinion or not. Essays have to be researched and “polished to perfection”, as you so accurately put it, so they can be taken seriously. I liked your use of color and the addition of a picture.
Hey, Kristi stole what I was going to say about how I liked the analogy you made. I agree that blogs do have the tendency to be the authors real thoughts - or at least the flow of thoughts in the writer's head at the time of writing. Yes yes, Paine wouldn't have been taken seriously and where would America be today?! Ah, woe is the blogger who has great ideas. But yeah, if somebody wants to communicate something and be recognized for it, they totally have to write an essay.
I think I agree about having more respect for essays. It seems to me that in order to write an essay, you have to take the subject a lot more seriously. You have to actually know what you what to say and how you want to say it, whereas with a blog, you can kind of just ramble and its perfectly okay. But I guess it's kind of fun to read some rambling sometimes to see what the author is actually thinking at the moment, like you said.
First of all, I have to tell you that I love the picture you have attached with your blog! It is so adorable! You hit on some very interesting ideas in your blog too. I completely agree with the fact that essays have to be written in a more serious manner in order to be taken seriously. I especially like the comparison made between Thomas Paine’s writing and the type of writing a person should expect to produce when writing something as important as the document that made the rights of American Colonists clear to the rest of the world.
First off I want to say that I like the picture that you used in your blog, it is cute. I agree that blogs allow for racier material. I also agree that essays have less grammatical errors than blogs do. I also agree that essays are more thought about than blogs. I guess that is because you have a deadline for an essay, but blogs you just create when you need to let something out. I also like how you related biographies and TV to the essays and blogs.
Post a Comment