Blogs can be both personal and professional, political and apolitical. It all depends on the person and the context of the post. I, for one, tend to have a semi-informal approach in the writing of my blog. While the context this semester is politics, I'm no expert on foreign policy, I'm no Rhodes scholar, I'm just a composition professor who happens to be addicted to politics. So my tone is most likely "academic-lite." What does that really mean? It means that I attempt to pay attention to the words I use as I articulate points, considering both my audience (this class) and the genre of blogs. It's a tricky balance sometimes to say the right thing the right way. When writing about politics, being too obnoxious or verbose can turn a reader off.
Like Stephen King has said, "The road to hell was paved with adverbs" (Moncur). Adverbs, those "-ly" words, litter our writing, especially academic writing and, as the case may be, strangely, romance novels. Where else would you find him staring longingly at her heavingly ample bosom? Where else, but in a blog or online, could you find out that someone was "really, really republican" or even "two very-nearly-Democratic-Party-house-organs" (whatever that means, see Kinsolving for a clearer explanation)?
Most blogs, it can be pointed out, like The Drudge Report, are light on the professional tone and would rather get down and dirty, more like The Enquirer than The New York Times. For example, the big headline (with, unfortunately, no front-page story to go with it) says "100,000 Citizens Resist Obama in First Week." What does that mean? He's the president-elect. What can one resist at the moment? It's not as if we can re-do the elections. The sneaky part of that front-page headline is that it's an advertisement, asking readers to sign up to oppose a "socialist" Obama. Really, now? We've gone to the Marxist argument again? (How's that for a shift in tone?)
Then there are regular blogs like "Just Another Political Blog," in which our author, Canadian Zach Hall, provides thoughtful and philosophical-esque commentary about not just Canadian issues but, rather, about global conundrums such as the environment. I think our class blogs should strive to be more like Hall than The Huffington Post and Drudge. First of all, in ENG 112 we don't have ample supplies of copywriters at our disposal; we aren't paid big salaries to blog; and we haven't the archive to rely on previous work or the vitriolic ire of political party affiliation. That said, what is impressive about a one-person blog like Hall's is that it sets an appropriate tone: concerned citizen, intellectually curious, not afraid to use a thesaurus as he educates us about his understandings of politics.
In the end, the tone of any piece of writing should match the content and context of the piece. If one is writing about the war in the Congo, descriptions of murder and rape will appear. You can't and shouldn't be squeamish about telling the truth. If one is writing about relationships, it could be a mixed bag of psychology and emotional dialogue. Just remember: there are good samples and blogs to mimic, especially in your genre. Find them, peruse them, comment on them. You'll never know until you really venture out how your blog fits in to the rest of your community.
References Cited
Kinsolving, Les. (2008). Round 1: The Barack-Hillary Feud. Accessed November 17, 2008, from http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=40362
Moncour, Michael. (2007). The Quotations Page: Steven King. Accessed November 17, 2008, from http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Stephen_King
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